Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference
by Danny Goodman

Unconfirmed error reports are from readers.  They have not yet been 
approved or disproved by the author or editor and represent solely the
opinion of the reader.

This page was updated July 19, 2002.

Here's a key to the markup:

        [page-number]: serious technical mistake
        {page-number}: minor technical mistake
        <page-number>: important language/formatting problem
        (page-number): language change or minor formatting problem
        ?page-number?: reader question or request for clarification


UNCONFIRMED errors and comments from readers:


{19} top of the page: 
The author includes instructions for downloading specific fonts into web pages
using CSS. However, to apply the style, he uses a deprecated HTML tag:
          
	<FONT FACE="faceName"></font>

rather than the CSS syntax of:
          
	<SPAN STYLE="font-family: faceName"></span>


(37) Table 3-1, border-right property:
The superscript "a" is in Constant Width, should be in Roman.


(38) Table 3-1, list-style-image property:
The superscript "a" is in Constant Width, should be in Roman.


[153] Example 6-4:
This code does not work in Netscape 4.08. I downloaded the source just to be 
sure, and it didn't work.


[290] last paragraph:
I'm not sure if this is an error or not. The first sentence in the last 
paragraph reads "Content between the start and end tags is ignored by browsers
that support the IFRAME element." Is this correct? Shouldn't it read "Content 
between the start and end tags is ignored by browsers that DO NOT support the 
IFRAME element"?  

If the statement is correct as is, what does it mean? How can content be 
ignored if the IFRAME element is supported by the browser?


{301}  After first occurance of "Object Model Reference";
"IE" should read "NN"

I presume this since the <ILAYER> tag is not implemented in IE therefore 
the ID would not have a OMR in IE.


{323} In the description of the value attribute for the input tag it says that
value is an acceptable attribute for all input types. This is not true. For 
security purposes, value can not be set on input type "file".


[431] omission:
The "Value" property is ommitted for this object!!!


[561] write(), writeln() explanation under Parameters section:
I see that in the errata for the 6/00 printing, this question was addressed, 
but it still doesn't seem to work as it should.  When I have a page in NN (so 
far tested with 4.5 and 4.75), which generates an entirely new page using 
javascript, I construct a string containing the HTML for the new page and 
write it using a document.write(), but no matter what I try, it always leaves 
out the <script> tags in the new page. In this case, the script tags refer to 
an external javascript source file.  I have verified that all the HTML is 
correct by inserting an alert() immediately before the document.write(). I 
will be happy to send the source code for you to test. Incidentally, the same 
code in IE 5.5 works flawlessly.  I tried the solution posted on the 6/00 
errata page, which states that script tags can be generated using "<" + 
"SCRIPT>", but it still doesn't work.  Maybe this only works when generating a
new page at load time?


{621} 4th para:
In the DOm, the description of the IMG object is missing sections on the 
sourceIndex, src, start, style, tagName and title porperties (all of which are
listed in the properties list on page 615).


(678) example for value:
In my printing (1/99), it stands:

	Example ......... options[2]value 

should be: 

	Example ......... options[2].value   

Note the period!


{712}  Select Properties;
The "size" property is missing both from the list of properties for the <Select>
object, and from the detailed descriptions in the pages immediately following.  It
can however be found in the HTML Reference section, page 396.


[736] 3rd listing on page - height, width:
This reference to setting the height or getting the value of the height or 
width doesn not appear to work in IE browsers on the Mac OS.

Is this a correct listing of the DOM for IE on the Mac OS?


{828} second paragraph:
In the code example of window.open(), a non-existent "statusbar" is used where
it should be "status".


{841} section on <HR>:
ALIGN description claims:

  	The ALIGN attribute is deprecated in HTML 4.0 in favor 
	of the align: style sheet attribute

But according to the "CSS Reference" section of this book there isn't an 
"align:" style sheet property.

There is a "text-align:" property; I'm only guessing that this is what is 
meant.


{904}  Top of page, I suggest a "Notes" section after the "Object Model 
Reference" section;

This is not an error, but a Note would be helpful.  In Netscape 4.76, if you 
set an object's visibility to "hidden" or "visible", the string Netscape 
returns to you if you later query the value is:

    o For <form> fields, "visible" or "hidden"
    o But for <span> text, "show" or "hide"

<sigh!/>

Following test case demonstrates this.  Just load it and watch alerts:

<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
#spanText {position:relative; color:orange;}
</STYLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=JAVASCRIPT>
var isNav, isIE
var coll = ""
var styleObj = ""
if (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 4) {
         if (navigator.appName == "Netscape") {
                 isNav = true
         } else {
                 isIE = true
                 coll = "all."
                 styleObj = ".style"
         }
}
function init() {
     inputField = "document." + coll + "myForm.inputText" + styleObj;
     spanText = "document." + coll + "spanText" + styleObj;

     obj1 = eval(inputField);
     obj2 = eval(spanText);

     obj1.visibility="visible";
     obj2.visibility="visible";

     alert("obj1.visibility = " + obj1.visibility);
     alert("obj2.visibility = " + obj2.visibility);

     obj1.visibility="hidden";
     obj2.visibility="hidden";

     alert("obj1.visibility = " + obj1.visibility);
     alert("obj2.visibility = " + obj2.visibility);
}
</SCRIPT>
</head>

<body onLoad="init()">

<FORM Name="myForm">
     <input type=text name="inputText">
</FORM>
     <span ID=spanText>
     TEXT
     </span>

</body>
</html>


(930) arguments example:
function is missing { at end of first line


(931) caller example:
function is missing { at end of first line


(939) MIN_VALUE description:
Due to possible reader confusion, I suggest changing "possible number" to 
"positive number" (i.e., closest to zero).


{939} NEGATIVE_INFINITY, POSITIVE_INFINITY description:
The description for NEGATIVE_INFINITY is incorrect (0 is outside the bounds 
described). Change "Number.MIN_VALUE" to "-Number.MAX_VALUE."


[963]

var a,b
a = 5
b = a --

should be:

var a,b
a = 5
b = a ++

if the explanation is to hold true.


{973} isFinite() description:
The description is incorrect (0 is outside the bounds described and is 
certainly finite, as are all the representable negative numbers).

As a minimum, change "Number.MIN_VALUE" to "-Number.MAX_VALUE".  Preferably 
insert the following after "parameter is": "not  NEGATIVE_INFINITY, 
POSITIVE_INFINITY or NaN, that is".