is jQuery dead? Understanding why the once-ultra popular JavaScript library cannot keep up with the ever changing world

The Web, Circa 2005: A Nightmare for JavaScript Developers

It may be hard to imagine in today’s modern web development landscape, but around 15 years ago, creating a web application was an utterly painful and tedious process. This was a time before standards like HTML5 and ECMAScript 6. Browsers each implemented JavaScript differently with their own quirky and often times confusing APIs and implementations.

Cross-browser JavaScript was a tangled mess of hacks and workarounds. Want to make an AJAX request? You needed different code for IE vs Firefox vs Safari. Want to select an element from the DOM? Each browser used their own methods. Even basic tasks like styling an element or adding event listeners required convoluted code accounting for each browser’s syntax.

This led to a proliferation of libraries to abstract away the browser differences into a unified JavaScript interface. But none reached the popularity and dominance of jQuery, which was released in 2006 by John Resig.

Its robust implementations and its lighting-speed performance was unheard of at that time. This caught the attention of programmers including myself. Its motto “write less, do more” in my honest opinion is one of the coldest motto ever existed. It resonates with web developers tired of verbose workarounds. jQuery sparked a revolution that influenced thousands of developers to build more tools that can provide powerful features with less headache. It quickly became the go-to tool for easily manipulating the DOM, handling events, animation, AJAX requests consistently across all browser.

jQuery WAS JavaScript and JavaScript WAS jQuery— Anonymous

Of course, as we know now, the future of JavaScript would eventually move away from jQuery. But understanding jQuery’s background helps highlight just how far web technology has come in 18 years. The rise and fall of jQuery traces the evolution of JavaScript from a frustrating minefield to the robust language powering complex web applications today.

Here’s why I think jQuery is slow to catch up or will never catch up with the modern frameworks like React, Vue.js and Angular.

Improved Native JavaScript Support

When jQuery came out, JavaScript support in browsers was still quite limited. But since then, browser vendors have gotten much better at implementing JavaScript consistently. Things that once required jQuery like AJAX, DOM manipulation and animation can now be easily done with plain vanilla JS.

// fetch API
fetch('https://example.com/api')
.then((response)=>{
  // Add your logic here
})
.catch((err)=>{
  // Add your logic here
})

Rise of Frontend JavaScript Frameworks

Around the early 2010s, new frontend frameworks like React, Vue and Angular emerged. These provided complete solutions for building modern web user interfaces, handling everything from state management to DOM rendering. Developers are finding it more efficient to build complex and interactive web applications using these frameworks rather than relying on jQuery for DOM manipulation.

Shift Towards Modular JavaScript

jQuery relies on global DOM manipulation, which doesn’t play well with the modular architecture promoted by modern JavaScript frameworks. These frameworks encourage encapsulating logic and DOM access within components.

Need for Lightweight Code

While jQuery provided convenience, it came with a performance overhead. Loading a large library like jQuery for simple tasks can slow down a website’s loading speed and overall performance. As modern websites strive for faster loading times and better user experiences, developers have shifted towards lightweight alternatives or native solutions that do not incur unnecessary overhead.

Legacy Browser Support Less Important

While jQuery helped smooth over differences in legacy browser support, most modern browsers now have excellent JavaScript support. Large sites still using jQuery likely do so mainly for supporting older browsers and cutting costs and risks that comes with “modernizing” web-based application.

Limited role on today’s world

jQuery was designed to tackle a broad range of tasks, from DOM manipulation to animations and AJAX requests. As more on more demand for complex web ecosystem, specialized libraries and tools that addresses specific needs. jQuery couldn’t do this effectively (or without bloating your entire application). Modern Framework such as Vue has the ability to have targeted solutions such as CSS preprocessors like SASS/SCSS, task runners like Gulp and Webpack, and AJAX-focused libraries like Axios.

In the ever-evolving realm of technology, techs that once reigned supreme may eventually fade away as newer, more efficient solutions emerge. jQuery’s decline is not a reflection of its shortcomings in its prime, but rather a testament to the dynamic nature of the industry. The improved standardization of browser APIs, the advancement of JavaScript itself, performance concerns, and the emergence of modern frameworks have collectively contributed to the waning relevance of jQuery.

While jQuery may not be as popular as it once was, its legacy is undeniable. It played a pivotal role in shaping web development by introducing many developers to the world of client-side scripting. As developers move forward, they are armed with a broader skill set and a deeper understanding of the technologies that underpin modern web applications.