JavaScript® Bible, Seventh Edition

Chapter 3. Selecting and Using Your Tools

IN THIS CHAPTER

• How to choose basic JavaScript authoring tools

• How to set up your authoring environment

• How to enter a simple script to create a web page

In this chapter, you set up a productive script writing and previewing environment on your computer and learn where to find valuable resources on the Web. We also produce sample HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files to demonstrate how to use these tools to create real web pages.

Because of differences in the way various personal computing operating systems behave, we present details of environments for two popular variants: Windows (95 through XP) and Mac OS X. For the most part, your JavaScript authoring experience will be the same regardless of the operating system platform you use—including Linux or Unix. Although there may be slight differences in font designs, depending on your browser and operating system, the information remains the same. Most illustrations of browser output in this book are made from the Windows XP versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox. If you run another browser or version, don't fret if every pixel doesn't match the illustrations in this book.

The Software Tools

The best way to learn JavaScript is to type the HTML and scripting code into documents in a text editor. Your choice of editor is up to you, although we provide some guidelines for choosing.

Choosing a text editor

For the purposes of learning JavaScript in this book, avoid WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web ...