I am considering using DHTML for some portions of my site.  I have never used it before and am curious for people's opinions of it.

Also I thought I understood that DHTML only works on Internet Explorer.  Is this true?  If so what effect does using DHTML on a page have when users of other browsers view the page?

Depending on the answers to the previous questions I am curious as to whether having implemented DHTML in some of my pages if I then have to do an equal amount of work to provide an alternate for the other browsers?

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Crystal
crystals@genesis.sk.ca

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Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.
-Oscar Wilde

Crystal,

DHTML is a W3C 'standard'.  While IE 4/5 seem to have more support for it than NN 4/6, both browsers are capable of some pretty impressive results using DHTML.  The major hurdle for you will be to properly code the site to support both browser's variations.  95% of the browser market is IE4+/NN4+ so unless you need to reach 100% of the market I wouldn't worry about supporting older/non-DHTML browsers. However, there is code available that can detect what browser a user is using and will allow you to redirect older browsers to to an HTML only site.

Later,

Rob
robschultz@yahoo.com
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"Focus on the solution to the problem,
not the obstacles in the way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Rob

I appreciate the information, I guess like everything there is the difference between the big 2 browsers.  Luckily I am in a situation where a very large majority of the intended market will have IE, some will have NN.  So that makes life a lot easier (we had already decided that we would not be very concerned with any of the other browsers).  So I guess as long as I focus on meeting the requirments of IE and NN I should be okay.

Do you have any suggestions for good references that I might want to look at to start getting a handle on DHTML.  I currently have Visual Studio 6 and am using Visual InterDev 6.  The book I have on it has some info about DHTML but as the author puts it "the flavor of DHTML covered requires IE 4.x or higher".  So I prefer not to turn to this book very much for information.  But having said that I do like the Interdev IDE and would not mind using it for the DHTML I want to do.  So if you have any thoughts on that I would also appreciate the insight.

And what a long winded response I have made

Crystal
crystals@genesis.sk.ca

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Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.
-Oscar Wilde

oh also keep in mind some of the Special Effect in DHTML, for IE, will require DirectX , this one had me wraped up a bit, since my office PC was DX4, and I was trying to do some filters and transitions in DHTML, its almost like saying "This blur effect will require about 300 megs of installed software" so , there would seem to be a definite line between IE only DHTML, and universally standard DHTML

Karl
kb244@kb244.com

Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)
http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

Thanks Karl

I will be sure to watch out for that.

Crystal
crystals@genesis.sk.ca

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Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.
-Oscar Wilde

Crystal,
   By far, the easiest way to get cross-browser DHTML support is to use one of the publicly available DHTML libraries.  They're basically just a large javascript file that you include in your pages.  You write your code to a single API, and the library takes care of the browser differences.  There are some things that IE does that are just not possible with Netscape,  so you'll have to live without that functionality if you use a DHTML library.  Another thing to consider is that the new version of Netscape is a total rewrite, not an upgrade, from 4.7.  They're redefined their DOM to be more like that of IE, and dropped support for layers.  This means that when Netscape 6 is released, none of your existing Netscape handling code will work.  The DHTML library authors are working on adding support for Netscape 6,  and will be updated when Netscape 6 is released.  The best part about these libraries are that they're free, as long as you don't resell the library as part of your product.
    
Heres some links to look at:
http://www.siteexperts.com/dhtmllib/page1.asp
http://www.dansteinman.com/dynduo/
http://webreference.com/dhtml/

nick bulka


Get your technical books at Bulka's Books
http://www.vstorebooks.com/bulkasbooks

Thanks Nick

I think that the three of you guys (Nick, Karl and Rob)seem to answer more of the questions on the forums I am on than anyone else.  So as one of the people asking those questions I just have to say thanks a bunch.

Except you do make me feel a little bit inferior, not by your attitude but by knowing the answers to all the questions I want to know the answers to.  If you don't mind me asking how long have all of you been doing development (especially Internet development)?

Some day when I grow up I want to be just like you.

Crystal
crystals@genesis.sk.ca

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Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.
-Oscar Wilde

I've only been doing internet development for almost 6 months now, prior to that was just teaching myself C++, VB and so forth, as my current job is my first professional job in the IT field. so I havent been at it more than a year now on internet development. My Employers make the comment that they always wanted a guy who could learn as fast as the technology evolves.

Karl
kb244@kb244.com

Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)
http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

I've been a software developer for over 20 years.  I started doing Internet stuff about 4 years ago.

Just keep asking the questions, and one day you'll wake up and find your self making people feel inferior!

nick bulka


Get your technical books at Bulka's Books
http://www.vstorebooks.com/bulkasbooks