jQuery - not just a framework, but also a community
by Steen Nielsen on 15.02.09
As I've pointed out earlier , I have looked at a few JavaScript frameworks. Each having some advantage depending on the situation and the developer.
My mind is fully set on jQuery . After I had worked with it on a few projects, it showed its simplicity. It allows the developer to keep the mind on the work, not on small details, e.g. how to animate a box to appear. It gives the tools to do it simple and easy.
John Resig have really hit the nail on the head with jQuery. Its simple CSS selector engine is fast, easy and straightforward for anybody, who have worked with CSS in the past. With the new release of jQuery 1.3.1, which is the newest version of writing this, it even makes it possible to do event delegation, so to simply add events on dynamic content, you no longer have to append the events multiple times, although it does not work with all event types yet.
Success on the large scale
How do you define success? For many large companies it is done in Dollars and Cents. For an open source project, that is not always an option. You could also define it with the amount of downloads of the jQuery library. but that is not necessarily accurate.
Since I started using jQuery, I have been a regular on the jQuery IRC channels and also been using the forums a few times, and I can definitely say that the success of jQuery can be measured in the size of the community. the IRC channels have several hundred users online all the time, although some are inactive, for the most part, you can find someone with an answer to your question.
If you look at the companies, that use jQuery on their webprojects, it is also a great tool of meassurement of how popular the jQuery library is. Companies as Google, Dell, NBC Mozilla and more, use the library for JavaScript development.
Be part of the community
I can only recommend joining the community of jQuery, if you are developing JavaScript or want to know how easy it is. If you are unsure as to how you can help out in the community or get help from the community, I can recommend reading the jQuery Discussion page and from there, join the IRC channel or mailing lists.