Review of jQuery Enlightenment – and Free Copies!

jQuery Enlightenment, by Cody Lindley, is a breath of fresh air when it comes to e-books. It’s written by a jQuery team member, each code snippet includes a link to JSBin for live previewing, and – most importantly – there’s no fluff. Ultimately, this means that you’ll learn faster, and more thoroughly.

Update: Winners Announced

Congratulations to the following users who were randomly selected as the winners of jQuery Enlightenment! You’ve all been contacted via Twitter and email with instructions.

• enatom
• Jacob
• D.
• Michael Espinosa
• Ryan

Not a Winner?

In that case, Cody has given me a special $5 off discount code, which is valid for the first 300 purchases and expires on November 18th. To use it, visit the jQuery Enlightenment site, click on the “Have a discount code” link, and use the following code: nettuts5bucksoff.

At a Glance

To prove how much I enjoyed reading this book: I received my review copy on a Wednesday, and finished it the next day. As I’m sure many of you are aware, tech books and front to back reads very rarely go well together. This is a testament to the “no fluff” aspect I referenced earlier. Over the course of a dozen chapters, Cody will teach you everything you need to know.

• Chapter 1 – Core jQuery
• Chapter 2 – Selecting
• Chapter 3 – Traversing
• Chapter 4 – Manipulation
• Chapter 5 – HTML Forms
• Chapter 6 – Events
• Chapter 7 – jQuery and the web browser
• Chapter 8 – Plugins
• Chapter 9 – Performance best practices
• Chapter 10 – Effects
• Chapter 11- AJAX
• Chaper 12 – Miscellaneous concepts

Who this Book is for?

While most books on jQuery are primarily focused on introducing the library to new users, jQuery Enlightenment instead assumes you’re at an intermediate level hoping to learn the more advanced tips and techniques. As such, I especially enjoyed the read more than I would have if it was just another crash course style book. Assuming that you’re a regular Nettuts+ reader, it’s more than probable that you have at least a basic understand of jQuery. If so, it’s time to take your skills to the next level; jQuery Enlightenment will take you there.

Though perhaps the most convincing reason to check out Cody’s new book is because he’s an official member of the jQuery team.

JSBin Snippets

Throughout the book, Cody supplies every single code snippet with a respective live preview from JSBin. This may not sound like much; however, it’s incredibly helpful when you can simply click on a link, and immediately be transported to a page which allows you to “toy” with the code. I can’t tell you how vital this is – and, frankly, it’s shocking that more web development e-books haven’t taken advantage of this yet.

About the Author

Cody Lindley is a Christian, husband, son, father, brother, outdoor enthusiast, and client-side engineer. Since 1997 he has been passionate about HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, Interaction Design, Interface Design, and HCI. He is most well known in the jQuery community for the creation of Thickbox, a modal/dialog solution. In 2008 he officially joined the jQuery team as an evangelist. His current focus has been on client-side optimization techniques as well as speaking and writing about jQuery. As of late he is employeed by Ning.com

Free Copies!

Cody has been generous enough to offer a handful of copies to our readers! To enter, simply leave a comment, and check back on Monday (Tuesday for some of you) to see if you’re a winner! Otherwise, if you’d like to purchase the ebook and immediately read it, you can buy it here.

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