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Learning jQuery: Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques
Learning jQuery : Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques. This book is for web designers who want to create interactive elements for their designs, and for developers who want to create the best user interface for their web applications. The reader will need the basics of HTML and CSS, and should be comfortable with the syntax of JavaScript. No knowledge of jQuery is assumed, nor is experience with any other JavaScript libraries required.
380 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2007
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October 17, 2007As a rails developer most of my experience with javascript libraries has been with prototype and scriptaculous, but I’ve never been quite happy with them. The helper methods built into ActionView make simple tasks a breeze, and I’ve played with the UJS plugin to improve the separation of content and behaviour, but even then the weight of the libraries and the comparable simplicty of tasks like iteration offered by jQuery has always made the grass over there look quite a bit greener.
So when Karl told me that he and Jonathan Chaffer were working on a book about jQuery and offered to send me a copy that seemed like the perfect opportunity to begin making the switch. (that comment should be taken as a disclaimer, by the way.) In the end the timing was fortuitous as I’ve ended up working on a couple of drupal projects (jQuery is included with drupal from version 5 onwards) and having to integrate some jQuery code into a rails project, so I’ve needed to take the lessons learned from the book and quickly put them into practice.
The book takes a gradual pace, introducing the library, and how it handles selectors, events and effects, before moving into DOM manipulation, AJAX and handling forms. Standardistas will be pleased that there is a strong emphasis on progressive enhancement, always starting with pages that achieve their basic intent and then using jQuery to improve the user experience. The authors place considerable emphasis on the importance of providing all users with a solid basic experience and show how jQuery makes it very easy to do so.
More experienced javascript developers may find the pace of the book a little slow (and might prefer to look out for the companion reference volume). The core audience is likely to be those who may have dabbled with the odd snippet, or perhaps used tools that generated javascript for them, but want a step-by-step tutorial that shows how to use jQuery to do things cleanly while building general understanding. Nevertheless, the coverage of more advanced topics like closures is solid and a good reminder even for the more experienced developer.
There were a couple of areas that could have done with a little more exposition, such as the fairly cursory coverage of the difference between GET and POST in HTTP requests (being a purist, I was really looking for mention of PUT and DELETE too), and the fact that without more work one of the shopping cart examples could leave the user thinking their updates had been saved when there was no mechanism to actually make the updates on the server-side. That said, hopefully by that point in the book most readers will be alert to such things and know that the examples are not necessarily production code.
If you’re looking to consolidate your javascript skills and like the look of jQuery, or, like me, you find that sometimes sitting down and reading a book is the best way to familiarise yourself with something, Learning jQuery is well worth your time and money. You can find it at packt, amazon US, amazon UK and all sorts of other places.
So when Karl told me that he and Jonathan Chaffer were working on a book about jQuery and offered to send me a copy that seemed like the perfect opportunity to begin making the switch. (that comment should be taken as a disclaimer, by the way.) In the end the timing was fortuitous as I’ve ended up working on a couple of drupal projects (jQuery is included with drupal from version 5 onwards) and having to integrate some jQuery code into a rails project, so I’ve needed to take the lessons learned from the book and quickly put them into practice.
The book takes a gradual pace, introducing the library, and how it handles selectors, events and effects, before moving into DOM manipulation, AJAX and handling forms. Standardistas will be pleased that there is a strong emphasis on progressive enhancement, always starting with pages that achieve their basic intent and then using jQuery to improve the user experience. The authors place considerable emphasis on the importance of providing all users with a solid basic experience and show how jQuery makes it very easy to do so.
More experienced javascript developers may find the pace of the book a little slow (and might prefer to look out for the companion reference volume). The core audience is likely to be those who may have dabbled with the odd snippet, or perhaps used tools that generated javascript for them, but want a step-by-step tutorial that shows how to use jQuery to do things cleanly while building general understanding. Nevertheless, the coverage of more advanced topics like closures is solid and a good reminder even for the more experienced developer.
There were a couple of areas that could have done with a little more exposition, such as the fairly cursory coverage of the difference between GET and POST in HTTP requests (being a purist, I was really looking for mention of PUT and DELETE too), and the fact that without more work one of the shopping cart examples could leave the user thinking their updates had been saved when there was no mechanism to actually make the updates on the server-side. That said, hopefully by that point in the book most readers will be alert to such things and know that the examples are not necessarily production code.
If you’re looking to consolidate your javascript skills and like the look of jQuery, or, like me, you find that sometimes sitting down and reading a book is the best way to familiarise yourself with something, Learning jQuery is well worth your time and money. You can find it at packt, amazon US, amazon UK and all sorts of other places.
May 26, 2008
It takes alot for me to give a technical book like this 5 stars. When I do that, it means it will be a book that has changed my work permanently....and this one has.
A great book for designers who know HTML and CSS and want to extend their theming and functionality into another realm of Web 2.0. Everything is clearly laid out and in the end shows just how simple it is to use the jQuery library.
I recommend this for web designers who want to add a little development-type functionality to their toolbelt.
A great book for designers who know HTML and CSS and want to extend their theming and functionality into another realm of Web 2.0. Everything is clearly laid out and in the end shows just how simple it is to use the jQuery library.
I recommend this for web designers who want to add a little development-type functionality to their toolbelt.
February 18, 2008
jquery is the best thing since sliced bread. I really really love this javascript library. It makes visual effects and javascript seem easy. This is the book from some of the developers and the first to reach the world of print. I recommend this book highly to people that know what xhtml is. It is esoteric and only web based, but this is web 2.0 at its best.
September 26, 2012
My first book on jQuery. If you are planning to learn jQuery, you must read this book. It well explains how jQuery works and has many step by step "tutorials" that shows you how to actually create and work with jQuery.
November 7, 2008
Excellent book on jQuery. I keep it handy all the time.
November 14, 2008
jQuery is awesome. The book is sufficient.
April 26, 2011
session
December 29, 2011
Though jQuery does not require something special to read. A glance on this book will give more structure oriented view on this framework
September 13, 2007
So far this book is giving me the knowledge I am needing for some future web project.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews