The history of the old JavaScript Section, 2003. I disabled the internal links since they reflect the old site structure.
22 August 2003: JavaScript Section closed.
26 July 2003: New Keep it Simple column: Keep JavaScript Simple. It discusses JavaScript libraries and their failings. My advice: especially when you're a Java programmer, please don't write JavaScript libraries. They're not worth the trouble.
11 July 2003: As most of you have noticed there's quite a lot going on in the browser market.
In fact, the Fourth Era of browser history has come to an end and the Fifth Era begins.
Explorer Mac dead, Explorer 7 postponed for at least 2 years and tied to a new OS, Safari 1.0 released,
new versions of both Mozilla and Opera, it all goes so fast.
I've decided to get the Big Picture first. I want to know where the browser market as a whole is heading before
getting down to the details. I need some perspective.
Browser Wars II:
The Saga Continues.
29 May 2003: I wrote a script that (I hope) will change the way we use the W3C DOM and the way we
send information to JavaScripts in general. I consider it the most important script I've ever written, not for
the things it actually does (though it has a strongly practical bend, like any script on this site) but for
the way it does those things.
The script shows and hides form fields based on what the user does. This doesn't sound very revolutionary, but
oddly enough it is. The very few scripts that perform this function are not quite correct, in my view, and in
addition my script is very easy to implement.
I wrote an article at Digital Web Magazine that features the whys and wherefores:
Forms, usability and the W3C DOM. It also contains instructions on how
to use the script.
You can find the actual downloadable script and a sample form on the new
Usable Forms page.
2 May 2003: On Digital Web Magazine: The Ideal Web Team, part 2.
29 April 2003: While searching for something completely different, I happened to come across an excerpt
from Glasshaus's Web Professional's Handbook, Document Object Models.
The funny thing is that I wrote this chapter. It was written it in a tearing hurry so
it's certainly not my best treatment of this complicated subject.
Glasshaus went bankrupt, but fortunately I'd received my 'advance' just before this
happened (though months later than originally agreed upon, so it really was a 'delay').
The book seems to
be on sale, which I hadn't expected. I'll never get any royalties though, I suppose.
Of course I'm pleased that exactly my chapter was chosen for this excerpt on WebReference. Read it to understand more of
the JavaScript DOMs.
Continue reading about the images object and advanced DOMs. The two parts of the excerpt do not link to each
other, oddly.
20 April 2003: Browser news. Headlines include:
"Mozilla naming policies degenerate into lunacy."
"Safari on the verge of supporting
Import XML script"
19 April 2003: Mosaic was released ten years ago (22 April 1993, to be exact). To celebrate this anniversary, news.com runs a good article series that analyzes the past ten years of browser history. The focus is on the Browser Wars, but more recent developments are treated, too.
11 April 2003: After a short hiatus Digital Web Magazine has resumed publication with, among other articles, my The Ideal Web Team column.
9 April 2003: I forgot to mention that I wrote a short article about forward compatibility and web standards and why these two concepts should not be intertwined.
8 April 2003: Added a page about
accessibility and JavaScript. The writing
of this page was mainly triggered by the lack of quality of the average "JavaScript and
accessibility" pages on the WWW.
There are no general solutions to accessibility issues, so I wrote a lot of case studies to
give you an idea of what you're up against. I also tried to correct some of the more obvious
nonsense you'll find on other pages.
2 March 2003: Added the
W3C DOM Level 2 Events compatibility tables.
They're not quite ready yet, but the complicated stuff will have to wait until later.
In the past month I've hardly answered any mails because I didn't have the time (and I didn't want
to spend the time I had on this site). Basically I deleted any mail that would take me
more than 30 seconds to answer. I don't think I'll spend more time on mails in the foreseeable
future, either. You may of course mail me, but don't be surprised if I don't answer.
20 February 2003: New AppleDev article:
JavaScript in Mac Browsers.
As to the DOM Events table, it's coming up but it's an extreme lot of work.
2 February 2003: Before testing W3C DOM Level 2 Events support, I decided to test browser support for the actual events. I added browser compatibility tables to the Events page.
24 January 2003: Added the W3C DOM - CSS compatibility table. Updated the Introduction to the tables. It now contains overall compatibility tables for entire modules.
19 January 2003: Added the
HTML table.
Added a test with W3C's table methods to the
W3C DOM vs. innerHTML test page.
17 January 2003: I started working on the third version of the W3C DOM Compatibility
Table. I test the implementations of Explorer 5+. Mozilla 1.2, Safari 1.0 beta and Opera 7 beta.
In this new version I also put my test files online, so that anyone can check (and disagree with)
my conclusions.
I'll create a table for each DOM module. Currently only the
Core Table is available.
11 January 2003: Added the Checking a date script to find out if a date your users have entered exists and whether it lies in the past or the future.
8 January 2003: Happy New Year to all of you.
To properly celebrate new year, Apple has released a new browser for OS X:
Safari, based on the Konqueror libraries.
At first sight it seems to be an excellent browser, as any Konqueror clone would be.
Updated browser compatibility info where necessary.
See also the older history of this site.