jQuery Get Started
Adding jQuery to Your Web Pages
There are several ways to start using jQuery on your web site. You can:
- Download the jQuery library from jQuery.com
- Include jQuery from a CDN, like Google
Downloading jQuery
There are two versions of jQuery available for downloading:
- Production version - this is for your live website because it has been minified and compressed
- Development version - this is for testing and development (uncompressed and readable code)
Both versions can be downloaded from jQuery.com.
The jQuery library is a single JavaScript file, and you reference it with the HTML <script> tag (notice that the <script> tag should be inside the <head> section):
<head>
<script src="jquery-1.12.0.min.js"></script>
</head>
Tip: Place the downloaded file in the same directory as the pages where you wish to use it.
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Do you wonder why we do not have type="text/javascript" inside the <script> tag? This is not required in HTML5. JavaScript is the default scripting language in HTML5 and in all modern browsers! |
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jQuery CDN
If you don't want to download and host jQuery yourself, you can include it from a CDN (Content Delivery Network).
Both Google and Microsoft host jQuery.
To use jQuery from Google or Microsoft, use one of the following:
Google CDN:
<head>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.12.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
</head>
Try it yourself »
Microsoft CDN:
<head>
<script src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.12.0.min.js"></script>
</head>
Try it yourself »
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One big advantage of using the hosted jQuery from Google or Microsoft: Many users already have downloaded jQuery from Google or Microsoft when visiting another site. As a result, it will be loaded from cache when they visit your site, which leads to faster loading time. Also, most CDN's will make sure that once a user requests a file from it, it will be served from the server closest to them, which also leads to faster loading time. |
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