by James Edwards and Cameron Adams

JavaScript is an amazingly useful language that offers many unique benefits. With a little consideration for how scripted functionality degrades, you can use JavaScript to bring a whole range of functional, design and usability improvements to your web sites.

This article is actually an excerpt from SitePoint's new title, The JavaScript Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks. The four chapters included here cover:

* a comprehensive introduction to JavaScript including a tour of basic techniques, debugging, and more

* the ways in which the Document Object Model can be utilized in JavaScript programming

* the practicalities of working with frames, including techniques for working with popups, communicating between frames, and getting scrolling position

* an introduction to basic DHTML, which covers event handling, cursor detection, finding the size and position of an element, and more