Summary

JavaScript has quickly become the premier client-side scripting language used within Web pages. Much of the language’s success has to do with the ease with which developers can start using it. The <script> element makes it easy to include bits of JavaScript directly within HTML documents; however, some browsers may need to use comments and the <noscript> element to avoid errors. A linked script can further be employed to separate the markup of a page from the script that may manipulate it. While including scripts can be easy, the challenges of JavaScript are numerous. The language is inconsistently supported in browsers and its tumultuous history has led to numerous incompatibilities. However, there is hope in sight. With the rise of ECMAScript and the W3C specified Document Object Model, many of the various coding techniques required to make JavaScript code work in different browsers may no longer be necessary.