Where can I learn jQuery? Is it worth it?

Question

Hey, I've had a lot of good experiences learning about web development on w3schools.com. It's hit or miss, I know, but the PHP and CSS sections specifically have proven very useful for reference.

Anyway, I was wondering if there was a similar site for jQuery. I'm interested in learning, but I need it to be online/searchable, so I can refer back to it easily when I need the information in the future.

Also, as a brief aside, is jQuery worth learning? Or should I look at different JavaScript libraries? I know Jeff uses jQuery on Stack Overflow and it seems to be working well.

Thanks!

Edit: jQuery's website has a pretty big list of tutorials, and a seemingly comprehensive documentation page. I haven't had time to go through it all yet, has anyone else had experience with it?

Edit 2: It seems Google is now hosting the jQuery libraries. That should give jQuery a pretty big advantage in terms of publicity.

Also, if everyone uses a single unified aQuery library hosted at the same place, it should get cached for most Internet users early on and therefore not impact the download footprint of your site should you decide to use it.

2 Months Later...

Edit 3: I started using jQuery on a project at work recently and it is great to work with! Just wanted to let everyone know that I have concluded it is ABSOLUTELY worth it to learn and use jQuery.

Also, I learned almost entirely from the Official jQuery documentation and tutorials. It's very straightforward.

10 Months Later...

jQuery is a part of just about every web app I've made since I initially wrote this post. It makes progressive enhancement a breeze, and helps make the code maintainable.

Also, all the jQuery plug-ins are an invaluable resource!

Answer 1

I use Prototype, which I like. I'm afraid I don't know jQuery, so I can't compare them, but I think Prototype is worth checking out. Their API docs are generally pretty good, in my experience (which certainly helps with learnability).

Answer 2

It is very much worth it. jQuery really makes JavaScript fun again. It's as if all of JavaScript best practices were wrapped up into a single library.

I learned it through jQuery in Action (Manning), which I whipped through over a weekend. It's a little bit behind the current state of affairs, especially in regard to plug-ins, but it's a great introduction.

Answer 3

Rick Strahl and Matt Berseth's blogs both tipped me into jQuery and man am I glad they did. jQuery completely changes a) your client programming perspective, b) the grief it causes it you, and c) how much fun it can be!

http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/

http://mattberseth.com/

I used the book jQuery in Action http://www.amazon.com/jQuery-Action-Bear-Bibeault/dp/1933988355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219716122&sr=1-1 (I bought it used at Amazon for about $22). It has been a big help into bootstrapping me into jQuery. The documentation at jquery.com are also very helpful.

A place where jQuery falls a little flat is with its UI components. Those don't seem to be quite ready for primetime just yet.

It could be that Prototype or MooTools or ExtJS are as good as jQuery. But for me, jQuery seems to have a little more momentum behind it right now and that counts for something for me.

Check jQuery out. It is very cool!

Answer 4

There are numerous JavaScript libraries that are worth at least a cursory review to see if they suit your particular need. First, come up with a short list of criteria to guide your selection and evaluation process.

Then, check out a high level framework comparison/reviews somewhere like Wikipedia, select a few that fit your criteria and interest you. Test them out to see how they work for you. Most, if not all, of these libraries have websites w/ reference documentation and user group type support.

To put some names out there, Prototype, script.aculo.us, Jquery, Dojo, YUI...those all seem to have active users and contributers, so they are probably worth reading up on to see if they meet your needs.

Jquery is good, but with a little extra effort, maybe you'll find that something else works better for you.

Good luck.

Answer 5

There are a number of resources to learn jQuery (which is completely worth it IMHO). Start here http://docs.jquery.com/Main_Page to read the jQuery documentation. This is a great site for seeing visually what it has to offer: http://visualjquery.com/1.1.2.html. Manning publications also has a great book which is highly recommended called jQuery in Action. As far as JavaScript libraries are concerned, this one and Prototype are probably the most popular if you're looking to compare jQuery to something else.

Answer 6

I have yet to see a convincing argument for picking jQuery over Prototype or vice-versa.

Just pick one of the two and learn it. It will make writing JavaScript code fun again.

Answer 7

I started learning by looking at jQuery extensions to see how other developers work with the jQuery language. It not only helped me to learn jQuery syntax but also taught me how to develop my own extensions.

Answer 8

I used Prototype for about six months before I decided to learn jQuery. To me, it was like a night and day difference. For example, in Prototype you will loop over a set of elements checking if one exists and then setting something in it, in jQuery you just say $('div.class').find('[name=thing]') or whatever and set it.

It's so much easier to use and feels a lot more powerful. The plugin support is also great. For almost any common js pattern, there's a plugin that does what you want. With prototype, you'll be googling for blogs that have the snippet of code you need.

Answer 9

A great resource for learning jQuery is: Learning jQuery. The author, Karl Swedberg, also co-wrote the book titled... ready? Yup, Learning jQuery. Remy Sharp also has great info geared towards the visual aspects of jQuery on his blog.

--SEAN O

Answer 10

jQuery worths learning!!! I recommend reading "Learning jQuery" and "jQuery in Action". Both books are great with expalanation and examples. The next step is to actually use it to do something. You will find official http://docs.jquery.com docummentation very useful. I use it as a reference, google it all the time :)

Also "Learning jQuery" blog mensioned by Sean is also very useful. Also jQuery HowTo is also has a great collection of jQuery code snippets.

Answer 11

Jquery.com is well organized and has many great examples. You don't need to buy a book. I found it easy to pickup on the fly by just referencing website's documentation. If you're someone who learns best by doing, I'd suggest this approach.

And yes, it's absolutely worth learning. It'll save you a lot of time and you'll actually look forward to doing JavaScript work!

Answer 12

I found that these series of tutorials (“jQuery for Absolute Beginners” Video Series) by Jeffery Way are VERY HELPFUL.

It targets those developers who are new to jQuery. He shows how to create many cool stuff with jQuery, like animation, Creating and Removing Elements and more.

I learned a lot from it. He shows how it's easy to use jQuery. Now I love it and I can read and understand any jQuery script even if it's complex.

Here is one example I like "Resizing Text"

1- jQuery:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
    $(function() {
     $('a').click(function() {
      var originalSize = $('p').css('font-size'); // Get the font size.
      var number = parseFloat(originalSize, 10);  // That method will chop off any integer 
                                                  // from the specifid varibale "originalSize".
      var unitOfMassure = originalSize.slice(-2); // Store the unit of massure, Pixle or Inch.

      $('p').css('font-size', number / 1.2 + unitOfMassure);
      if (this.id == 'larger') {
        $('p').css('font-size', number * 1.2 + unitOfMassure);
      } // Figure out which element is triggered.
      });
     });
</script>

2- CSS Styling:

<style type="text/css" >
  body{ 
      margin-left:300px;text-align:center; 
      width:700px; 
      background-color:#666666;}
  .box {
      width:500px; 
      text-align:justify; 
      padding:5px; 
      font-family:verdana; 
      font-size:11px; 
      color:#0033FF; 
      background-color:#FFFFCC;}
</style>

2- HTML:

<div class="box">
    <a href="#" id="larger">Larger</a> |
    <a href="#" id="Smaller">Smaller</a>
    <p>
    In today’s video tutorial, I’ll show you how to resize text every 
    time an associated anchor tag is clicked. We’ll be examining 
    the “slice”, “parseFloat”, and “CSS” Javascript/jQuery methods.
    </p>
</div>

I highly recommend these tutorials:

http://blog.themeforest.net/screencasts/jquery-for-absolute-beginners-video-series/

Answer 13

Hey, I am biased in that I now work with these guys, but Carsonified offers some great resources for people learning and improving their jQuery skill set. Just next Monday there is an online conference on jQuery featuring John Resig himself - http://carsonified.com/online-conferences/jquery/

Also, they now offer video tutorials via their membership scheme on the Think Vitamin blog,

I know there's a lot of free resource out there, I guess the difference here is the quality of the content you get. hope it's useful!