Do you tend to overuse jQuery for custom software development?

jQuery - there are very few pieces of software that are both loved and hated by quite as many as this JavaScript library. Used by millions of websites and being one of the first thing any web developer learns, it's crucial for efficient custom software development. But there is no doubt that many programmers tend to overuse it, installing jQuery plugins even for things that can be done in pure HTML/CSS/JS easily, compromising performance in the process.

Why is jQuery so popular?

"With this amazing jQuery plugin, I lost 10 kilos in 2 weeks. I use it all the time." - a jokingly stated a web developer that simply can't imagine their life without the jQuery library. It was first released 9 years ago, back in the year 2006. And it quickly spread. It is actually used by well over half of all top 10 million highest-trafficked websites. Why is that?

That's because that has not been another lightweight JavaScript library that really took care of all the common tasks we originally had to in pure JavaScript. It handles virtually everything you should be able to do in pure JavaScript - form validation, animations, all kinds of events and more. And if there is something the core release can't do, there is a very, very good chance you can find a plugin that takes care of that.

Compelled by the power of this free offering, many developers use jQuery for everything, figuring out that this small library won't affect the performance that much. However, if there are too many calls, it does make a difference. What's more, using jQuery decreases your ability to solve an issue with your implementation once it appears. Are you really positive that you will know what to do?

Why is it not always the best solution?

Can you even picture you custom software development (check out this page to learn what I actually mean by custom in software development) without jQuery. If you use it and you can do it, you're fine. If you use it and you can't, you should work on it. There is only so far you can go with jQuery. To become a really skilled developers, you need dive deep into the JavaScript code and learn how to do all this stuff yourself as well.

Good exercise? Try to do a slideshow with thumbnail using pure JavaScript with HTML5 and CSS3 - no jQuery. Afraid? Be not! You can find many tutorial on sites like SitePoint or SimpleJs.net.

That's all for today. What do you think? Are you too dependent on jQuery? What are you doing to help prevent it. Leave your thoughts in the comment section. And stay tuned for more JavaScript insights. Till the next time.