Dreamweaver CC: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Chapter 15. Building Interactive Pages

JavaScript has grown from the simple language behind pop-up windows and swapped images to a full-blown programming tool that can change the content on a web page even as you look at it. It can even download new data behind the scenes and dynamically update a page (that’s why you can scroll to new sections of a Google map without loading new pages—your browser has already downloaded the rest of the map). JavaScript is the key to today’s interactive websites.

Dreamweaver, which always tries to provide features that meet web designers’ needs, includes a set of JavaScript tools that let you add interactive elements—like content sections that expand and collapse, tabbed panels, and pop-up calendars—to a page. That’s what this chapter is all about.

The first section discusses the relationship between the programming languages JavaScript, jQuery, and jQuery’s library of interactive elements (like buttons and pick-a-date calendars), often called jQuery “user interface (UI) widgets.” The sections that follow describe the features of jQuery UI widgets along with tips on how to use them in your pages. At the end of the chapter, you’ll learn about Dreamweaver behaviors, prepackaged JavaScript programs that add interactive elements to a page. Behaviors have been part of Dreamweaver for some time, but with Dreamweaver CC, Adobe trimmed those that were out of date. You’re likely to find uses for the ones that remain.

The Roles of JavaScript, jQuery, and jQuery ...