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I'm a front-end developer and I was looking for opinions about the best all-round online documentation for javascript/css/html/xhtml/dom/browser quirks and support. I've tried Sitepoint, Quirksmode, W3Schools but all of these seem to be lacking in certain aspects and have been using them in combination.

Christopher Tokar
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  • I've compiled all of these and more into a topic-linked list - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/823718/best-reference-sites-for-html-and-javascript-programming – Robin Rodricks May 05 '09 at 08:11
  • "..looking for opinions about the best.." on Stack-overflow might lead to hazardous community behavior such has judgments, personal notices and other 'flavored' statements, but it's a good question. – Milche Patern Jun 14 '13 at 17:27
  • https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/ – Ravi Makwana Oct 08 '19 at 09:10

20 Answers20

21

I like Mozilla's references:

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM

These are not at all the one stop site you want, but they help me.

Vinko Vrsalovic
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I like gotapi.com (Update 2: Site is apparently offline -- Use another resource such as MDN)

Update: the original answer was from 2008 -- today I would say to check out Mozilla Developer Network (as many others have also said).

Ryan Lanciaux
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    looks good but it uses w3schools (a for profit resource) which has a bad reputation - http://w3fools.com/ – Christopher Tokar Nov 30 '12 at 10:45
  • Is this site still getting maintained? There doesn't seem to be much recent activity. Also, check out their other interface: http://start.gotapi.com – Peter Tseng Dec 03 '12 at 22:19
  • Site is no longer active it seems :-/ Shame, I remember it being good & fast. What is the thing to do with answers that have lost their relevance? – MSpreij Jun 19 '14 at 14:38
  • It was getting downvoted which is good for when things are out of date. I updated the post to include a better API reference. I could alternatively remove the gotapi link but I wanted to keep the original answer in tact. – Ryan Lanciaux Jun 19 '14 at 15:37
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You've actually hit the nail on the head in your description. There is no single website that'll provide you with the detail you seek in every one of those facets.

I find these three are incredibly useful when starting on a blank page: Mozilla DOM Reference (for general js syntax, etc), w3schools x/html reference (look up uncommon attributes!) and quirksmode (cross-browser js/style details). These are quite highly ranked so look for their urls if you're searching for something specific.

As for specific browser quirks, your best bet is to handle these as they come up and develop skills for googling for answers efficiently. Lots of browser quirks have many variables that go into what you actually end up seeing and how developed a 'solution' is for a specific quirk depends on how much time someone has spent investigating it. Read a bunch of search results and see if the problems are all similar or completely separate. Then, refine your search!

Nick
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4

Go straight to W3C docs. They're a bit cryptic at times, but they're solid documentation.

For quirks, obviously sites like Quirksmode are good. But only once you've read actual W3C documentation.

Chris Broadfoot
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3

Sitepoint has a very comprehensive guide to CSS

Bryan M.
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3

The same reference which is included in the Aptana IDE is online... just found this... it's really good:

CSS http://www.aptana.com/reference/html/api/CSS.index.html

HTML http://www.aptana.com/reference/html/api/HTML.index.html

HTML DOM O http://www.aptana.com/reference/html/api/HTMLDOM0.index-frame.html

HTML DOM 1 & 2 http://www.aptana.com/reference/html/api/HTMLDOM2.index-frame.html

JavaScript Keywords http://www.aptana.com/reference/html/api/JSKeywords.index.html

JavaScript Core http://www.aptana.com/reference/html/api/JSCore.index-frame.html

Christopher Tokar
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2

I like w3schools for html or simple questions.

For Javascript, I find Mozilla Developer Center to be pretty useful: Core Javascript 1.5 Reference

matt b
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  • I wish w3schools was a little more careful with what they write about Javascript. I understand it's aimed at beginners, but some things are just plain misleading (as an example, look at http://www.w3schools.com/JS/js_variables.asp where it claims that `x = 5` and `var x = 5` have the same effect) – kangax Aug 18 '09 at 12:58
  • @kangax what's the difference? (I just completed chapters 1 and 2 of wrox beginning javascript, and it didn't mention any difference that I can see), apart from that one is an explicit declaration and the other an implicit declaration, but i don't see a difference in effect – barlop Mar 30 '12 at 03:36
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    @barlop http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1470488/difference-between-using-var-and-not-using-var-in-javascript/1471738#1471738 – kangax Apr 05 '12 at 10:41
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zvon.org

http://reference.sitepoint.com/

chrisb
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blooberry.com is a great HTML/CSS reference site.

ScottKoon
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  • I really like this one too. It has some very good documentation on browser quirks/support for each element. It's too bad Brian hasn't updated the site since 2003. – JohnFx Oct 19 '10 at 15:17
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devguru.com

John Sheehan
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  • I think DevGuru is very good. It is very fast to get a good overview of what you are looking for. – awe Aug 18 '09 at 12:50
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I rely on http://quirksmode.org/resources.html for information on HTML/CSS/JavaScript. This resource does a great job addressing cross-browser compatibility issues in a helpful table format.

Saul Dolgin
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This may be useful for some javascript functions http://kangax.github.com/es5-compat-table/

Aurimas
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  • javascriptkit.com/jsref/ (convenient JavaScript reference with examples)
  • javascriptkit.com/domref/ (DOM reference with examples)
Alex
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I tend to go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/ first.

Darryl Braaten
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There is a very good german reference (and french I think) at selfhtml.org.

jrudolph
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I recommend going through these JavaScript Video Lectures (15 of them).

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GotAPI is a fantastic resource http://www.gotapi.com

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http://www.selfhtml.org/ is in German (originally) and French (translated). English translation has been unfortunately suspended: http://en.selfhtml.org/

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I'd recommended w3schools.com. It's a pretty good and comprehensive library, I find.

Tom
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I always start with www.zvon.org, especially the references section. Provides a good overview and links directly to the corresponding standards.

Ronald Wildenberg
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