jQuery Get Started
Adding jQuery to Your Web Pages
There are several ways to start using jQuery on your web site. You can:
- Download the jQuery library from jQuery.com
- Include jQuery from a CDN, like Google
Downloading jQuery
There are two versions of jQuery available for downloading:
- Production version - this is for your live website because it has been minified and compressed
- Development version - this is for testing and development (uncompressed and readable code)
Both versions can be downloaded from jQuery.com.
The jQuery library is a single JavaScript file, and you reference it with the HTML <script> tag
(notice that the <script> tag should be inside the <head> section):
<head>
<script src="jquery-3.4.1.min.js"></script>
</head>
Tip: Place the downloaded file in the same directory as the pages where you wish to use it.
Do you wonder why we do not have type="text/javascript" inside the <script> tag?
This is not required in HTML5. JavaScript is the default scripting language in HTML5 and in all modern browsers!
jQuery CDN
If you don't want to download and host jQuery yourself, you can include it from a CDN (Content Delivery Network).
Both Google and Microsoft host jQuery.
To use jQuery from Google or Microsoft, use one of the following:
Google CDN:
<head>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.4.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
</head>
Try it Yourself »
Microsoft CDN:
<head>
<script src="https://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-3.4.1.min.js"></script>
</head>
Try it Yourself »
One big advantage of using the hosted jQuery from Google or Microsoft:
Many users already have downloaded jQuery from Google or Microsoft when visiting
another site. As a result, it will be loaded from cache when they visit your site, which leads to faster loading time.
Also, most CDN's will make sure that once a user requests a file from it, it will be served
from the server closest to them, which also leads to faster loading time.
