Dynamic HTML gives you the ability to dynamically change HTML objects on the page.  Building on IE3's Cascading Style Sheets, Dynamic HTML enables you to change any object's property at any time.  This new technology gives web page authors unprecedented control over their pages, making it far easier to produce attractive, feature-rich pages.

Choose a topic from the list below, or just read on.

What is it?

The static nature of ordinary HTML means Web authors face significant challenges in creating interactive Web pages. Furthermore, using browser-specific proprietary extensions is a risky process as it means such Web pages can only be viewed by a select few.

Dynamic HTML removes these barriers for content providers. As an open, standards-based technology it gives Web authors the opportunity to design more interactive Web pages that will be open to a wider audience than any proprietary standard. Microsoft is working with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to ensure interoperability with different browsers.

Key features of Dynamic HTML include:

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Authors can specify both the style and positioning of page elements through style sheets. Elements can be positioned precisely using x- and y-coordinates and z-order.
• Document Object Model (DOM). Dynamic HTML provides a comprehensive object model for HTML. This model exposes all page elements as objects. You can manipulate these objects by changing their attributes or applying methods to them at any time. Dynamic HTML also provides full support for keyboard, mouse, and focus events on all page elements. Support for the Document Object Model enables the following:

• Dynamic content. Text or graphics can be added, deleted, or modified on the fly. For example, a Web page can display an updated headline, without refreshing the page. The text surrounding the headline will re-flow automatically.
• Dynamic styles. Any Cascading Style Sheets attribute, including color and font, can be updated, without talking to a server. For instance, text can change color or size when a mouse pointer passes over it. Interactive documents, such as a table of contents, can expand or contract when the user clicks various headings. Multimedia effects, such as visual filters and transition effects, can be applied to HTML elements simply by adding the Filter CSS attribute.
• Absolute positioning. CSS positioning coordinates for existing page content can be updated at any time to create animated effects without reloading the page.

• Data Binding. Build application front ends that manipulate data on the client without numerous round trips to the server.

PC Plus has been running a tutorial on coding DHTML for several months in Paul Stephens' Publish and Be... series. Each month it includes a tutorial in the magazine together with extra material and multimedia on the SuperCD, and on Paul's Web site. You can find this month's material on one of the other SuperCDs.