Summary

We've now seen a complete, functional jQuery-powered script. This example, though small, brings a significant amount of interactivity and usability to the page. The script has illustrated the major types of tools offered by jQuery, as well. We've observed how the script finds items in the DOM and changes them as necessary. We've witnessed response to user action, and animation to give feedback to the user after the action. We've even seen how to pull information from the server without a page refresh, and how to teach jQuery brand new tricks in the form of plug-ins.

In the following chapters, we'll be stepping through each function, method, and selector expression in the jQuery library. Each method will be introduced with a summary of its syntax and a list of its parameters and return value. Then we will offer a description, which will provide examples where applicable. For further reading about any method, consult the online resources listed in Appendix A, Online Resources. We'll also examine jQuery's plug-in architecture and discuss both how to use plug-ins and how to write our own.