What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is commonly used today in website pages. It is a scripting language that adds functionality to website pages. JavaScript is similar to Java, but they are not the same. It is basically a smaller version of Java and that JavaScript is simplified, it isn't complicated and the source code is placed within a website pages HTML (HyperText Markup Language) document. Many web designers use JavaScript to enhance their website pages, adding functionality and interesting page elements.

Where did it come from?

JavaScript was originally developed by Brenden Eich with Netscape. When JavaScript was under development, it was named LiveScript. Netscape and Sun Microsystems put together a licensing deal and with that, the 'Java' part of the name was added into it.

Since JavaScript and Java are completely different, a person can program JavaScript and not know how to program Java or vice-versa. It is important that one grasps the concept that these two languages are different and completely separate, not to get the two confused. JavaScript can be a good learning tool as a pre-cursor language to learn prior to learning Java as the two do share some common syntax elements. Meaning since JavaScript is easier to learn than Java it may be a benefit for some programmers to learn JavaScript first and ease their way into learning Java.

Why would a website use JavaScript?

JavaScript can be used to enhance website pages, add functionality and interesting page elements. Have you ever went to a website that had a drop-down menu? Drop down menus can be created with a combination of JavaScript, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and HTML 4.0, this combination of web programming is known otherwise as DHTML (Dynamic HyperText Markup Language). The addition of CSS and JavaScript along with the HTML gives the drop-down menu the functionality. (There are other ways to do drop down menus, but DHTML is a common way.)

JavaScript can add immediate interaction from your users. You can do something as simple as asking someone their name and then customizing the content to address them personally. (Hence, the JavaScript interacts with the HTML of the page and allows for some dynamic page content.)

JavaScript can also be applied to images and content (also known as DHTML techniques) so that images roll-over on a navigation bar or when someone moves their mouse over an element the content of the page appears or disappears. This is commonly done with DHTML layering.

Some people view websites as being boring without animations, flash, java applets, and intractability of the website users.

Without writing server-side code (such as VB.NET, C#, PHP...etc.), JavaScript can validate forms. On form submission of lets say a contact form, it can check and see if the phone number has enough characters, or if an email looks like it is valid, it can check and see if all of the required fields are filled in and give the user an error prompt if something needs to be fixed, added or changed. This allows for some customization with the content of the form, giving it usability and interaction that otherwise it wouldn't have had.

I've even seen JavaScript used (in combination with CSS and HTML 4.0 - DHTML) so that images and text can be moved by the website user on the page. By clicking on an image or on a word, the object could be moved around the page and placed wherever the user feels fit to leave the object.

Since JavaScript can perform if-statements, a website can be tailored to individual website visitors using JavaScript. An if-statement is common in programming; they are used for checking case, variables, all different types of statements... For example you could display a message special for anyone named 'Mary'. An if-statement may look like this:

Functionality Concerns of JavaScript

JavaScript is not cross-platform, meaning that not all browsers fully support JavaScript and the ones that do generally allow their users the ability to turn off JavaScript functionality. Different browsers will read the JavaScript code a little differently than others and some won't support it at all! Due to the wide variety of browsers that users have the ability of installing and using, the amount of browsers is increasingly expanding. Many users never upgrade their browsers that come with their computers and others insist on using other browsers. The only way that this could ever improve is that if everyone got rid of their old browsers and upgraded to the latest and greatest browsers out on the market - although even that won't solve the problems with the discrepancies of how browsers read and interpret code.

Don't let this stop you!

Yes it is true that old browsers definitely do not have the same scripting support that the newer browsers do and it is true that even the new browsers will read code differently. There is a wealth of information online to help get past the quirks in the different browsers.

I would suggest that if you want to add JavaScript functionality to your website, do it. Just don't implement JavaScript in a way that would block users that don't have JavaScript abilities on their browser. With that said, add JavaScript to enhance a website, don't make all of the content rely on JavaScript behavior or else you may be disappointed to learn that your website does not show content on all browsers as you may have otherwise expected.

How do I enable JavaScript?