Great book
This book is great for people that know css well, it makes javascript programming, so much better. If you understand how css works, attaching events, actions, animations is simple. What used to take 30 lines of Dom scripting to do can be done in 2. this book shows you how.
Recommend as a buy as an introduction to jQuery
Recommend as a buy as an introduction to jQuery, especially individuals intending learn how to build new or repurpose user-interactive pages and sites with Drupal versions 5 or 6.
I received my copy directly from the publisher as I wanted to one, do a little research into the relationship between Drupal and jQuery, which has now been included with Drupal since version 5, and two to learn a bit more about interactive site design to be able to design my own Drupal 6 modules and/or templates sometime in the near future.
I found the book easy to learn from and have already started a development instance that now includes some of the functionality from the book (a picture library for my 3D art), but in combination with other resources; jQuery in Action and jquery.com tutorials. I found it fell a bit short on some of the details I required, but then I was never intending to build the actual examples found in the book for my current production site, which is a Drupal based CMS and not an eCommerce site.
I found Chapter 2 quite useful, covering the basics and relationships between Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), XPath selectors and jQuery DOM traversal as I see this as something I will be using in either a Drupal module or modified template. As I recall these topics and areas are also mentioned on one of the Drupal pages that one really needs to learn to understand, use and develop with Drupal. The section on jQuery and AJAX was also informative, at least for a beginner like myself.
The idea of writing less JavaScript code by using a library greatly appeals to me as writing or learning lots of code has never been my goal, focus or strength, the desired and resulting user functionality is and always will be. jQuery seems to satisfy this personal need and this book helped me to quickly learn and get up to speed on it. I think more experienced site developers and JavaScript masters will find it a bit short on information, and the index left a lot to be desired (only seven pages total?) as I found myself having to go to the jQuery web site for more on what I think is basic information; Chapter 3 Events, .bind() .click(), .toggle(), .hover().
Appendix A-Online Resources, and B-Development Tools both provide useful information for beginners, most I had already discovered before receiving the book, something other beginners could do as well.
Well written, but needs a MUCH better index.
This is a great book, to a point. It explains the concepts behind JQuery and gives some good, easy-to-follow examples. It's a good tutorial and introduction to using JQuery for AJAX, enhancing the UI, manipulating data, etc.. So why did I give this 3 stars?
Because in the end, what matters most to me is if I can USE the book on an ongoing basis. I'm not going to be able to, because the index for this book is WAY too sparse. It's missing many, many topics. For example, something as simple as the click() and clone() functions aren't in there, and neither is noConflict (which allows JQuery to play nicely with other libraries. And that's just the "C's".
I'm not asking for a complete reference - I understand that Packt does have a JQuery reference. But it would be nice to be able to find things I just read about 15 minutes ago! The poor index means I'm going to end up barely using this book at all.
Great tutorial and reference!
This isn't just a great tutorial on jQuery, it's also a terrific bookshelf reference. I find myself grabbing it off the shelf once or twice a day to jog my memory or to find a concise example of what I'm trying to do. The examples are clear and complete and don't leave you with any missing pieces. Definitely essential reading if you're taking on development with jQuery.
Wonderful book at connecting the dots.
OK... we have all heard jQuery is the in library from someone somewhere. Yet, it does so much and it does it differently. How do we shift gears and get into the library. This book is well thought out and covers the basics and beyond in a very friendly fashion. I want more details than can be contained in a book of this size, lol. We all want the books to cost less and contain more. But one of the key ways I rate books is how well did the concepts of the book sink into my brain on the first read, and how often do I take the book off the shelf for 'instant refreshers'. This book is top quality on both those areas.
(FYI... by way of reference I am the author of ColdFusion 8 Developer Tutorial )
(24 reviews)
