Chapter 1. Designer, Meet jQuery

You might have heard quite a lot about jQuery over the past couple of years. It has 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 easy-to-understand way to get started with JavaScript.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• What jQuery is and why it's ideal for designers
• Progressive enhancement and graceful degradation
• JavaScript basics
• Downloading jQuery
• Your first jQuery script