Why your site should use jQuery if it doesn’t already

Here at Ignition Media, we specialise in creating dynamic websites that are specifically optimised to display as intended on any browser or platform. To achieve this, we rely on jQuery in 100% of our websites. Considered the most popular JavaScript library in use today, jQuery is fast and feature-rich that makes certain processes easier through the use of API that works across a multitude of browsers. These include event handling, HTML document manipulation and traversal, Ajax, and animation. Currently, jQuery is used by over 60% of the 10,000 most visited websites and is licensed under the MIT License.

At its very core, jQuery is a DOM manipulation library. DOM, in its simplest term, refers to a tree structure of all the elements of a web page and jQuery makes the process of identifying, selecting, and manipulating these elements convenient for end-users. It also provides a new paradigm of writing event handling in JavaScript. In addition, it incorporates other JavaScript functionalities including animations by manipulating CSS properties, hiding elements through fade-ins and fade-outs, etc.

Why is it popular?

As mentioned above, jQuery is used by more than 60% of the top 10,000 websites today. The reason behind this is simple – this cross-platform JavaScript library’s syntax makes it easier for web designers and developers to navigate a document, create animations, develop Ajax applications, choose DOM elements, and handle events. It also allows developers to create plug-ins, create abstractions for advanced effects, low-level animation, and high-level widgets. Due to jQuery’s modular approach, web developers find it much easier to create powerful dynamic web pages and applications.

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How to get jQuery and how to apply it to your website?

Getting started with jQuery can either be easy or challenging depending on your experience and working knowledge with HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and other programming concepts. To get started, you simply go to jQuery home page where you can download the latest version for free. Once you’ve completed the download, the next step is to upload the library to your server and link to in the head section of your document. For this, you can use this code <script type=”text/javascript” src=”/jquery.js”></script>.  Keep in mind that you have the option to let Google host your jQuery code for you which will mean faster loading time particularly if the jQuery version you’re using is already cached by their browser.

Benefits of using jQuery

There are so many reasons why so many websites use jQuery. Some of them are the following:

  • It significantly reduces development time, as you’ll need to write fewer codes when compared to using pure JavaScript. This results not just in getting the project done sooner but also it results to more readable codes.
  • Web developers agree that when compared to pure JavaScript, jQuery is much easier to understand – jQuery is easy to learn and intuitive. This is because the library is built on simpler, shorter code. Due to its open coding standards and simple syntax, developers can easily shorten the time they take to deploy a website or an application.
  • It offers highly organised documentation.
  • It makes using Ajax hassle-free.
  • Several extensions and plugins have been developed exclusively for jQuery making it easier for developers to get the exact functionality that they’re looking for.
  • Thanks to jQuery, developers no longer have to learn how to develop in Flash. With working knowledge on HTML and JavaScript, developers can easily make animated applications that look just like Flash but are pure jQuery.

How Ignition Media use jQuery to enhance websites

Here at Ignition Media, we use jQuery to enhance the overall appearance and functionality of our clients’ websites. We use jQuery for §  Content sliders (for call to actions)§  Photo galleries (to showcase the client’s products and services)§  Contact forms (to return an automatic thank you a response)§  Menus (for easy navigation)§  Lightboxes (to open external images or content within the frame of the page and not in a new window)§  Responsive grids (jQuery is used in both Bootstrap and Foundation, the HTML frameworks we use to create our mobile websites) §  And much more!  To view some of our latest websites,

Conclusion:

JQuery is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries in use today because it makes the process of building and designing a website easier and convenient. It is also used to enhance the overall appearance and functionality of one’s website. If you’re interested in using jQuery on your website but simply don’t have the knowledge to do so, let Ignition Media do the legwork for you. Please contact us for any questions or for a quote. Should you wish to speak with me directly, then please call me on (07) 5568 7515 between office hours and I’ll be more than happy to discuss your specific needs.

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