The Joy of jQuery: A Beginner's Guide to the World's Most Popular Javascript Library

How to leverage jQuery to make your web applications sizzle with awesomeness– even if you've never programmed before and don't know any Javascript

From the author of the #1 best seller "The Joy of PHP" comes another great beginner's guide for those seeking to learn jQuery. jQuery is a programming language you can use to create cool web applications.

jQuery is free, powerful, simple to reference in your web pages, and easy to learn. You can get started quickly, and you won't outgrow it later when you get really good at it. You'll find that you use jQuery in all your web applications once you get the hang of it.

Beginners: This is the jQuery book for you

Most programming books are long, dry, and boring– but this one is the opposite of that. It's short and to the point, and uses the example of a (somewhat shady) used car salesman's web site to give the learning some context and humor. The Joy of PHP by the same author is consistently the top-rated book in its category precisely because it makes learning PHP fun. This book does the same for jQuery.

What's jQuery?

jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library. JavaScript 'library' means that it is full of JavaScript that you don't need to understand to be able to use– in the same way that an automobile is a car parts 'library'. The parts are there and we can use them, so who really cares how they work?

jQuery makes things like HTML manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax much simpler. jQuery works across a multitude of browsers. With a combination of versatility and extensibility, jQuery has changed the way that millions of people write JavaScript, and this book can change how YOU code too!

Book Contents Include:

What is jQuery?
Get the Source Code
Getting Started with jQuery
Introduction to HTML
Introduction to CSS
jQuery Selectors
jQuery UI Widgets: Dramatic Page Enhancements
Using jQuery for Form Validation
jQuery AJAX
jQuery Mobile
jQuery Animation