Introduction

From Frontal Wiki

Welcome to the Frontal User's Guide! Here you'll learn everything you ever wanted to know about Frontal, and more.

Frontal is a language supporting all aspects of rich media development. Here are a few analogies to help you better understand what it is and what it does:

• Just as HTML is used to structure web pages, Frontal is a markup language used to create documents that structure rich media.
• Just as JavaScript is used to execute actions, Frontal has a scripting approach to implement interactions and dynamic content.
• Just as CSS is used to format and style web pages, Frontal has a style sheets approach to format and style rich media content and interactions.

And for you overachievers:

• Similar to the Document Object Model (DOM), Frontal has a comprehensive set of APIs to traverse and manipulate the Frontal document.
• Similar to the XMLHttpRequest object and AJAX, Frontal has access to a rich networking library via the Flash runtime.
• Similar to SVG and the 'canvas' tag, Frontal has access to a rich graphics library via the Flash runtime.

In some cases, Frontal's implementations are actually based on the same specifications used by the web standards listed above -- CSS and JavaScript are two examples.

Another reason we've drawn these extensive analogies is because they provide a nice way to structure the content of our User's Guide. Hopefully, it helps those familiar with standard web technologies to find what they're looking for faster, and helps those who are new to web development understand what Frontal is.

Here's a quick overview of each section of the User's Guide:

• Basic Topics - you'll learn the building blocks of Frontal
• Advanced Topics - covers subjects found in Basic Topics, and more, at a deeper level
• Integrating Frontal - helps you understand how to connect with Frontal in myriad ways
• Frontal Architecture - reveals how Frontal is structured and how its ecosystem functions

Also, some of our readers have noted the importance of the section Frontal's Layout Scheme in getting a good grasp of Frontal. It all depends on what you're looking for from Frontal and how in depth you want to get, but if you find yourself wanting a better understanding of how Frontal decides to lay things out and how to achieve a desired layout, then consider adding this to your reading list.

Have fun! And again, don't hesitate to reach out with questions via the Forums page.