(Getting started with jQuery)

If you are an absolute jQuery beginner don't worry. There are a lot of tutorials that will get you up and running in no time. Simply google the keywords "jQuery tutorial" and you will get hundreds of links to visit.

This section of the site is not meant to provide you with tutorials on how to start using the jQuery library. On the other hand it might give you a few tips for speeding up the inclusion and loading time of jQuery.

As you might be well aware, you can access jQuery, as well as other libraries (e.g. Prototype and script.aculo.us), via the Google AJAX Libraries API, which is a distribution network for the most popular open source JavaScript libraries.

The main advantage of including jQuery via Google's server is that your users may not need to download jQuery at all. This is due to the fact that when a browser access multiple requests for the same Google hosted version of jQuery, this is cached and stored for at least a year (unless a user empty their cache folder).

Even if there is a more sophisticated way to include libraries in your web documents via Google's server, i.e. with the google.load() method, you can also include them via the <script> tag.

(Google AJAX libraries)

For documentation of all the libraries available at Google AJAX API visit the link:

http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxlibs/documentation/index.html

jQuery

• name: jquery
• version: 1.2.3, 1.2.6, 1.3.0, 1.3.1, 1.3.2
• load request: google.load("jquery", "1.3.2");
• extras: uncompressed:true, e.g., google.load("jquery", "1.3.2", {uncompressed:true});
• path: http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js
• path(u): http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.js
• site: http://jquery.com/
• note: 1.2.5 and 1.2.4 are not hosted due to their short and unstable lives in the wild...

jQuery UI

• name: jqueryui
• version:1.5.2, 1.5.3, 1.6, 1.7.0, 1.7.1, 1.7.2
• load request: google.load("jqueryui", "1.7.2");
• extras: uncompressed:true, e.g., google.load("jqueryui", "1.7.2", {uncompressed:true});
• path: http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/jquery-ui.min.js
• path(u): http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/jquery-ui.js
• site: http://ui.jquery.com/
• note: This library depends on jquery. Before loading this module, you must load jquery.

(Loading the jQuery library in HTML documents via script tags)

To include jQuery add the google AJAX API path to script tag's src attribute within the head section of your HTML documents:

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js" [...attr]>
</script>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.0/jquery-ui.min.js" [...attr]>
</script>

Note: the above code loads the minified 1.3.2 version of jQuery and version 1.7.0