Re: linking JavaScript

At 13:48 23/07/02 -0700, Roger Harness wrote:
>Are there any cons to using linked JavaScript files, instead of embedded
>ones?

I have only heard of one, and I've never experienced it. Some browsers 
incorrectly fire the onload event handler before the external files are 
loaded, which can cause problems if the onload calls a function in a linked 
file. However, I've never experienced this.

There are several advantages to putting JavaScript in external files, such 
as cachability and maintainability, that others have mentioned. One 
additional advantage that it makes it easier to write valid XHTML.

Traditionally embedded JavaScript has been hidden from non-JavaScript 
parsers using comments:

<.script type="text/javascript">
<!--
alert('!');
// -->
<./script>

Unfortunately, XHTML requires content like this to be `hidden' another way:

<.script type="text/javascript">
<![CDATA[
alert('!');
]]>
<./script>

These two techniques are incompatible. The first will make the script 
available to JavaScript aware HTML browsers but unavailable to JavaScript 
aware XML browsers. The second will have the opposite effect.[1]

When you link to the JavaScript you don't have this problem - no funny 
characters in the XHTML, no worries.

It also makes more sense to link to files rather than embedding. After all, 
you don't embed GIF data in the HTML, why should you embed JavaScript?

Andrew

--
http://aamcf.co.uk/

[1] Combining them has the effect of preventing both types of browser for 
getting to the JavaScript.

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