DHTML Utopia: Modern Web Design Using JavaScript & DOM reviewed by Robert 

Pritchett 

Author: Stuart Langridge 

http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/catalog/view/au/1951

http://www.kryogenix.org/

Simon Willison, Technical Editor 

SitePoint Pty. Ltd.  

http://www.sitepoint.com

Booksite: 

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/dhtml1/

Released: May 2005 

Pages: 318 

$40 USD, $56 CND,  28 GBP,  35 Euro  

ISBN: 0957921896 

Requirements: A desire to create Dynamic websites and 

previous knowledge on JavaScripting, CSSing and HTMLing. 

Strengths: Offers coding examples for Dynamic HTML in a 

cross browser friendly environment. 

Weaknesses:  Some coding could use more explanation. 

DHTML Utopia: Modern Web Design Using JavaScript & DOM by Stuart Langridge and 

Technical Editor Simon Willison takes the static out of web design and makes it dynamic. 

This is a techy geeky book that requires some previous knowledge on the topic to be able to get 

through it. And it requires hands on to walk through the examples. Grab the first 4 chapters 

online to see what I mean. 

What makes this fun to read is that it opens up the world of JavaScripting in a way that you  get 

it  and want to jump right in and try things. 

There are 10 chapters on DHTML technologies, the Document Object Model (DOM), handling 

DOM events, detecting browser features, animation (yes!), forms and validation (double yes!!), 

advanced concepts and menus, remote scripting, communicating with the server and DOM 

alternatives XPath.  

If you want the Codes from the Code Archive, you need to buy the book, and get the magic word 

asked for at 

http://www.sitepoint.com/books/dhtml1/code.php

 as a .zip file. 

Learn how to make code work nicely (unobtrusively) in many of the most used browsers and a 

few famous websites (Google, Flickr, GMail, etc.) 

  MPN, LLC 2005 macCompanion 

Page 28 

August 2005, Volume 3 Issue 8