I've been really interested in this new JavaScript toolkit for it's known ease-of-use. But as of now, I only am familiar with CSS and XHTML. What are some helpful ways for me to get familiar with jQuery?

Thanks,
Mason

[Arkham_c]

I've not used jQuery, but we're moving to using Google Web Toolkit (gwt) for all our complex JavaScript work. So far, we all really like it. If that's something you're interested in, you can take a look at the demos here:

http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/examples/

[SirCastor]

jQuery is awesome. For me it was the easiest of the frameworks to learn. I highly recommend it.

You should probably learn basic Javascript before you get too far into jQuery. Some of the little gotchas (like your brackets and parens) will be easier when you know how to watch. Additionally, jQuery doesn't do everything. You'll still need javascript to manipulate data (assuming you have data you want to manipulate). For instance, if you wanted to calculate some information based on numbers, and then populate a form using jQuery, you'll still need to know the javascript to calculate the numbers whatever you want to do with the data when you're done.

A jQuery AJAX call looks like this:

Code:
$("#thing").post('ajax.php',{data:first,d2:second},function(returned){alert('I am magic!')});

Which can be a little daunting to read unless you realize that the second argument is JSON, and the third argument is a callback function so it takes whatever information is returned a does something with it (this one I didn't get for a long time). Quotes can be tricky sometimes too.

The above code can be daunting. It's an AJAX call. For any jQuery statement though, Remember the jQuery structure:

Code:
$(CSS/HTML selector).jQueryFunctionName(argument1,argument2,etc);

It may be helpful to split your arguments into new lines, especially when they are function calls (and declarations for that matter.)

Hope that helps, if you need more help, feel free to PM me or post more here.

[Love Calm Quiet]

I'm just beginning the jQuery journey (having been deterred from other js frameworks by their learning curves). Nice little intro recently posted on WebMonkey:
http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/Ge...ed_With_JQuery

I have also found two books highly rated on Amz:
http://www.amazon.com/jQuery-Action-.../dp/1933988355
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-jQuer.../dp/1847192505

From the sounds of the reviews I think it's time for me to stop avoiding Javascript in my webdev work -- and get there via the compactness of jQuery (a free 15-20K, cacheable js file for a website). It's supposed to include much facilitation for Ajax maneuvers, too.

Best of luck to you.

[andi*pandi]

I've been wondering this as well, thanks for the webmonkey link LLC, and code sample Sir.