Customer Reviews

Beginning JavaScript and CSS Development with jQuery (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Every so often in computing a language extension or new technology comes along that is the buzz of the development community. JQuery is one of those. Lots of developers are talking about it and using it, even Microsoft are including native support for it in their upcoming Visual Studio 2010 release.

Beginning JavaScript and CSS Development with JQuery is a beautiful full color book from Wrox Press weighing in at just over 500 pages. Richard York assumes that you are already familiar with JavaScript and also CSS and therefore this is not a book for the complete beginner, only a beginner with JQuery.

The book is well laid out with chapters devoted to each of JQuery's main areas, selectors, AJAX, Manipulating the DOM, Event handling etc. etc. with numerous Appendixes that can be used as a quick reference. Each chapter has numerous examples explaining the particular JQuery concepts and constructs being discussed culminating in one big example program at the end of the chapter that brings together everything discussed in that particular chapter finally ending with a quick question exercise to make sure that the keywords and constructs discussed have truly sunk in. This is an excellent way for a beginners book to be constructed as it really hammers home what has been discussed during each chapter.

One major annoyance I have with Richards writing style however is that he comes across as a Mac snob and throughout the book takes snipes at Microsoft and especially Internet Explorer. Whilst some of this may be deserving it is off-putting and a detraction from what is ultimately a good book.

If you can gloss over the snobbishness I would actually recommend this book for beginners of JQuery. The full color screenshots highlight the various examples superbly and Richard does give you a lot of useful information without overwhelming you with every nuance of JQuery.

I have the electronic version (pdf) of this book and can say that it is an excellent introduction to jQuery and Javascript. Having the pdf means that all the code is structured with colour as well as logical formating which makes it a pleasure to read.

I particularly like the authors style and approach, in beginning with simple examples and explaining the sometimes complex syntax as he goes along. I learnt so much from just a few chapters of this book than all the other trawling on the web, and I was applying the material to a web site within a few minutes.

Nice to haves? If I had a wish list it would have been more detailed discussion of the various plugins, especially jQuery-UI. Whilst the treatment given was good, indeed I like the way he provided a custom style sheet for developing dialogues, it was introductory, and if I had any influence over the publishers it would be to take each section to the next level. For example dynamic loading of html etc.

Lastly, I wonder when Wrox is going to change their branding? Having some of their books from over 10 years ago, I naturally associate the current branding with these old books, which if unchanged, in comparsion with today's books, leaves a great deal to be desired.

I am a PHP programmer, but have always stayed away from Javascript after dealing with all the browser issues years ago when I first gave Javascript a try. I have read that Jquery has patched up many of these issues and is a great way to use Javascript without worrying about browser compatibility. I took this to mean that I could learn Jquery and not worry about re-learning JavaScript, but it appears I am wrong and need to still relearn the foundations of JavaScript, at least according to this book.

I purchased this book because the title states it beginning Javascript and css development with Jquery, and the back cover states "This book is for web designers eager to do more with their web-based applications, but who do not necessarily have much JavaScript experience. Some basic knowledge of XHTML and CSS is necessary." Yet in the introduction, on page XX, the author states "You should have a basic understanding of Javascript." This seems to be a contradiction with what is stated on the back of the book and the title.

I decided to give it a read anyway since I bought it and found the examples to be very long. Rather than breaking it down into a few small examples, the "try this" examples are usually very long and you have to also type out all of the HTML. You can download the code, but it would have been nice to have the "try this" example broken down into smaller examples and some skeleton examples where you could just fill in the Jquery in order to get familiar with the code. In addition, I like books which take you through the process of setting up an actual site and allows you to build on your previous code in order to see the progression and Jquery in action. This book is organized more into a concept -> example, without any relation to what you had previously done. At least this is how it seems from a newb to both Jquery and Javascript.

I purchased this book and Jquery cookbook in hopes I could learn with the beginning javascript and css development with Jquery, but it seems I am already looking for a new beginning guide to Jquery. I have also decided to buy a book on basic JavaScript so I can re-learn the basics while learning Jquery. If you are someone who likes to learn while creating a website or by building up on the previous code, this isn't the book for you. If you are an already established JavaScript coder, this book will probably be a breeze for you, and may even be too simplistic.

I wasn't entirely new to jquery when I read this book; however, this book increased my understanding of it greatly. The author explains concepts in a clear and straightforward manner and provides good examples which illuminate the concepts. Highly recommended for developers who are just getting into jquery and want a good launching point.

I was fairly new to JQuery when I bought this book, and have to say it has helped me quite a bit for nailing down the syntax of JQuery and specifics for accomplishing various tasks. As another mentioned it would be nice if it could have gone through more of the widgets and possible plugins that are available. But again, nailing down the syntax is really why I bought this book, along with the CSS develpment coverage, and this book came through brilliantly there.

The only other critisism I would have is it is pretty hard to read some of the source code because of the color. I know it is something different and "pretty" but my old tired eyes were straining quite a bit.

I definately recommend this for someone who knodoesn't know JQuery, and wants to learn it.

I bought this book and I love it. Much easier than surfing the internet reading blogs and snippets. No offense to [...], but that website has too much information for us newbies...

Having read a few entry-level javascript books it was refreshing to read something that drew upon real-world situations from the authors experiences. While allot of books, and this one included, seem to have a firm grasp for the basics not many get the users/readers running quickly like this one. Mr. York represents the type of author does not waste the readers time by walking them through a problem with a firm taste of theory and discussion. He lays out the framework for anyone not experienced in javascript and points them in the direction of JQuery. And while some may complain that this book is perhaps repetitious, it is through repetition one builds proficiency and mastery of anything.

This book does what it promises. It gives an introduction to jQuery, and is clearly targetted at beginners. But it does it in a very mediocre fashion.

Long winded examples, and overly obtuse code examples make it hard to follow. Instead of building on previous examples, the author often creates whole new examples on the next page. I get the feeling he was instructed to pad a 100 page book into a 500 page book. There isn't much insight on why some jQuery methods are better than their traditional JS equivalents, so I'm sometimes stuck thinking, 'why am I learning this'.

Oh, and since every page is printed in color on heavy stock paper, this book is very heavy. Not good if you are lugging it back and forth to learn on your morning commute.

This book is for the beginner to jQuery, not to programming on the whole. You do need a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This was my first book on JQuery with only a basic knowledge of the subject, still I found the book easy to follow. Having the code and illustrations in color was a real luxury. Although not essential for the code, it makes it easier to follow. On the other hand with many of the code examples using color in them the illustrations without color would have been almost useless.

Although the book is over 500 pages, it really doesn't feel that long. There are pages that are nothing but code. That is not necessarily bad, you see the complete code. Would have liked the parts that were being focused on to be offset, maybe in bold. Overall I found the book acceptable for a beginning book on jQuery, I might not make it my first pick.

This book is great for learning jQuery, but unfortunately the Kindle version only is split up between Part I, Part II and then a bunch of appendices. The publisher forgot to list the chapters so it is hard to find the beginning of each chapter or skip to the next one. I would still recommend it, I just hope the publisher fixes this so it is easier to also use the book as a reference.