HTML Scripts

Add scripts to HTML pages to make them more interactive and dynamic.

HTML Scripts

There are two popular scripts that are commonly used in HTML to make web pages come alive.

HTML javascript and HTML vbscript

With HTML scripts you can create dynamic web pages, make image rollovers for really cool menu effects, or even validate your HTML form's data before you let the user submit.

Insert a Script into HTML Page

A script in HTML is defined with the <script> tag. To specify the scripting language you will have to use the type attribute.

<HTML>
    <head>
    </head>
    <body>
        <script type="text/javascript">
            document.write("Hello World!")
        </script>
    </body>
</HTML>

The script above will produce this output:

Hello World!

How to Handle Older Browsers

A browser that does not recognize the <script> tag at all, will display the <script> tag's content as text on the page. To prevent the browser from doing this, you should hide the script in comment tags. An old browser (that does not recognize the <script> tag) will ignore the comment and it will not write the tag's content on the page, while a new browser will understand that the script should be executed, even if it is surrounded by comment tags.

Example

JavaScript:
<script type="text/javascript">

</script> VBScript:
<script type="text/vbscript">

</script>

The <noscript> Tag

In addition to hiding the script inside a comment, you can also add a <noscript> tag.

The <noscript> tag is used to define an alternate text if a script is NOT executed. This tag is used for browsers that recognize the <script> tag, but do not support the script inside, so these browsers will display the text inside the <noscript> tag instead. However, if a browser supports the script inside the <script> tag it will ignore the <noscript> tag.

JavaScript:
<script type="text/javascript">

</script>
<noscript>Your browser does not support JavaScript!</noscript> VBScript:
<script type="text/vbscript">

</script>
<noscript>Your browser does not support VBScript!</noscript>

Script Tags

Tag	Description
<script>	Defines a script
<noscript>	Defines an alternate text if the script is not executed
<object>	Defines an embedded object
<param>	Defines run-time settings (parameters) for an object
<applet>	Deprecated. Use <object> instead