Learning jQuery

Recently I have been getting a real buzz out of developing with jQuery. I’ve been using the library since 2006, releasing sporadic bits of code. In April of this year, I released the third revision of my most complex plugin, jMaps, and updated several other plugins, which are available in my mercurial repository.

This was also the same month I discovered a new plugin which has dramatically changed how I develop applications with jQuery. The plugin in question is Dan Webb’s Low Pro for jQuery, a port of the plugin of the same name for Prototype.

What is Low Pro?

So what is Low Pro? It’s a plugin that provides a way of making more object-oriented JavaScript through event delegation. jQuery’s plugin architecture provides a really simple way of extending the core functionality, but there is no easy way of making macros of code that do several types of events on one element. Until now!
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CSS and JavaScript are different in many ways, almost all of which are too obvious to mention. However, one difference between the two bears explanation, because it is often the cause of confusion and consternation, especially among those who are making the transition from CSS guru to jQuery novice. In fact, it was one of the first things I asked about on the jQuery mailing list back in 2006. Since then, I’ve seen at least one question on the subject every week, and sometimes as many as one per day—despite an FAQ page and these three plugins to help users deal with it.

How CSS and JavaScript Are Different

So, what’s this important difference?
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jQuery has a nice selection of core animation effects, such as .show('speed') and .hide('speed'), .slideUp() and .slideDown(), and .fadeIn() and .fadeOut(). It even has a couple methods for toggling effects — the aptly named .toggle('speed') and .slideToggle().

All of these methods have optional speed, easing, and callback arguments — although a couple are special cases. The .show() and .hide() methods, when used without a speed, will immediately show and hide the matched set of elements with no animation. When the speed argument is included, the matched elements are shown and hidden gradually by animating their height, width, and opacity simultaneously. The .toggle() method shares its name with a method that takes two arguments that alternate being triggered. All of the other effect methods have a default speed of 400ms.
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A week or so ago, someone posted a comment on one of my previous articles, asking if I could help her split up the textual content of an element, showing the first part and replacing the second with a link that, when clicked, would reveal the text. This behavior would appear in an FAQ using a definition list (<dl>), with each question contained in a <dt> and each answer contained in a <dd>. I soon realized that the solution would be rather involved, so I decided to create a new entry out of it rather than simply answer her question in another comment.

Here is the simple definition list structure that I’ll be using for the example:

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I’ve been feeling guilty lately about my lack of posts to this blog. But when I looked at my profile for the jQuery Google Group and discovered that for the past six months I’ve posted an average of 100+ times each month, well, I decided to give myself a break. Since I’m sure some people who stumble upon this blog aren’t subscribed to the Google group/mailing list, here are a few (edited) questions that have appeared there recently, along with my (edited) answers. I hope some of you find them helpful.
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An excellent post by Mike Alsup described a plugin development pattern that has served him quite well over time. I have used BlockUI (an Alsup creation) on several projects, and it is readily apparent that Mike knows his stuff. The one thing I have always enjoyed and appreciated most about this particular plugin, however, is the simplicity of the implementation. You could argue that this was a creative decision, having little to do with the actual development. I will not speak for Mike, but for me the degree of simplicity is indeed one of the many creative decisions that I make every time I develop a jQuery plugin. Read the rest of this entry »