dynamic HTML

Dynamic HTML

(language, World-Wide Web)

(DHTML) The addition of JavaScript to HTML to allow web pages to change and interact with the user without having to communicate with the server. JavaScript allows the behaviour of the page to be controlled by code that is downloaded with the HTML. It does this by manipulating the Document Object Model (DOM).

The term DHTML is often also taken to include the use of "style" information to give finer control of HTML layout. The style information can be supplied as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) or as "style" attributes (which can be manipulated by JavaScript). Layers are often also used with DHTML.

Both the JavaScript and style data can be included in the HTML file or in a separate file referred to from the HTML. Some web browsers allow other languages (e.g. VBScript or Perl) to be used instead of JavaScript but this is less common.

DHTML can be viewed in Internet Explorer 4+, Firefox and Netscape Communicator 4+ but, as usual, Microsoft disagree on how DHTML should be implemented. The Document Object Model Group of the World Wide Web Consortium is developing standards for DHTML.

http://w3c.org/DOM/.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

dynamic HTML

(1) A Web page that is customized for each user. See dynamic Web page.

(2) (Dynamic HTML) A combination of Web technologies for creating menus, interactive dialogs, animations and dynamic Web pages. The major elements are the ECMAScript language and DOM object model. ECMAScript is a derivative of JavaScript, and DOM is an interface that presents the data in an HTML document as a data record to the programmer for ease in updating. See ECMAScript, DOM and dynamic Web page.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.