Dynamic HTML (DHTML) is a combination of technologies used to create interactive and dynamic web content. It’s not a standalone standard or programming language but rather a collection of techniques and tools that work together. DHTML enables websites to update content dynamically and provide interactivity without reloading the entire page.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
Provides the basic structure of the webpage.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
Controls the appearance and layout of the webpage. CSS can be dynamically altered to create effects like hover states or style changes.
JavaScript
Adds interactivity and dynamic behavior, such as updating content without a page reload.
DOM (Document Object Model)
A programming interface that allows access to and manipulation of the webpage’s structure. JavaScript interacts with the DOM to change content or add new elements.
Here’s a simple example of a button changing text dynamically:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
#text {
color: blue;
font-size: 20px;
}
</style>
<script>
function changeText() {
document.getElementById("text").innerHTML = "Text changed!";
document.getElementById("text").style.color = "red";
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<p id="text">Original text</p>
<button onclick="changeText()">Click me</button>
</body>
</html>
Nowadays, DHTML has been largely replaced by modern techniques like AJAX and frameworks (e.g., React, Vue.js). However, it was a crucial step in the evolution of interactive web applications.
The Document Object Model (DOM) is a standardized interface provided by web browsers to represent and programmatically manipulate structured documents, especially HTML and XML documents. It describes the hierarchical structure of a document as a tree, where each node represents an element, attribute, or text.
Tree Structure:
<html>
element, with child nodes such as <head>
, <body>
, <div>
, <p>
, etc.Object-Oriented Representation:
Interactivity:
<p>
element or insert a new <div>
.Platform and Language Agnostic:
1. Accessing an Element:
let element = document.getElementById("myElement");
2. Changing Content:
element.textContent = "New Text";
3. Adding a New Element:
let newNode = document.createElement("div");
document.body.appendChild(newNode);
The DOM is defined and maintained by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standards and is constantly updated to support modern web technologies.
XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) is a variant of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that is based on XML (Extensible Markup Language). XHTML combines the flexibility of HTML with the strictness and structure of XML. Here are some key aspects and features of XHTML:
Structure and Syntax:
<p></p>
) or as self-closing tags (e.g., <img />
).Compatibility:
Doctype Declaration:
Practical Use:
Different XHTML Profiles:
In summary, XHTML is a stricter and more structured variant of HTML based on XML, offering advantages in certain application areas. It was developed to improve web interoperability and standardization but has not been fully adopted due to the advent of HTML5.