Whoever came up with the idea for jQuery deserves a medal. Such a simple concept can go such a long way. Some effects are difficult for me to conceptualize, like for example in the second jQuery exercise, we were able to simply change the speed of a dropdown menu using either the  “slow” or “fast” parameter. Whereas some methods, like .fadein, you can quantify for exactly how long in milliseconds the animation should last. Perhaps this comfortability just comes with practice. For example:

$(‘#nav-dropdown’).slideToggle(‘fast’) vs. $(‘#nav-dropdown’).slideToggle(‘100’)

Either way, it’s easy to see how powerful the combination of JavaScript and jQuery can be. The complex animations I see daily on websites, which just weeks ago would have been impossible for me to explain, make sense now.

I wonder if other programming languages have libraries like jQuery that can condense complicated and extensive chunks of code into easily-referenced bits of code only a line or two long.

I also found reviewing the DOM very helpful as It’s easy to get lost in the weeds when doing this line-by-line coding. I think of it as a sort of order of operations, which I’m sure it’s been described as before.

Looking ahead

I’m very excited to start building a profile site and to include the plethora of media I’ve produced over the past four years. I’m especially excited to show off my news photography and video work. Every profile site I’ve used on WordPress has had an unattractive profile layout that I didn’t find conducive to showcasing media. And the themes that did showcase media well I wasn’t interested in paying for.

I’m looking forward to talking with my profile subject, Ryan Schneiderman, about how he’s built his dad’s photography showcase, and hopefully take some good tips from him.