In Chapter 1 we'll begin by dissecting a working jQuery example. This script will serve as a roadmap for this book, directing you to the chapters containing more information on particular jQuery capabilities.

The heart of the book is a set of reference chapters that allow you to quickly look up the details of any jQuery method. Chapter 2 lists every available selector for finding page elements.

Chapter 3 builds on the previous chapter with a catalog of jQuery methods for finding page elements.

Chapter 4 describes every opportunity for inspecting and modifying the HTML structure of a page.

Chapter 5 details each event that can be triggered and reacted to by jQuery.

Chapter 6 defines the range of animations built into jQuery, as well as the toolkit available for building your own.

Chapter 7 lists the ways in which jQuery can initiate and respond to server communication without refreshing the page.

Chapter 8 covers the remaining capabilities of the jQuery library that don't neatly fit into the other categories.

In the final three chapters, you'll dive into the extension mechanisms jQuery makes available. Chapter 9 reveals four major ways to enhance jQuery's already robust capabilities using a plug-in.

Chapter 10 walks you through the advanced measurement tools available in the popular Dimensions plug-in.

Chapter 11 empowers you to bring AJAX technology and HTML forms together, a process which is made easy by the Form plug-in.

Appendix A provides a handful of informative websites on a wide range of topics related to jQuery, JavaScript, and web development in general.

Appendix B recommends a number of useful third-party programs and utilities for editing and debugging jQuery code within your personal development environment.

This book is for web designers who want to create interactive elements for their designs, and for developers who want to create the best user interface for their web applications.

The reader will need the basics of HTML and CSS, and should be comfortable with the syntax of JavaScript. No knowledge of jQuery is assumed, nor is experience with any other JavaScript libraries required.

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

There are three styles for code. Code words in text are shown as follows: "Taken together, $() and .addClass() are enough for us to accomplish our goal of changing the appearance of the poem text."

A block of code will be set as follows:

$(document).ready(function() {
$('span:contains(language)').addClass('emphasized'),
});

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items will be made bold:

$(document).ready(function() {
$('a[@href$=".pdf"]').addClass('pdflink'),
});

New terms and important words are introduced in a bold-type font. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in our text like this: "The next step is to run those tests by clicking the All button".