jQuery is an open-source JavaScript library that simplifies the interactions between an HTML/CSS document, or more precisely the Document Object Model (DOM), and JavaScript. Elaborating the terms, it simplifies HTML document traversing and manipulation, browser event handling, DOM animations, Ajax interactions, and cross-browser JavaScript development.
Why to use jQuery?
•It helps us to manipulate HTML and CSS
•It helps us to manipulate DOM (Document Object Model) elements
•Provides event methods to trigger and respond to an events on a html page such as mouse click, keypress etc.
•Implements AJAX calls.
Important jQuery Features:
- hide() Function
The hide() function hides HTML elements, making them no longer affect the HTML page. It serves as an animation method if paired with the duration and easing parameters as well as the callback function. - show() Function
The show() function displays HTML elements. It only works on elements hidden by the hide() function. Additionally, it becomes an animation method function if given a parameter, just like hide(). - toggle() Function
The toggle() function modifies HTML elements’ visibility based on their CSS display property using a click event. If an element is visible, this function will hide it. The opposite will happen if it’s hidden. Web developers often use this function to turn several animations into a sequence.
If given a parameter, this function can bind two or more functions to specific elements. It lets you toggle between the functions by clicking on the element. Keep in mind that this function signature was deprecated in jQuery version 1.8 and removed in version 1.9. - fadeIn() Function
The fadeIn() function modifies HTML elements’ opacity to make them appear gradually on the HTML page. Pair it with the speed or callback function to adjust the animation’s speed and trigger the next event once the matched elements fully appear. - fadeOut() Function
This jQuery function works the opposite of the fadeIn() function. Similar to hide() and show(), the fadeIn() and fadeOut() become animation methods if given a parameter. - fadeToggle() Function
The fadeToggle() function works similarly to the toggle() function. It lets a user display or hide specific elements gradually. - slideUp() Function
The slideUp() function hides elements with a sliding animation. Pair it with duration and easing parameters to adjust the animation’s duration. - slideDown() Function
The slideDown() function displays elements with a sliding animation. Similarly, it accepts duration and easing parameters. - slideToggle() Function
The slideToggle() function lets you toggle between the slideUp() and slideDown() functions to display or hide elements. - animate() Function
This function animates elements using one or several CSS properties. Like the previous functions, it lets you adjust the animation’s duration and transition mode as well as trigger the following function once it’s complete.
Keep in mind that the animate() function cannot display hidden elements like slideDown() and fadeIn().
Advantages
•One of the core features of the jQuery library is event handling. Creating events like a mouse click function and form submission only require a few lines of code. This helps to keep the HTML code
clean and free from various event handlers.
•Modifying HTML elements is also easier with its Document Object Model (DOM) manipulation feature. The user-friendly web browser interface lets you add, edit, and delete web elements using
various event methods.
•The AJAX method, in particular, makes jQuery ideal for developing a responsive website using the AJAX functions. This feature improves user experience by simplifying HTTP request operations
without reloading the web page.
•Furthermore, jQuery comes with plenty of built-in animation effects. It even lets you create custom animations composed of your chosen CSS properties.
•What’s more, jQuery comes with cross-browser support, making it compatible with popular web browsers. It works with CSS3 selectors and XML Path Language (XPath) syntax as well.
•Keep in mind that adding jQuery scripts to a website is easier through a content delivery network (CDN). This way, you don’t have to download and store the library file in the site’s folder.
Disadvantages
•Despite being lightweight, jQuery’s library is massive. As the code base keeps growing, it takes longer to open the JS file, which puts an additional strain on the user’s computer.
•jQuery also makes learning and using JavaScript harder due to its abstraction. While it simplifies the event creation for beginners, doing complicated tasks like DOM manipulation will require a greater
understanding of JavaScript to get the desired result.
•The biggest disadvantage is the fact that jQuery doesn’t allow backward compatibility. Since jQuery has plenty of published versions, you have to host the library yourself and update it periodically.
Insights
The insights of features provided by jQuery include:
•A light footprint around 30 kB.
Supports Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and Edge.
•Event handling
•Ajax support
•Plug-in support
•DOM element manipulation based on CSS selectors.
•JSON parsing
•Feature detection
•Animation effects
jQuery Plugins
As useful as jQuery is for simplifying individual functions (like the one above), it can be extended out even more powerfully in the form of plugins—collections of JS code from the jQuery library that chain together those individual functions and create robust website features and tools (again, without coding them from the ground up).
Plugins are created by jQuery users based on code in the jQuery library, and can then be shared publicly online. While plugins can be found in many places, those found on the official jQuery UI (User Interface) repository(opens in a new tab) can safely be considered quality work, since they’re curated by jQuery’s professional community.
Required Skills
The pre-requisites required to learn jQuery are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. One should understand what DOM is, how DOM is manipulated, and how CSS is applied. Overall a basic understanding of front-end development along with these skills is required.
Conclusion
It is worth the effort, money, and time. This library can offer stunning effects on the website. With a little coding, It will be a big part of web development. It has all the tools needed to build a website that is interactive and highly engaging. Overall, it is a game-changing technology.