Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, 5th Edition

12The Browser Object Model

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Understanding the window object, the core of the BOM
• Controlling windows and pop-ups
• Page information from the location object
• Using the navigator object to learn about the browser
• Manipulating the browser history stack with the history object

DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

Please note that all the code examples for this chapter are available as a part of this chapter's code download on the book's website at www.wiley.com/go/projavascript5e.

Though ECMAScript describes it as the core of JavaScript, the Browser Object Model (BOM) is really the core of using JavaScript on the web. The BOM provides objects that expose browser functionality independent of any web page content. For years, a lack of any real specification made the BOM both interesting and problematic because browser vendors were free to augment it as they saw fit. The commonalities between browsers became de facto standards that have survived browser development mostly for the purpose of interoperability. Part of the HTML5 specification now covers the major aspects of the BOM, standardizing one of the most fundamental parts of JavaScript in the browser.

THE WINDOW OBJECT

At the core of the BOM is the window object, which represents an instance of the browser. The window object serves a dual purpose in browsers, acting as the JavaScript interface to the browser window and the ECMAScript Global object. This means that every object, variable, and ...