You might have heard quite a lot about jQuery over the past couple of years—it's quickly become one of the most popular code packages in use on the Web today. And you might have wondered what all the fuss was about.
Whether you've tried to figure out JavaScript before and have thrown up your hands in frustration or have been too intimidated to even give it a go, you'll find that jQuery is a wonderfully approachable and relatively easy to learn approach to getting your feet wet with JavaScript.
In this chapter, we will cover:
What jQuery is and why it's ideal for designers
Progressive enhancement and graceful degradation
JavaScript basics
Downloading jQuery
Your first jQuery script