Importance of jQuery in Designer's Career

Importance of jquery in the web designing

In this blog, we will discuss what is jQuery and why should we use jQuery? So let’s proceed with the intro part initially.

Required Skills

Before learning jQuery you must have knowledge of CSS, HTML, 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.

History of jQuery

jQuery came into existence in January 2006 at bar camp NYC. It was developed by John Resig. John wanted to separate JavaScript from HTML tag so that the code looks clean and becomes easier to understand. This gave him the reason to start the work on JavaScript to start the work on a JavaScript library which he named jQuery.

The first jQuery code:

<button id="test">Click</button> $("#test").click(function() { alert("Button is clicked" ); });

Popularity of jQuery

• In the year 2015, jQuery was used on 63% of the top 1 million websites (according to BuiltWith), and 17% of all Internet websites.
• In the year 2017, jQuery was used on 69.2% of the top 1 million websites (according to Libscore).
• In the year 2018, jQuery was used on 73% of the top 1 million websites, and by 22.4% of all websites (according to BuiltWith).
• As of May 2019, jQuery is used by 73% of the 10 million most popular websites (according to W3Techs).

Even the percentage of usage is so high, it's discouraged to use the library in new projects, in favor of declarative frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue. There are even websites that show how to use native APIs and that you don't need jQuery. Also, the 73% usage doesn't correlate with actual interest that is constantly dropping.

What is jQuery?

jQuery is not a new programming language, it is built on top of JavaScript. In fact, JQuery is a lightweight JavaScript library that simplifies programming with JavaScript. According to the jQuery.com website, jQuery is a fast, small and feature-rich JavaScript library. It simply makes things like HTML document traversal and manipulation even handling the animation, and Ajax much simpler with an easy-to-use API that works across a multitude of browsers.

jQuery is a JavaScript library that renders some beneficial features and protects some incompatibilities between different browsers' JavaScript implementations.

The major draw of jQuery is that it's more accessible to grasp and easier to scribble than plain JavaScript. Besides, let’s take a dive to know something about the usage of jQuery in the below section. How to use jQuery?

Why jQuery?

The most important reason behind developing jQuery is to simplify client-side scripting (i.e. coding JavaScript).

Now if you are familiar with coding JavaScript you might have faced a lot of difficulties in some situations like:

• Selecting or targeting elements,
• applying the style to them,
• supplementing effects,
• creating animations,
• event handling,
• navigating and manipulating DOM tree &
• Developing AJAX application etc.

In other words, jQuery makes all those things simpler than JavaScript. jQuery has changed the way how JavaScript is written by millions of designers and developers all around the world.

As we discussed, jQuery helps us to focus on doing things instead of focusing on how things are done. jQuery has simplified the way of coding JavaScript.

Today most of the websites over the internet use jQuery. jQuery has a really wide community and forum. You can visit the jQuery forum by visiting this given link:

https://forum.jquery.com

There you can get help from professionals. You can ask questions and help others by just answering the questions. jQuery is continuously getting updated. A lot of professionals are developing easy-to-use plugins, which make the designer's and developers' life easy while developing websites or web applications.

So, Why you have to learn jQuery?

jQuery is easy to learn, one of the most popular JavaScript libraries. It simplifies a lot of JavaScript tasks. Moreover, it holds a wide community forum.

How to use jQuery in HTML?

Usually, jQuery comes as a single JavaScript file holding everything that comes out of the box with jQuery. Now, you know what can be included with a web page using the following markup language:

To Load Local jQuery File

<script type="text/javascript" src="jQuery-1.4.1-min.js"></script>

Ideally, this markup is kept under the <head> </head> tag of your web page, however, you are free to keep it anywhere you want.

How to link jQuery to an HTML Page?

To link a separate JS file in HTML is quite an easy task for the designers. We will see here how to link jQuery on the HTML web page.

Below is an example of HTML File which links jQuery file to a new.js

<html>   <head>       <style>         div {           height: 100px;           width: 100px;           background-color: red;           border-radius: 5px;           border: 2px solid blue;           margin-left: 50px;           margin-top: 50px;           display: none;         }       </style>       <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script>       <script src="new.js"></script>   </head>   <body>       <div></div>   </body> </html>

5 Reasons you should be using jQuery?

There are a lot of other JavaScript frameworks out there, but jQuery seems to be the most popular, and also the most extendable.

Many of the biggest companies on the web use jQuery are:

Microsoft

Google

IBM

Netflix

All based on the manipulation of the HTML, DOM (Document Object Model) and designed only to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML, jQuery incorporates parts of HTML & CSS. Many companies are on the jQuery bandwagon, and your company should be, as well.

Let’s proceed over those 5 reasons and grasp something amusing.

1. jQuery is cross-browser: When we write JavaScript by using jQuery, we don’t have to worry about is this code going to work in IE7, is it going to work in a chrome browser, or is it going to work in safari? We don’t have to worry about all those browsers compatibility issues. All that is taken care of by jQuery for us. So when we write JS using jQuery we can be assured that it is going to be worth it across all browsers. So the greatest advantage of jQuery is that it is cross-browser.
2. jQuery is a lot easier to use than raw JS
3. jQuery is extensible
4. jQuery simplifies and has rich Ajax support
5. jQuery has a large development community and many free plugins. For example- within your application, if you want to implement an auto-mate textbox. You can either write code for that from scratch or you use one of the free jQuery plugins that are available already, tested, and proven to work in.

Now let’s see how to use jQuery in our application, how to use it with your application. Here, all you have to do is:

Downloading jQuery

1. Navigate to your jQuery.com website
2. Download development jQuery file
3. And reference that just like any other JavaScript file within your application.

So, we navigate to jQuery.com, notice that we have this download jQuery button. Once we click on that, then we go to the download page and note on this page you will see the download button.

There are two versions of jQuery available for downloading:

1. Production Version- This is for your live website because it has been minified and compressed.
2. Development Version- This is for testing and development (uncompressed and readable code)

Note: Both versions can be downloaded from jQuery.com

The jQuery library is a single JavaScript file, and you reference it with the HTML <script> tag.

Notice that the <script> tag should be inside the <head> section.

ead> <script src="jquery-3.4.1.min.js"></script> </head>

Advantages of jQuery

When it comes to programming there is no dearth of options that are available today. jQuery is a concise cross-browser JavaScript library that is mainly used to simplify HTML scripting. jQuery is a ready-to-use JavaScript library having several visual functions such as ease-in, ease-out effects. These useful features make it one of the most preferred choices for web designers. With jQuery, you can do almost any kind of effects and animation on your website. It is also SEO-friendly and cross-browser compliant. It’s the right time to take a dive and grasp the advantages of jQuery one by one.

1. JavaScript enhancement without the overhead of attaining new syntax.
2. It holds the ability to keep the code simple, clear, readable, and usable.
3. The main advantage of using jQuery is that it is a lot easier to use when compared to any other javascript library.
4. It supports Ajax and lets you develop the templates easily.
5. Through some jQuery effects that are almost identical to flash, the major advantage of jQuery is that it can be optimized in terms of SEO.

Disadvantages of jQuery

It’s obvious that jQuery is not to be the Pink of Perfection. It holds many drawbacks as well. jQuery is a tool or a library of tools. It can solve problems or create problems. As said nothing is perfect so it is.

1. Bandwidth
2. Not to compatible
3. Better alternatives
4. Increased technology stack

How does jQuery help you in career growth?

If you are a front-end developer, then jQuery will add value to your profile. jQuery offers a great deal of flexibility and more power to web designers. It is widely used, it is lightweight and clean, and open-source.

Having this kind of skill will be a major advantage to web developers in the growth of career.

Features of jQuery

Now, we are going to provide you the essential features of jQuery. A designer must have knowledge regarding its features as well. Here are the features that we are going to discuss:

1. HTML manipulation
2. DOM element selection
3. DOM manipulation
4. AJAX
5. CSS manipulation
6. Animations & Effects
7. JASON parsing
8. Utilities
9. Extensibility through plug-ins
10. HTML event methods
11. Cross-browser support

All in All

jQuery is worth the effort, money, and time. This library can have stunning & eye-catching effects on the website. With a little coding, it will be a colossal part of web development. It holds all the impeccable tools needed to build a website that is interactive and highly engaging. Overall, this is a game-changing technology to use.