Book Image

YUI 2.8: Learning the Library

Book Image

YUI 2.8: Learning the Library

Overview of this book

The YUI Library is a set of utilities and controls written in JavaScript for building Rich Internet Applications, across all major browsers and independently of any server technology. There's a lot of functionality baked into YUI, but getting to and understanding that functionality is not for the faint of heart. This book gives you a clear picture of YUI through a step-by-step approach, packed with lots of examples.YUI 2.8: Learning the Library covers all released (non-beta) components of the YUI 2.8 Library in detail with plenty of working examples, looking at the classes that make up each component and the properties and methods that can be used. It includes a series of practical examples to reinforce how each component should/can be used, showing its use to create complex, fully featured, cross-browser, Web 2.0 user interfaces. It has been updated from its first edition with the addition of several chapters covering several new controls and enriched with lots of experience of using them.You will learn to create a number of powerful JavaScript controls that can be used straightaway in your own applications. Besides giving you a deep understanding of the YUI library, this book will expand your knowledge of object-oriented JavaScript programming, as well as strengthen your understanding of the DOM and CSS. The final chapter describes many of the tools available to assist you the developer in debugging, maintaining, and ensuring the best quality in your code. In this new edition, all the examples have been updated to use the most recent coding practices and style and new ones added to cover newer components. Since the basic documentation for the library is available online, the focus is on providing insight and experience.The authors take the reader from beginner to advanced-level YUI usage and understanding.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
YUI 2.8 Learning the Library
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
Preface

Instant menus—just add water (or a Menu Control)


The Menu Control is used to add one of several different menus to your website, saving you the chore of adding this almost essential feature yourself. It's another control that takes a complex, difficult, or time-consuming task, and one which is an almost inherent requirement of any website, and packages it up into a convenient and easy-to-use module. The three different types of menu you can create are:

  • A standard navigation menu

  • An application-style menu bar

  • A right-click context menu

The navigation menu can be implemented as either a vertical or horizontal menu and generates a clean and attractive interface, which your visitors can use to navigate to different areas of your site. The navigation model of any site is key to whether using the site is easy and enjoyable; nothing turns off visitors more than a poorly designed or inconsistent navigation structure.

Another type of menu that the Menu Control is able to create is an application-style...