Introduction to JavaScript

Build on your knowledge of HTML and CSS by adding interactivity to your web pages with JavaScript. This course provides hands-on practice as you start with the basics and move on to more advanced topics to master not just JavaScript but jQuery as well.

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6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs
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Introduction to JavaScript

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Course code: ijp

You may already know how to use HTML and CSS to create websites. If so, you're ready to add more power to your programming with JavaScript. This programming language lets you add interactivity to your pages by creating features such as buttons, picture carousels, and collapsible panels to your web pages.

The course begins with the basics of JavaScript code and then moves on to more advanced topics. Throughout the course, you'll get plenty of hands-on practice to give you the experience you need to really understand how JavaScript works. Additionally, since no JavaScript course would be complete without a discussion of jQuery, you'll learn about it as well. By the end of the course, you'll understand how to use jQuery to catapult your basic JavaScript knowledge to incredible new heights.

This course assumes you already know HTML and CSS. JavaScript is always used with these two programming languages, not as an alternative to them.

What you will learn

  • Learn how to define what happens when a user clicks a button or presses a key on your pages
  • Try out loops and timers to create animation effects
  • Learn how to use JavaScript to add sound effects, background music, and custom music player controls to your web pages
  • Understand how to use jQuery to get the most out of your site

How you will benefit

  • Add more power to your programing and interactivity on our website by learning JavaScript
  • Learn to create modern, interactive website that visitors will love
  • Open the door to new opportunities as you learn to use JavaScript to build better websites

How the course is taught

  • Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
  • 6 Weeks or 3 Months access
  • 24 course hours

In this lesson, you'll get right into it and learn what JavaScript is, where it came from, who uses it, and why you want to learn it. Most important, you'll learn how and where to write JavaScript and not just about history, theory, or concepts. You'll go hands-on, and by the time you finish this first lesson, you will have already created, tested, and edited some real JavaScript code.

Successful JavaScript programming requires controlling not just what a bit of JavaScript does but also when it should perform its task. This lesson will show you how that works and introduce you to the concept of event handling, which allows you to write code that responds to various events, such as clicking an item on the screen.

This lesson is all about the Document Object Model (DOM), a set of rules and words you use to access and manipulate the elements of a web page. You'll also learn about variables, which are temporary placeholders for information that can vary. While such terms and concepts are often scary to the new developers, they actually turn out to be quite easy to understand once you remove the shroud of mystery.

Code that makes decisions is the hallmark of all modern interactive websites and applications. In this lesson, you'll learn about JavaScript's ability to make if and else decisions (If this happens, do this, or else do this). You'll also learn about data types, strings, numbers, and dates, and how and why programming languages treat these types of information differently.

This lesson will give you some Search My Site code. This is particularly handy for larger multipage sites, where users may want to search for a particular word or phrase within your site without having to go through the site one page at a time. Unlike some services that charge you money for this sort of thing, the method you'll learn here is free of charge. And as an added bonus, you'll learn how to add drop-down list controls to your pages.

In this lesson, you'll learn to use JavaScript to add sound effects, background music, and custom music player controls to your web pages. You'll also learn how to set HTML attributes and CSS styles through JavaScript and how to test the user's browsers for compatibility with modern HTML5 features.

In this lesson, you'll start developing a picture carousel that allows users to click or cycle through thumbnail images, seeing an enlargement of one at a time. These can be a fun and useful addition to any website. Along the way, you'll learn some tips and tricks for using JavaScript with pictures and some new programming concepts like global variables and string manipulation.

This lesson is all about arrays and loops. Those are the main constructs around which some of the best interactive elements, like slideshows and carousels, are built. In this lesson, you'll learn how to create your own JavaScript arrays and loops and start getting a handle on how you can apply them toward building more interactive web pages.

Bringing motion to web pages requires controlling the speed at which things happen. This lesson is about the two main ways you can control speed: JavaScript timers and CSS transitions. You'll also see how you can use JavaScript to trigger and control CSS transitions, which allows you to get some cool effects with minimal coding.

Because JavaScript is such a popular language, people have written many libraries to extend and simplify its use. One of the most widely used and well known is jQuery. In this lesson, you'll learn what jQuery is and how to start using it in your own websites.

In this lesson, you'll build on what you learned last time about jQuery to add some powerful new techniques to your arsenal. Specifically, you'll see how you can use jQuery to create collapsible panel and accordion controls. These are custom controls that allow you to create more modern-looking websites in which users can click to expand information, making your site more efficient, effective, and easier to use on touch screens.

jQuery is more than just a JavaScript library. It's a complete ecosystem that includes lots of prewritten code commonly referred to as jQuery plugins. There are thousands of free plugins available, and they provide for all kinds of slideshows, carousels, touchscreen interfaces, and countless other features that you can add to your own creations, for free, with minimal fuss. In this lesson, you'll learn how to find jQuery plugins and incorporate them into your own site.

Alan Simpson

Alan Simpson is an award-winning author with over 100 published books on computers, technology, and the internet, translated into more than a dozen languages. With extensive experience across nearly every aspect of the computer industry—including web development, operating systems, programming, networking, and security—he is widely regarded as a leading expert in the field.

Alan's journey in tech began in the 1980s as an author, teacher, consultant, and software developer. His work in app development and web design sparked a deep interest in cybersecurity. This passion led him to pursue formal studies, and in 2007, he earned his Security+ certification from CompTIA, demonstrating his broad knowledge of the computer security field. The insights he shares in his courses reflect his years of experience and his commitment to building safe, secure applications and websites.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Prerequisites:

You should have a good understanding of HTML and CSS prior to taking this course. Successful completion of Introduction to CSS3 and HTML5 and Intermediate CSS3 and HTML5 is highly recommended.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

  • This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 8 or later.
  • Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
  • A text editor or authoring tools for writing HTML and CSS code.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.​

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.​

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.​

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.​

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

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