How do I get started with jQuery?

Question

I’m new to jQuery, so I want to know how I can get started with it, or where to start from.

I have good knowledge of HTML, CSS, DHTML and JavaScript.

Answer 1

With the documentation on the jQuery website

Answer 2

I would suggest the jquery tutorials here:

http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials

or if you have some spare cash get this book....it's great for basics:

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-jQuery-Interaction-Development-JavaScript/dp/1847192505

Answer 3

Start from here. Good one

http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials

http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:Getting_Started_with_jQuery

Answer 4

I heard about a tool, I think it's FireQuery, which lets you open a web page and try out jQuery on it (whether it originally used it or not), to try out selectors etc and see the effects it can have. That's probably worth a look.

(That's a Firebug plug-in which works with Firefox, BTW).

Answer 5

There are some good books too. Look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/96818/best-jquery-book-jquery-in-action-vs-learning-jquery

Answer 6

Some more resources can be found at http://www.learningjquery.com/

jQuery Fundamentals is a nice open source book on the subject.

Answer 7

I picked up the book from Wrox press, Beginning Javascript and CSS Development With jQuery. I liked it because the code examples don't treat jQ in a vacuum, they include all the html, css, and scripting to implement relatively complex ui elements, cross browser CSS hacks and all.

For instance he creates a clone of the OS X Finder with drag and drop "files" and shows how to create all the behaviors Finder does. Selection, dragging into folders, etc.

Once you understand the basics of how jQuery does things (selectors/traversal, implicit looping, chaining methods, event handling, how this is treated) you can go from n00b to pro pretty quickly. Everything fits together very well and the online documentation is excellent.

Answer 8

If you're using jquery with asp.net then Rick Strahl has a great presentation on the subject along with live code examples : http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/posts/459197.aspx

Answer 9

I used JQuery In Action. It was great book. Also, there are tons of blogs and forums with useful JQuery information. Once you get the basics then you can more or less just jump into a project and Google issues as they come up, as there are tons of solutions out there to borrow and learn from.

Answer 10

I would suggest you reading these and going step by step up to advanced level:

• Official jQuery Tutorials
• 15DaysOfjQuery
• LearningjQuery

And finally a book I love (You can read any time):

Learning jQuery

More Resources:

• jQuery API Reference
• Visual jQuery

Answer 11

As others have mentioned, there are a bajillion tutorials out there. They're all good choices, but the way I decided to learn was by doing it.

These are the steps I took:

1. Decide what you want to add to the page using jQuery (specifically look at jQuery UI, maybe accordian, tabs, etc... for examples of what I've done with TABS and jQ take a look at http://itsalldiet.com/tools)

2. From there, go to the jQueryUI documentation (as mentioned by so many others) but in my example, I'd say go exactly here: http://jqueryui.com/demos/tabs/

3. Click on "View Source"

4. Copy and Paste the source onto your own website.

5. Change it a little to meet your purposes

6. Decide that it still doesn't quite do exactly what you want it to do

7. Read about the other options you can play with.

8. Get close but not quite close enough....

9. Start reading about accessing the DOM directly and looping through every element on the page using CCS Selector Syntax (it's here: http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/ once you start to get the hang of it, you're basically a ninja) :

   $('a[href~=foo][display=none]').each(function(a){a.slidetoggle()});

jQuery, as with any new language may seem overwhelming at first. It is, however, once you get the hang of it, quite a bit of fun. I also really like prototype too. You might want to check that one out too.

Answer 12

I've always had a problem with online docs or ebooks, to much window switching. I found that getting myself a couple of well structured books (Packt Publishing's Learning jQuery and Packt Publishing's jQuery Reference Guide in my case) was the best path. Not to mention I can keep it on my desk instead of it taking up part of my screen.

Good luck.

Answer 13

I have found the best option when trying to learn a new framework is to solve a problem that the framework is trying to address. Learning for the sake of learning is never as productive. If you have a good understanding of the Javascript language then you will be able to see the benefits of all of the frameworks available. The free YUI theater talks by Douglas Crockford and as a by product his book (JavaScript: The Good Parts) give a good insight into the simplicity of the language. Once you understand Javascript you should have no problem with jQuery and you will admire the abstractions it gives you for operating over the DOM.

Answer 14

"jQuery Novice to Ninja" by Sitepoint is a decent read and was free for some time. If you know Javascript already then you're halfway into the jQuery language. Scope out tutorials online for learning things directly. buildinternet.com is a great place for no-nonsense jQuery tutorials.