Murach's JavaScript & JQuery

Today, jQuery is used by more than half of the 10,000 most-visited web sites, and jQuery is one of the technologies that every web developer should master. The trouble is that jQuery is difficult to learn, especially for programming novices. Now, this new book makes it easier than ever to learn jQuery, jQuery UI (User Interface), and jQuery Mobile.

In essence, sections 2 and 3 of this book present all of the jQuery and jQuery UI skills that you need for developing professional jQuery applications. With those skills, you'll be able to add all of the popular jQuery applications to your web pages: image swaps, image rollovers, collapsible panels, slide shows, accordions, tabs, carousels, and more. Beyond that, though, you'll have all the skills that you need for developing unique jQuery applications of your own.

But that's just two of the five sections in the book. Because you need to know JavaScript in order to use jQuery, section 1 presents the least you need to know about JavaScript to get the most from jQuery. This is essential for programming novices, but this is also valuable for experienced programmers who may not remember how a specific JavaScript statement or method works. In short, this section makes this book a complete reference for jQuery programmers.

In contrast, section 4 takes jQuery to a new level by showing you how to use Ajax and JSON to get data from a web server and add it to a web page without reloading the page. It also shows how to use Ajax and JSON with the APIs for popular web sites like Blogger, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and Google Maps. These are powerful skills for enhancing a web site.

To complete this package, section 5 presents a complete course in jQuery Mobile, which offers an exciting, new way to develop web sites for mobile devices. Today, the best web sites are available in both full and mobile versions, so this section also shows how to use a JavaScript plugin to redirect a mobile device from the full version of a web site to its mobile version.

About the Author

Zak Ruvalcaba has been researching, designing, and developing for the Web since 1995. He holds a Bachelor's degree from San Diego State University and a Master of Science degree in instructional technology from National University in San Diego. Zak's skillset includes HTML/HTML5, CSS/CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, Visual Basic, C#, Web Services, Flash/ActionScript, and ColdFusion. He is also a Microsoft Certified Application Developer for .NET (MCAD) and a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer for .NET (MCSD).

As a freelance writer many years ago, Mike decided that he had to develop his own writing methods because the ones that others were using clearly didn't work. Since then, Mike and his staff have continued to refine those methods, so today every Murach book becomes the best one on its subject. Now, after a long hiatus from writing, Mike has teamed with Zak Ruvalcaba to write Murach's JavaScript and jQuery.