As I start on my venture to really start using jQuery a lot more outside of simple form validation, I wanted to share some really great links I found lately that once again got me fired up about jQuery. This is part of my initial research into more jQuery as we’re going to be using it extensively in our new redesign for the .com I am working at so might as well dig more in now.
I’ve used jQuery in the past and know its power & philosophy behind unobtrusive JavaScript and JQuery, but have not yet worked on anything extremely extensive outside aiding to help create a custom validation control in MVC using jQuery in the past. Personally (some agree, some don’t) I think the jQuery Site’s tutorials & API docs are only “fair” at this point in time, so you need a lot of links to supplement the learning process. While yes, you keep hearing that jQuery makes things “easier”, no matter what you hear, the learning curve is a still bit steep at first for even some of the best developers I’ve talked with. Eventually yes, it results in “easy” but not at first. That is why you see so many books coming out, presentations, etc. or else those would not be needed to supplement the jQuery website. So don’t get defeated if you are not a jQuery guru overnight. That’s and unrealistic goal for you or the developers your team and it depends on how much time you have to actually play with it on the job. If you’re unfortunately coding in a code & run hack environment, you’re going to be under a lot of pressure to become a jQuery guru quick as it takes time to get used to using it.
This list is fairly short initially however I plan on updating my list here in this post indefinitely as I find more of what I think are some of the best links out there. The intention here again is not to post every conceivable blog post, video, presentation, site..but ones I personally feel are the most useful.
If you like this page, please feel free to digg, dzone, and/or dotnetkick so this page can benefit other developers in the community with jQuery.
Primers
Before you embark on jQuery, first and foremost it’s critical you that you read briefly about unobtrusive JavaScript and what this means. jQuery is not just a ”simple JavaScript framework that I can plug-in cause it’s cool, looks really easy and everyone else is doing it”. There’s a core reason why it’s effective like others of its kind as compared to old ways of incorporating JavaScript AJAX features into mark-up.
First, do yourself and the community and the team you work with a favor and understand what “Unobtrusive Javascript” is before you use a framework like jQuery:
Unobtrusive JavaScript
Ok, and yes, I know we “all know what AJAX is” but do you REALLY understand the request/responses going on and more of the process rather than the concept. It’s not bad to brush up again on the low level details just to make sure:
Ajax 101 Workshop
Why jQuery’s Philosophy is Better
jQuery Plug-in Listings with Thumbnails
50+ Amazing jQuery Examples- Part1
37 More Shocking jQuery Plugins
45+ Fresh Out of the oven jQuery Plugins
25 jQuery Plugins for Navigation
8 Amazing jQuery Accordions
Using jQuery to Style Design Elements: 20 Impressive Plugins
100 Best JavaScript Resources
15 jQuery Plugins to Fix and Beautify Browser Issues
Best Sites to Learn jQuery
How jQuery Works
Getting Started with jQuery
Tutorials
jQuery for Designers
Learning jQuery
jQuery Tutorials for Designers
Best jQuery Videos & Presentations
Phil Haack: ASP.NET MVC: America's Next Top Model View Controller Framework (video)
ASP.NET and JQuery - Stephen Walther’s Presentation PDC 2008 (video)
The Focus of jQuery with John Resig (video)
jQuery Internals + Cool Stuff with John Resig (video)
An Intensive Exploration Of jQuery With Ben Nadel (video)
Introduction to jQuery - Ernerst Ellingston (video)
Baltimore Refresh jQuery Presentation (video)
jQuery OSCMS presentation (video)
jQuery – by a 12 year old kid talking to 30 year olds (wtf !) Dmitri Gaskin (video)
jQuery - Boston IxDA (presentation)
Ajax Alternatives: Using jQuery with ASP.NET (by Rick Strahl) (video)
I like Rick’s website a lot, and here’s a good presentation from him
Learning jQuery in 30 minutes (presentation)
jQuery in 15 minutes (presentation)
Introduction to jQuery (presentation)
Intro to jQuery - Tulsa Ruby Group (presentation)
A Short Introduction To jQuery (presentation)
DOM Scripting Toolkit – jQuery (presentation)
Introduction to JQuery (presentation)
An In-Depth Look at jQuery with Paul Bakaus (video)
“jQuery UI” Presentation by Richard Worth (presentation)
jQuery Presentation by Jonathan Sharp (presentation)
Best General jQuery Blogs
John Resig
Remy Sharp’s b:log
Matt Berseth
Cody Lindley
jQuery HowTo’s
15 Days Of jQuery
Best jQuery Tools & Utilities
Visual jQuery Framework Tool
jQuery Cheet Sheet
jQuery Cheet Sheet
jQuery 1.2 Cheat Sheet
jQuery UI.Layout Plug-in
Best JQuery & .NET
Using jQuery with ASP.NET MVC
ASP.NET and jQuery - Scott Allen (pay site)
Using ASP.NET with jquery: Jquery ASP.NET API source code tutorial
Useful Single jQuery Articles & Blog Posts
Learning jQuery
Jonathan provides a great post about his experience getting to know jQuery and harsh first lessons learned & mistakes made from trying to get acquainted with jQuery.
Integrating JQuery with ASP.net - A Cool Client-side Alert Box
Garth shows a good example of rendering jQuery alert box programmatically from code-behind
“The jSkinny on jQuery”
Building Your First jQuery Plugin
