What is JavaScript?

What is JavaScript?

Posted by admin on February 17, 2012 in Web Designer - Comments Off

As a Web Designer the scripting language JavaScript is not absolutely essential, but without it you might find yourself struggling to add the interactive elements that you desire to your web pages. Before delving into the details of this, the most powerful scripting language on today’s World Wide Web, it is important to recognise that JavaScript has nothing to do with the far more complex programming language, Java. That means you don’t need to understand Java to succeed with JavaScript, and likewise knowledge of Java won’t necessarily help you to create perfect JavaScript in an instant.

You may not have noticed it, but you will have encountered JavaScript on many a website as you’ve made your way around the internet. Perhaps you’ve seen a new window pop up based on some action of yours, or seen a text field automatically highlighted in red after you’ve input an incorrect value. Chances are, the functionality in place for those instances was created through some JavaScript code.

Do You Need to Learn JavaScript?

One of the great things about JavaScript is that many web designers have allowed their script-code to be used by the developing community. There’s a good likelihood that someone has already written a piece of code that will enable your web page to function in exactly the way you want it to. These pre-made sections of script can simply be plugged into your own code, but you must always ensure that you have the permission to use them.

Of course, even when using someone else’s JavaScript code, it is still a good idea to have at least a basic understanding of the technology. You may need to make some alterations to suit your own site, or even just be aware of how to slip the code into your own web pages to make it function.

When it does come to editing JavaScript you don’t need any fancy technology; any basic text editor will do. In many instances the script code itself will be slotted straight into a HTML file, but it is better practice, particularly for long sections of script, to create separate files with .js extensions. The functions within these external files can then simply be called from your HTML, improving the performance of your pages and allowing you to use the same technology on every page of your web site with relative ease.

A Web Designer should be aware of many different and useful technologies available for the improvement of their websites. JavaScript is just such a technology, so if you already have some familiarity with HTML and CSS this could be a great next language for you to start studying.

If you enjoyed reading the above, you may like to read more articles like this in our Articles For Web Designers category.