A More Detailed Discussion of the Major Features of Dynamic HTML Introduction to Dynamic HTML Dynamic HTML adds richer, more engaging user interfaces to the HTML presentation language, while also greatly reducing the workload of networks and servers. The object model provided by Dynamic HTML gives Web developers the ability to dynamically update the content, style, and structure of Web-based content, while providing them with detailed control over the appearance, interactivity, and multimedia elements required for a polished and exciting application. It is used by browsers and authoring tools on numerous operating systems. But as a tool for delivering rich, interactive applications, HTML is limited. Even the most interactive and polished Web pages look dull, tame, and functionally challenged compared to any of today s top education or entertainment CD-ROM titles.
Users notice the difference immediately.
HTML does not allow developers to create equally appealing and interactive applications because it is essentially static. Any interactive feature of a page that, when activated, results in a significant change to the page s appearance requires new HTML code from the server, that is, another round trip over the Internet. This repetitive server contact makes pages less responsive and taxes Web server resources. HTML s inability to accommodate large, dynamic changes to a page s appearance limits it as a tool for creating front ends to business applications. Other additions include multimedia and database features.