Why I should use jQuery? Simple. In just one glance at the source code of a

page using jQuery you’ll see how easy it is to use, how much it accomplishes in so few lines of code, and how graceful it is.

My mind was opened one day when I stumbled across some code written with jQuery. I was flipping through the RSS feeds and reading my daily dose of web design blogs when I came across an example of JavaScript loveliness that used jQuery. Truth be told, the code on that site had some browser related bugs… but the concept was something I hadn’t seen before.

What about the code? The code looked almost simple. Like

nothing I had seen before. It made sense.

I started reading through the documentation and was amazed to see how much could be done with so little extra code.

When you can use jQuery? You should use jQuery when you need: A small library that gives you powerful control over the

Document Object Model With very little effort or work on your part Or Quick access to AJAX Without a lot of bloat (overhead - wasted code) And some basic animation effects to spice things up But… If you need super fancy effects for animation, drag and

drop, and super smooth animation then you’ll probably want to use Prototype and one of the many great library created to enhance the effects.

Released January 14, 2006 by John Regis

Rapid popularity growth Play well with other libraries Built in Support with AJAX, Events and

Animations Succinct Code, Small File Size Java Script for Designers

DOM element selections DOM traversal and modification,

(including support for CSS 1-3 and basic XPath)

Events CSS manipulation Effects and animations Extensibility

Light weight compared to other Libraries

Have a wide range of plug-ins Lot simpler than other Libraries Shorter codes are used