jQuery UI in Action 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

Excellent introduction to jQuery UI. VanToll has a straightforward, engaging manner that is very refreshing. That used to be the hallmark of O'Reilly authors but is harder to find these days. This is a great addition to Manning's catalog!Update: After a number of attempts to use the existing jQuery UI documentation I have come to value this book even more. Hopefully, those will mature over time. But, it you want to jump into UI right now this book is your lifeline to getting up and running quickly.

Has much good info you won't find anywhere else. JQuery and JQuery UI are far from dead, and still offer some of the best solutions for web development.

Wish I hadn't bought it. Stuff wasn't very useful.

Useful

TJ VanToll had two straightforward goals in mind when he decided to write this nicely prepared book: "I wanted to write about how to use the jQuery UI components in real-world usage scenarios and applications. I also wanted to tackle the tough questions for jQuery UI users. [Such as] Why should you use the jQuery UI datepicker instead of the native date picker included in HTML5? How do you use jQuery UI on mobile devices, especially in low bandwidth situations?"According to the jQuery Foundation, "jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library. It makes things like HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax much simpler with an easy-to-use API that works across a multitude of browsers. With a combination of versatility and extensibility, jQuery has changed the way that millions of people write JavaScript."The problem with popularity, of course, is that jQuery became widely employed soon after it was introduced in 2006. Users quickly created a flood of jQuery plugins that, Van Toll writes, "had inconsistent APIs, and often had little or no documentation. Because of these problems, the jQuery team wanted to provide an official set of plugins in a centralized location. In September 2007 they created a new library with these plugins--jQuery UI."He adds: "From a high level, jQuery UI was, and still is, a collection of plugins and utilities that build on jQuery. But dig deeper and you find a set of consistent, well-documented, themeable building blocks to help you create everything from small websites to highly complex web applications. Unlike jQuery plugins, the plugins and utilities in jQuery UI are supported by the jQuery Foundation. You can count on them to be officially supported and maintained throughout the life of your application."Well-written and well-illustrated, jQuery UI in Action reflects VanToll's knowledge and experience as a professional web developer and member of the core jQuery UI team.The book is structured into three parts, encompassing 12 chapters. And it assumes readers have at least basic experience with JavaScript, CSS, and jQuery.Part One's chapters introduce jQuery UI and "the ins and outs of widgets...the core building blocks of jQuery UI."Part Two's chapters offer "a comprehensive look at the components of jQuery UI: twelve jQuery UI widgets (chapters 3-4), five jQueryUI interactions (chapter 5), numerous jQuery UI effects (chapter 6), and the jQuery UI CSS framework (chapter 7)." VanToll explains how each component works and shows how to apply the knowledge to real-world applications. The example projects include: building complex webforms with jQueryUI; using layout and utility widgets; adding interaction to interfaces; and using built-in and customized themes to provide "a consistent look to all widgets."Part Three focuses on "Customization and advanced usage." Here, VanToll explores such topics as using the widget factory to create custom widgets, preparing applications for production, and building a flight-search application "at real-world scale." In the final chapter, he takes us under jQuery's hood "to dig into a series of utilities, methods, and properties intended for more advanced usage of the library."If you work with jQuery or are ready to start using it, take a good look at jQuery UI. TJ VanToll's new book can be your go-to guide for getting, learning and putting jQuery UI into action.(Thanks to Manning Books for providing a review copy.)

The name says it all: the book is something you could put into action and apply to your web application development immediately.I was working on a project to integrate some web applications when I got a copy of "jQuery UI in Action". Since the vendor's applications UI is using some specific HTML template system that seems clunky, ugly and hard to customize, I decided to give jQuery UI a try. It really made a difference after I followed the examples in the book as I was able to significantly simply the logic of my script while making the theme similar to the old web application the project is replacing.The author has been using and developing jQuery UI for more than five years and it shows his in-depth understanding of jQuery UI in a easy-to-follow way of description. He used a few real-world examples to explain different aspects of jQuery UI that could be easily used for one's web applications. I ending up using a lot for my project from his datapicker part of the doctor's appointment example.All the examples are very easy to follow with detailed annotations. The author stated in the foreword he tried not to make this a copy of API document but rather some real-world applications. The book definitely has achieved the goal.What I also like about this book is that the author is very frank in comparing jQuery UI vs HTML5 and also the pros and cons of jQuery UI. And I found its appendices are quite useful. I usually use FireBug for testing my javascript but the online testing tools the author recommended definitely helps.The book does not have too much information about generating dynamic data from database on server side. But that should not be considered a shortcoming as it is not directly related to jQuery UI at all and you could find tons of information for that elsewhere easily. In addition, the book does provide an example to use jQuery UI vs. GitHub web api.Disclaimer: I got my complimentary copy from Manning's reviewer's program.