The book doesn't go in-depth in it's explainations. It is written more for the seasoned script writer and not the beginner. I found it very confusing and not enough detail to be of any use to me. I preferred "Javascript, Demystified".

Like most web developers, I typically will reach for one of the many JS libraries when it comes time to add client-side enhancements to my web applications. This is usually the obvious choice for the sake of saving time on projects, and keeping costs down... but quite often, many libraries are simply overkill for a simple little js/dhtml enhancement.

As such, that is what lead me to this book. I was hoping the cookbook format would give me some fresh ideas on doing some simple js/dhtml work and it most definitively delivered.

Perhaps the most valuable parts of this book for me were the aspects of working on the DOM. Additionally, I always enjoy reading different techniques for dealing with client-side form validation.

To me the coverage on loading dynamic data/ajax was good, but I still think that when entering into that realm of JS, it is usually time to deploy one of the libraries I mentioned earlier.

All in all this has become a valuable resource that I often refer to during my daily work.

I really like this book. The format of each technique demonstrated is

Problem- Solution- Discussion

The nice thing is that you can get a quick explanation from the solution, and a more in depth response in the discussion. The author presents complete code which is easily built upon and customized.

I knew a bit of Javascript when I started, but I think this would be an excellent book even for a complete beginner.

I wouldn't buy this book if you are going for aesthetics for you website. I wouldn't buy it if you are a heavy programmer either. Its a good "middle" book for just general roll overs, browser detections, and other javascript functions for form validation. Its a little small.

I still have the first edition of this book but other than perhaps missing the chapters on ajax it's not outdated at all. This book has saved my life several times already. Almost every time I am looking to solve a tricky problem in javascript, I find that this book contains a well explained chapter with the exact solution that I was looking for. The authors often make a point of going through multiple iterations of a solution, to demonstrate what needs to be modified to support certain browsers, and at the same time ensure that the reader actually understands the code too.

This is a great book for experienced javascript developers who want to save time by using tried and tested code to solve common problems, but at the same time understand that code too.

This is a great book for beginners and experts. For beginners, he offers clear examples on how to get started in solving real world problems with Javascript. For experts, this offers a great refresher on how to do things right.

Problem solution format is ideal for the topic. DHTML is best served by this format. I was able to solve some problems I was working on and improve some of my existing code with the recipes presented.

A little more emphasis on cross-browser compatibility than I needed.

I would recommend this to developers who need examples of common page creation issues in JavaScript.

This book is for people who already know the basics of Javascript/DHTML and are looking for examples of solving specific problems using the technology. If you've seen O'Reilly's programming cookbooks before, then you are familiar with the format. This book is separated into fifteen chapters of recipes. The recipes start out simple covering concepts such as strings, numbers, dates, arrays, and objects. They progress in complexity to browser issues and managing multiple frames. The book ends with recipes on creating dynamic content. Each recipe is divided into a problem statement, a brief paragraph describing the solution, and a detailed discussion of the solution including code and a breakdown of that code. Screenshots are shown if appropriate. At the end of the discussion, related recipes are mentioned if they exist. The book does not spend much time trying to differentiate between Dynamic HTML and Javascript since DHTML is basically Javascript. If you already have "The Definitive Guide" for these technologies, this is the perfect companion for finding the answers to specific problems. Highly recommended.

In the world of .NET, there is asp.net Profressional from Wrox Press..........NOW, in the world of JavaScript, there is this book...........IT'S TREMENDOUS............it's NOT ONLY a Cookbook, it has the theory behind JavaScript ESSENTIALS (variables, strings, objects, windows, document, the list goes on and on) THAT YOU WON'T FIND ELSEWHERE. I can't say enough about this book. I have "dabbled" in JavaScript for years, NEVER feeling comfortable with it.........now, thanks to this book, I do!

In the computer world, cookbook / tips / "hack" style books are a funny thing. Unlike food cookbooks you purchase when you have a specific culinary goal, scripting cookbooks are typically bought without much knowledge of the information that they are going to present to you. This can be doubly so when you are purchasing from an online vendor that has not made the table of contents (TOC) available. At the time I write this, Amazon.com has not. O'Reilly's does, and I encourage you to visit this title's TOC page on O'Reilly's web site first before you purchase.

For what this book covers, it is covered very well. The included scripting projects are indeed useful, efficiently written, presented in a user friendly manner, and as a whole contain very few errors. Each script example is presented by introducing a web design problem, followed by a solution discussion, a working script, and a follow-up if needed. None of the code examples in the book are included, but again, O'Reilly's web site for this book has the files available for download.

This is not a stand-alone title, it is not for JavaScript beginners, and it is not a cookbook that provides generic solutions. This is a great companion book to the author's other book, "Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference" (ISBN 1565924940) and David Flanagan's title "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide" (ISBN 0596000480). Web developers looking to better utilize HTML and JavaScript will find (or already know) that these two mentioned books are invaluable. As for this cookbook, if you see something in the TOC that interests you, make the purchase and you certainly wont regret it. But if you don't, feel comfortable skipping it.

The book was good, but definitely a cookbook style approach. I found it incomplete as a learning tool. While it gave examples and explained how they worked, there were a lot of things left lacking. You will be able to use examples from the book, if what you want is in there, and even be able to modify them, but to really learn to program javascript, you will need more.

A good book to have on the shelf, but not a course textbook.