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jQuery, jQuery UI, and jQuery Mobile: Recipes and Examples (Developer's Library)

 
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Author/s    : Adriaan de Jonge, Phillip Dutson
Publisher   : Addison-Wesley Professional
Category   : Web design, HTML and JavaScript
Review by : Jeanne Boyarsky
Rating        : 6 horseshoes

"jQuery, jQuery UI and jQuery Mobile" is meant to be read on a computer with you trying the examples. I reviewed the print version and was disappointed by three things. (And I was an airplane reading it with no computer or internet so I physically couldn't run the examples.)

1) In the first half of the book EVERY example had all the HTML code to run it. This is overkill in a print book and wastes time reading in discerning the important parts rather than "every document has a head section". And no, the relevant lines weren't highlighted.
2) Many places say things like "it becomes apparent " or "as you can see from running the code". This was immensely frustrating not being able to run the code. Additionally, I can't find an electronic copy of the code on any of the book's pages or referenced in the book. I feel like it was assumed everyone would buy the e-book.
3) There weren't screenshots in the book. This would have been useful for the UI and mobile sections.

There were also many things I liked. The second half of the book had some example snippets that honed in on specific features. Important idioms were covered. I learned a lot about jQuery UI and jQuery mobile. I liked that options for the UI elements were listed in a table without being shoved into a long working example. I really liked the emphasis on performance. And the parts about accessibility.

Some elements were used without defining though. If you weren't already familiar with jQuery selectors, I think the book was too fast moving/jumping around. For example, > was used on page 34 before being explained. Oddly, chapter 8 (about look and feel) was in the mobile section even though it had nothing to do with mobile and was before mobile was introduced. Proofing issue, maybe?

But then there were sections I got nothing out of like here's a list of mouse events; just a statement you can learn by playing. And worse, there is a vital difference between mouseout and mouseleave. The fact that there was a difference was highlighted. What the difference was - not mentioned at all.

Ultimately, the book was fine. It didn't match my learning style and I couldn't get past that.



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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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