In the interests of full disclosure, Packt Publishing sent me a copy of this book for me to review. There was no other compensation received for this review. I am reviewing this book for the benefit of the blog readers.

The recent release of jQuery 1.4 brought a plethora of new features and major performance improvements across the board. At the same time, the new jQuery API site was launched in an effort to improve the documentation and community spirit. Make no mistake, 1.4 is a milestone release for jQuery.

To mark this, Karl Swedberg and Jonathan Chaffer have released the jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide, an exhaustive tour of the functionality that jQuery 1.4 offers. There are eleven chapters, covering selectors, DOM traversal and manipulation, events, effects, AJAX, plug-ins, and more. In addition, there’s an alphabetical API reference guide and a couple of really useful appendixes providing lots of handy information.

As I mentioned above, each chapter groups together jQuery methods with a common theme. There are helpful code samples for each method, and they are explained thoroughly in the accompanying text. Occasionally, performance tips are mentioned, but as the book stresses early on, you shouldn’t worry too much about micro-optimizing code – your time as a developer is more valuable than that!

So who is this book aimed at? Well, as the name suggests, this is a reference guide. A familiarity with jQuery syntax is essential, and in some areas, a decent knowledge of vanilla JavaScript will be beneficial too. Although there are hints and tips peppered throughout the book, this is no tutorial book. If you’re not familiar with jQuery, you should pick up Learning jQuery instead, by the same authors.

As such, I would recommend this to the intermediate to advanced jQuery user. You will almost certainly learn something from the book, and a reference guide always comes in handy! Some of the major points I picked up were:

• Many jQuery methods accept anonymous functions as parameters now – this is a really clean, practical way of writing code
• There are more ways to measure elements than I realised – I knew about .height() and .width(), but not .innerHeight(), .outerHeight() etc. This has caused me problems in the past!
• The Sizzle selector engine is really, really powerful and I’m not using it to its full potential.

The downside of a book like this is that it dates relatively quickly. For example, jQuery 1.4.2 introduced two methods – .delegate() and .undelegate() – which are not covered in the book. There’s no getting around this when the library itself is under heavy development, but it’s something that you should be aware of if you’re considering purchasing.

I also spotted one error  that I reported at the publisher’s website, so if you do purchase this book, you should keep an eye on the errata there.

However, if you’re looking for a jQuery reference guide, this is the book to own. The publishers will donate to the jQuery project for every copy of the book sold and you will learn something from this book, so it’s a win-win situation! The jQuery Reference Guide is on sale now, with a cover price of £24.99.

jQuery UI 1.7 by Dan Wellman

jQuery UI is the official interface library for jQuery, the leading JavaScript framework. Dan Wellman‘s book, jQuery UI 1.7 – The User Interface library for jQuery, is intended to be the ‘missing manual’ – fleshing out the online documentation with examples, tutorials, and an in-depth look at the API. The book is supported by many great code samples, which are available at Packt’s support site.

There are thirteen chapters in total, covering the high-level widgets (such as the accordion) and low-level widgets (such as the draggable and droppable interaction helpers.) In addition, the CSS and effects frameworks are covered too.

No knowledge of jQuery UI is assumed, although it is expected that the reader will have a decent grasp of HTML, CSS, and jQuery. The book is pitched at the beginner to intermediate level jQuery UI user, although I would think that even advanced users will find that it contains valuable information.

The structure of each chapter is similar. Starting with the most basic example to get you up and running, more options are gradually introduced to give you a greater level of control, with plenty of code samples to help you along. Most chapters finish with a more advanced scenario, showing some really imaginative uses in which jQuery UI shines. For example, the drag and drop chapter walks the reader through creating a simple game.

The book also takes the time to describe some of the rare occasions where cross-browser issues might rear their heads, along with the fixes. It would have been easy for the author to skip past those parts, but I appreciated this honest approach. It may not be the sexiest subject matter, but it’s something that we as web developers deal with on a day-to-day basis, so it was great to see it tackled in the book.

One of the major strengths of jQuery UI is its online documentation; there are several examples for each widget, and options and methods are well documented. I was initially a little concerned about what the book could add to this, but my concerns were unfounded. Every chapter revealed methods and options that I had missed, along with examples that used the library in ways I would never have thought of.

One of the biggest revelations to me was the chapter relating to the CSS framework. Although I’d used Themeroller before, I’d never appreciated the full extent to which it can be used, creating a consistent look and feel throughout your site and containing many valuable helper classes.

One area where I would have liked to see some information is that of extending jQuery UI. I would have liked to have read about writing your own widgets, inheriting from $.widget, but I appreciate that this would probably be out of scope for this type of book.

Although jQuery UI 1.8 is just round the corner, I would have no hesitation in recommending this book. There is a wealth of information here, and it is presented in such a way that the reader is given a real understanding of the library, meaning that you won’t have any problems when the next version rolls along. In fact, if you read this book now, you’ll be well prepared for all the goodies that 1.8 contains!

So if you’re looking for a jQuery UI book, you should definitely check this one out!