13 July 06
I have a confession. Despite me talking about Javascript libraries, I’d never used jQuery. Until today.
Recently, I proposed an article to Dan, the editor of .net magazine, which I called “How to use Prototype/jQuery”. I’d used various other libraries before without being overly excited about them. Wasn’t overly keen on Prototype, didn’t like YUI, etc. I was hoping that jQuery was less than awkward to work with – otherwise I’d be using the monster truck that is Prototype for my article.
Being on my week off and having John Resig, the maker of jQuery, making a comment on here, I thought that maybe it was a sign from God that it was time to delve into the world of jQuery.
So after several hours of using the library, my current conclusion is this. It’s really good.
For me, it was quite similar to using Rails for the first time. I was enjoying coding. I was productive. I was excited.
jQuery is designed to change the way that you write Javascript.
...says the website and I totally agree. I will probably now use jQuery instead of a home-made common.js script. Plus, at only 10k, the script is really light compared to other frameworks. I’d always been drawn to jQuery due to it’s small size, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy using it. I was expecting to have to jump through hoops to get results. I was expecting to not understand what I was doing. I was wrong.
There are some – albeit small – down sides. There are things I probably wouldn’t use every day in the base script. Ajax and effects, for instance. It would be nice to separate these into different plug-ins to pick ‘n’ mix for when I choose. This is my opinion, of course, I just enjoy my scripts like my women – not to be massive beasts.
If your query, like mine a day ago, was “is this jQuery any good?”, then my answer would be oooh, yeah!
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Well, I didn’t see the configure your download link – what can I say? No downsides at all? Hmmm… maybe I’ll have to make some up…
Comment by John Resig on 14 July 2006, 01:43
Rik – glad to see you’re enjoying the code!
One thing that can help you out: On the jQuery homepage there’s a link that says “Configure Your Download” – clicking it will expand a menu of modules which you can include/exclude as you so desire – helping to cut down on the size even more!
Also, on the new site (which will be going live soon), there’s a large list of plugins that you can browse through – this is another great place to really learn a lot about what jQuery is capable of.
Also, if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to post them to the mailing list – it’s very active with people willing to help out.