19. Scripts

Scripts are little programs that add interactivity to your page. You can write simple scripts to add an alert box or a bit of text to your page, or more complicated scripts that create rollovers or load particular pages according to your visitor's browser. Because scripts are perfect for moving elements around on a page, they are the backbone of dynamic HTML, also known as DHTML.

Most scripts are written in JavaScript, since JavaScript is the scripting language that is supported by most browsers, including Fire-fox and Explorer.

Of course, there are entire books written about JavaScriptand some very fine ones indeed, including JavaScript for the Web: Visual QuickStart Guide by Dori Smith and Tom Negrino. In this chapter, rather than talking about how to write scripts, I'll stick to explaining how to insert those scripts, once created, into your (X)HTML documents.

For a look at a few little scripts that you can use in your pages, consult Chapter 20, A Taste of JavaScript.