Dynamic page formatting

[Rusty]

I'm looking to create a form on a page that dynamically changes
according to the user's choices so the the user is not overwhelmed by
the amount of information all at once.

For example:

The user is initially given a choice between 3 different plan types
using a list/menu item. Until the user makes a selection, nothing else
is on the page. When the user makes the selection, another list item
appears below the first.

The last time I looked at this type of problem, the answer was not easy
to implement because both browsers I want to support, (Netscape and
Explorer), used a completely different method of accomplishing this feat.

All suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Rusty

[kaeli]

Re: Dynamic page formatting

In article <101gca6ckak7c0 3@corp.supernew s.com>, rusty@trwzm.com
enlightened us with...[color=blue]
> I'm looking to create a form on a page that dynamically changes
> according to the user's choices so the the user is not overwhelmed by
> the amount of information all at once.
>
> For example:
>
> The user is initially given a choice between 3 different plan types
> using a list/menu item. Until the user makes a selection, nothing else
> is on the page. When the user makes the selection, another list item
> appears below the first.
>
> The last time I looked at this type of problem, the answer was not easy
> to implement because both browsers I want to support, (Netscape and
> Explorer), used a completely different method of accomplishing this feat.
>[/color]

Assuming you don't need to support the old netscape anymore and are okay
with only supporting NN6+ and other W3C compliant browsers, look into
the DHTML methods createElement and appendChild.

http://www.dhtmlcentral.com/tutorials/tutorials.asp?id=7

If you need to support NN4, you can make a layer and write to it. It's
clunky, though.

--
--
~kaeli~
"No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take
it too seriously."

http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart

http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

[Rusty]

Re: Dynamic page formatting

That sounds great.

I've been to the website you included. Do you have any recommendations
on books?

Thanks,

Rusty

kaeli wrote:[color=blue]
> In article <101gca6ckak7c0 3@corp.supernew s.com>, rusty@trwzm.com
> enlightened us with...
>[color=green]
>>I'm looking to create a form on a page that dynamically changes
>>according to the user's choices so the the user is not overwhelmed by
>>the amount of information all at once.
>>
>>For example:
>>
>>The user is initially given a choice between 3 different plan types
>>using a list/menu item. Until the user makes a selection, nothing else
>>is on the page. When the user makes the selection, another list item
>>appears below the first.
>>
>>The last time I looked at this type of problem, the answer was not easy
>>to implement because both browsers I want to support, (Netscape and
>>Explorer), used a completely different method of accomplishing this feat.
>>[/color]
>
>
> Assuming you don't need to support the old netscape anymore and are okay
> with only supporting NN6+ and other W3C compliant browsers, look into
> the DHTML methods createElement and appendChild.
>
> http://www.dhtmlcentral.com/tutorial...rials.asp?id=7
>
> If you need to support NN4, you can make a layer and write to it. It's
> clunky, though.
>[/color]

[Andy Dingley]

Re: Dynamic page formatting

On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 07:55:09 -0600, kaeli
<tiny_one@NOSPA M.comcast.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Assuming you don't need to support the old netscape anymore and are okay
>with only supporting NN6+ and other W3C compliant browsers, look into
>the DHTML methods createElement and appendChild.[/color]

If you care about legacy and non-JS support, supply the whole page
from the server (with maybe some ugly scrolling in the browser).

Then use client-side DHTML to switch the _visibility_ of content
elements on and off. It's a lot easier than actualy creating the
content client-side, and better for backwards compliance.

With client-side XSL and XML data islands you can do really magic
things, but that does get a bit browser dependent.

[kaeli]

Re: Dynamic page formatting

In article <101ktugm7nq8jb 4@corp.supernew s.com>, rusty@trwzm.com
enlightened us with...[color=blue]
> That sounds great.
>
> I've been to the website you included. Do you have any recommendations
> on books?
>[/color]

No, sorry, everything I learned about javascript and html, I learned on
Usenet and the internet.
I have yet to find a book I think is worth the money. None of them have
anything you can't find online somewhere.

As far as really good javascript that won't kill browsers, how to make
fallback pages for non-js browsers, and the like, the
comp.lang.javas cript group has some very knowlegable people. You might
want to ask there.


--
--
~kaeli~
Never argue with an idiot! People may not be able to tell
you apart.

http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart

http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace