jQuery Most common jQuery noob mistakes?

[DanInMa]

hey folks,
I'm working on a top 5 or top 10 list of the most common mistakes made by folks new to jQuery. The first most obvious ones I can think of:

- loading jQ more than once on the same page
- using more than one library without taking the correct precautions to prevent conflicts
- lack of knowledge of the power of jQuery selectors

my list is much longer but I want to get other people's opinion on the matter,

thanks!

[webdev1958]

Originally Posted by DanInMa

I'm working on a top 5 or top 10 list of the most common mistakes made by folks new to jQuery.

In my experience, the most common mistake noobies to jquery make is not learning the fundamentals of javascript first. Not having a grasp of the basic principles of javascript means they will most likely be floating around in forums forever looking for someone to drag them out of the "coding quicksand" they will most likely keep falling in.

The second most common mistake is that they think jquery can be a shortcut to client side functionality - see above why it isn't.

The 3rd most common mistake is that they think that to perform a given task, jquery will need less code. That's a load of baloney. If they look at the "back end" code jquery runs to perform a task it will very most likely be quite a bit more than the amount of plain javascript code it would take to perform the same task.

[VIPStephan]

One of the most common jQuery n00b mistakes is that they just copy and paste together random scripts they found on the internet because they just found something that looked good visually, and then they have no idea why it’s not working.

And your first two points, Dan, are actually just a result of that.

jQuery is super practical and comfy but it also tempts to overuse and not understand it.

[DanInMa]

Well this is a good start.

While you make great points webdev, I'm aiming more from the perspective of us pro jQuery folks . I understand it has it's pro and cons, which are defintely valid. My goal is to whittle it down to the top 10 or so common mistakes of beginners, and provide links to documentation , multiple examples etc..

[webdev1958]

Originally Posted by DanInMa

While you make great points webdev, I'm aiming more from the perspective of us pro jQuery folks ..

oh, ok.

Your op wasn't clear, so I assumed you were referring to "nooby" noobies to jquery.

[devnull69]

Most common mistakes from jQuery noobs from my perspective (in no specific order) are:

Sometimes they
1. don't know about $(document).ready(function()) / $(function())
2. try to bind event handlers to not-yet-existing elements without using .live() / .delegate() / .on()
3. don't get the meaning of "asynchronous" and "callback" for Ajax or other similar constructs
4. don't know that they need to include jQuery in an additional <script> tag
5. expect dragged elements to be physically (DOM-wise) inside the droppable container automatically after jQuery UI drag/drop
6. don't understand the difference between a DOM element and its "jQuery representating object"

EDIT
7. don't know the difference between setter and getter methods and that generally only setter methods can be used for chaining with the original jQuery object whereas getters change the object