About The Spry Framework; Adding Spry Widgets - Adobe 38040334 - Dreamweaver CS3 User Manual

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Chapter 16: Building Spry pages visually
The Spry framework is a JavaScript and CSS library that lets you build richer web pages. You can use the framework
to display XML data and create interactive page elements that display dynamic data without requiring the entire page
to refresh.

About the Spry framework

About the Spry framework
The Spry framework is a JavaScript library that provides web designers with the ability to build web pages that offer
richer experiences to their site visitors. With Spry, you can use HTML, CSS, and a minimal amount of JavaScript to
incorporate XML data into your HTML documents, create widgets such as accordions and menu bars, and add
different kinds of effects to various page elements. The Spry framework is designed so that markup is simple and easy
to use for those who have basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The Spry framework is meant primarily for users who are web design professionals or advanced nonprofessional web
designers. It is not intended as a full web application framework for enterprise-level web development (though it can
be used in conjunction with other enterprise-level pages).
For more information on the Spry framework, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_dw_spryframework.
For a tutorial about using Spry to build web pages, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0166.

Adding Spry widgets

About Spry widgets
A Spry widget is a page element that provides a richer user experience by enabling user interaction. A Spry widget
comprises the following parts:
An HTML code block that defines the structural composition of the widget.
Widget structure
JavaScript that controls how the widget responds to user-initiated events.
Widget behavior
CSS that specifies the appearance of the widget.
Widget styling
The Spry framework supports a set of reusable widgets written in standard HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can
easily insert these widgets—the code is HTML and CSS at its simplest—and then style the widget. The behaviors in
the framework include functionality that lets users show or hide content on the page, change the appearance (such
as color) of the page, interact with menu items, and much more.
Each widget in the Spry framework is associated with unique CSS and JavaScript files. The CSS file contains every-
thing necessary for styling the widget, and the JavaScript file gives the widget its functionality. When you insert a
widget by using the Dreamweaver interface, Dreamweaver automatically links these files to your page so that your
widget contains functionality and styling.
September 4, 2007