Dynamic HTML: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Coding interactive or animated websites}}

{{Manualhow-to|date=DecemberJanuary 20082025}}

{{Html series}}

'''Dynamic HTML''', or '''DHTML''', is a term which was used by some browser vendors to describe the combination of [[HTML]], [[Style sheet (web development)|style sheet]]s and [[Dynamic web page#Client-side scripting|client-side scripts]] ([[JavaScript]], [[VBScript]], or any other supported scripts) that enabled the creation of interactive and animated documents.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Document Object Model FAQ|url=https://www.w3.org/DOM/faq.html#DHTML-DOM|access-date=2022-02-16|website=www.w3.orgW3C |date=October 22, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/Style/#dynamic|title=Web Style Sheets|website=www.w3.orgW3C|access-date=7 April 2018 |date=22 July 1999}}</ref> The application of DHTML was introduced by [[Microsoft]] with the release of [[Internet Explorer 4]] in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-19 |title=DHTML {{!}} A Quick Glance of DHTML with Components, Features, Need |url=https://www.educba.com/dhtml/ |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=EDUCBA |language=en-US |first=Priya |last=Pedamkar}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2022}}

DHTML (Dynamic HTML) allows scripting languages, such as JavaScript, to changemodify [[variablevariables (programming)|variable]]sand elements in a web page's definition languagestructure, which in turn affectsaffect the look, behavior, and functionfunctionality of otherwise "static" HTML page content after the page has been fully loaded and during the viewing process. Thus the dynamic characteristic of DHTML is the way it functions while a page is viewed, not in its ability to generate a unique page with each page load.

By contrast, a [[dynamic web page]] is a broader concept, covering any web page generated differently for each user, load occurrence, or specific variable values. This includes pages created by client-side scripting and ones created by [[server-side scripting]] (such as [[PHP]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[JavaServer Pages|JSP]] or [[ASP.NET]]) where the [[web server]] generates content before sending it to the client.

DHTML is the predecessor of [[Ajax (programming)|Ajax]] and DHTML pages are still request/reload-based. Under the DHTML model, there may not be any interaction between the client and server after the page is loaded; all processing happens on the client side. By contrast, Ajax extends features of DHTML to allow the page to initiate network requests (or 'subrequest') to the server even after page load to perform additional actions. For example, if there are multiple [[Tab (interface)|tabs]] on a page, the pure DHTML approach would load the contents of all tabs and then dynamically display only the one that is active, while AJAX could load each tab only when it is really needed.

== Uses ==

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* Include rollover buttons or drop-down menus.

A less common use is to create browser-based action games. Although a number of games were created using DHTML during the late 1990s and early 2000s,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stephen's Web ~ Fun and Games With DHTML ~ |first=Stephen |last=Downes |date= Aug 18, 1999 |url=https://www.downes.ca/post/276 |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=www.downes.caStephen's Web |language=en}}</ref> differences between browsers made this difficult: many techniques had to be implemented in code to enable the games to work on multiple platforms. Browsers have since then converged toward [[web standards]], which has made the design of DHTML games more viable. Those games can be played on all major browsers and in desktop and device applications that support embedded browser contexts.

The term "DHTML" has fallen out of use in recent years as it was associated with practices and conventions that tended to not work well between various web browsers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ferguson |first1=Russ |last2=Heilmann |first2=Christian |title=Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax |date=2013 |publisher=Berkeley, CA: Apress |pages=49–68 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4302-5093-7 |isbn=978-1-4302-5092-0 |s2cid=20526670 |url=https://link-springer-com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/content/pdf/10.1007/978-1-4302-5093-7.pdf |access-date=May 30, 2022}}</ref>