About Dynamic HTML (DHTML) effects

Dynamic HTML (DHTML) is a Microsoft enhancement to HTML version 4.0 that enables you to create visual effects or improve the layout of a web page.

For example, a visual effect might be an animation in which text appears to fly off the page one word at a time. A page layout improvement could take the form of a space-saving collapsible outline. The blue links below are designed using DHTML so that you can click them to show more content.

Turning DHTML on or off

If site visitors with older browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or earlier or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or earlier) make up a large portion of your audience, you can turn off DHTML features using the Microsoft FrontPage browser compatibility settings.

If you disable DHTML, or if you design a web site to be compatible with a browser that doesn't support DHTML, the commands that use DHTML will be unavailable (that is, they will appear dimmed) on menus in FrontPage.

The following commands and settings are unavailable when DHTML is disabled:

• Dynamic HTML Effects (Format menu)
• Page Transition (Format menu)
• Enable collapsible outlines (Bullets and Numbering dialog box)
• Enable hyperlink rollover effects (Page Properties dialog box, Background tab)

Note   If you choose a browser compatibility selection that doesn't support DHTML, but use it anyway, your pages might not be displayed properly, or they might contain errors.

Browser versions that support DHTML 

While DHTML effects work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later and Netscape Navigator 4.0 or later, most of these effects appear static (not animated) when viewed in version 3 Web browsers.