Foreword

> 原文：http://domenlightenment.com/ # Foreword I make websites. Sometimes I make music. Over the years, I’ve noticed an interesting pattern of behavior from some musicians—often self-taught—who think of themselves as creative types: they display an aversion to learning any music theory. The logic, they say, is that knowing the theory behind music will somehow constrain their creative abilities. I’ve never understood that logic (and I secretly believe that it’s a retroactive excuse for a lack of discipline). To my mind, I just don’t see how any kind of knowledge or enlightenment could be a bad thing. Alas, I have seen the same kind of logic at work in the world of web design. There are designers who not only don’t know how to write markup and CSS, they actively refuse to learn. Again, they cite the fear of somehow being constrained by this knowledge (and again, I believe that’s a self-justifying excuse). In the world of front-end development, that attitude is fortunately far less prevalent. Most web devs understand that there’s always more to learn. But even amongst developers who have an encyclopediac knowledge of HTML and CSS, there is often a knowledge gap when it comes to the Document Object Model. That’s understandable. You don’t need to understand the inner workings of the DOM if you’re using a library like jQuery. The whole point of JavaScript libraries is to abstract away the browser’s internal API and provide a different, better API instead. Nonetheless, I think that many front-end devs have a feeling that they should know what’s going on under the hood. That’s the natural reaction of a good geek when presented with a system they’re expected to work with. Now, thanks to DOM Enlightenment, they can scratch that natural itch. Douglas Crockford gave us a map to understand the inner workings of the JavaScript language in his book JavaScript: The Good Parts. Now Cody Lindley has given us the corresponding map for the Document Object Model. Armed with this map, you’ll gain the knowledge required to navigate the passageways and tunnels of the DOM. ix You might not end up using this knowledge in every project. You might decide to use a library like jQuery instead. But now it will be your decision. Instead of having to use a library because that’s all that you know, you can choose if and when to use a library. That’s a very empowering feeling. That’s what knowledge provides. That is true enlightenment. —Jeremy Keith, founder and technical director of clearleft.com, and author of DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model