So, here’s the thing. Sometimes when you’re coding, everything just freezes, as if everything is stuck. At that very moment, there’s a hero that comes to your rescue: jQuery! I was quite confused the first time I experienced this, honestly. We were creating a website together with my spouse, everything was going well until the simple effect triggered by clicking a button. Anyway, after some research, we came across something called jQuery. I thought, let me introduce you to this cute library.
jQuery isn’t some crazy technology. It’s a library that makes writing JavaScript easier, more understandable, and faster. Remember old TV remote controls with buttons for commands? Well, jQuery takes JavaScript’s complex commands and makes them more friendly with less code. Think of it like this: if you want to enter a room, you need to find the door, put the key in, and turn it. In JavaScript, this can sometimes be like opening a door lock with a screwdriver. jQuery hands you the key directly, in your favorite color.
So, what does this magic wand do?
Firstly, it greatly simplifies DOM manipulation. DOM, which I mean is the backbone structure of a website. Selecting an HTML element, changing its content, applying new styles, or adding a new element—all of these can be done with just a few lines of code using jQuery. For example, when I was creating a photo gallery on my website, instead of writing complex JavaScript code, I used jQuery’s simple functions and finished in hours. Isn’t that nice?
By the way, the basic logic of HTML is relationships between elements. jQuery makes managing these relationships much easier. So, if you want something to happen in another element when you click on an element, doing this is much less trouble.
Another impressive feature is event listeners. Clicking a button, visiting a link, hovering over something—these are all events. Capturing these in JavaScript can sometimes be a bit indirect. jQuery makes it feel like the events are talking to you personally. Saying ‘do this when this button is clicked’ is much more natural with jQuery.
One of jQuery’s biggest advantages is browser compatibility. As you know, each browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari…) sometimes shows different things. In the past, this was a nightmare for developers. jQuery handles these differences for you. So, your code works pretty much the same across all browsers. I think this is incredible comfort.
Want to add animations to your website? jQuery’s animation features are a bonus! For example, making an element slowly disappear, fly somewhere else, or change color—these are really simple with jQuery. In the past, I had to write a lot of code for such animations in JavaScript, but now it can be done with just one line. Of course, remember that all these effects need to be downloaded as a .js file and added to the project, so there’s some infrastructure behind this simplicity.
Let me give an example. Suppose you have a page with a paragraph. You want to show this paragraph only when you press a button. When doing this with JavaScript, you might need to write something like:
// WRONG APPROACH (DOM Manipulation with JavaScript) document.getElementById("showButton").addEventListener("click", function() { document.getElementById("myParagraph").style.display = "block"; });Now, let’s do the same with jQuery. Look how cool it is:
// RIGHT APPROACH (DOM Manipulation with jQuery) $("#showButton").click(function() { $("#myParagraph").show(); });Did you see the difference? It’s like they’re speaking a language. The first one is a bit more technical, while the second is just ‘click, show’. Believe me, this simplicity saves a lot of time in the long run. I also use jQuery for simple effects on my own website because it’s fast and memorable.
In conclusion, learning jQuery early or during your web development journey gives you a big advantage. While learning the basics of JavaScript, you can achieve faster and more aesthetic results with the convenience this library offers. Many websites today still show traces of jQuery, especially for animations and user interactions. Although some newer technologies are more popular, jQuery’s simplicity and wide support make it still valuable. So, if you’re starting your web development journey, I think you should definitely spend some time on it.
By the way, when I was creating my first website, I was trying to learn so many things separately that my head was like a sieve. DOM manipulation with JavaScript, CSS transitions, animations… Each was a different world. Back then, I saw some articles mentioning jQuery in a frontend section. I remember reading something like about jQuery’s foundation, not realizing it would open many easier doors for me.
Anyway, that’s all from me. I hope this brief chat helped you understand what jQuery is and why it’s important. You will see how enjoyable it is as you try it out. Happy coding!