[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
Anyway, I'm not sure if you've familiar with the thread yesterday. Nay, I'm not, but thank you for bringing it up. My apologies Cherry if I confused you; not my intention. Yes, monologues do sometimes spark sudden understanding (those ah, ha! moments). By all means, write for yourself first, if you are your audience. =) - Daniel --- On Feb 4, 7:52 am, Rick Faircloth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Daniel... You're telling Cherry almost the opposite of what she (she?) was told by someone on the list yesterday. She was complaining that there wasn't enough info out there from her perspective to accomplish simple tasks. There's documentation and plug-in usage, but she said she was frustrated trying to do simple tasks. So, someone recommended that she write about jQuery based on what she already knew... don't worry about whether is completely accurate, thorough, or a best-practice... someone will come along and correct any problems. So that's what's she's done... written about what she knows as a beginner. It's probably very helpful to those who are trying to get started with jQuery and want to learn by doing simple tasks, rather than reading documentation. Better to learn by doing rather than studying theory. Anyway, I'm not sure if you've familiar with the thread yesterday. I just don't want Cherry to think she's being jerked around by people on the list telling her one thing one day and something else the next. It's frustrating enough trying to get started with jQuery enough, as it is. I know. I started only a couple of months ago with absolutely no Javascript experience, so for me, it was especially frustrating. (And in some ways, still is.) Not trying to bust your chops on this, but trying to make sure Cherry doesn't get too frustrated. Also... reading monologues can be *very* beneficial... Rick -Original Message- From: jquery-en@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rabbit Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 6:56 AM To: jQuery (English) Subject: [jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!) Reads like a confused monologue. Before you start writing, really think about what you want to convey. If someone reads your blog, will they come away with anything new or useful? I find it often helps to explicitly answer my own questions when I write. In other words, write to learn. If you don't know something, learn it, then write about it. Writing about it will reinforce your understanding of the subject and probably be in a format that other people will readily enjoy, precisely because you set out to answer a very specific question. If you find you don't have a specific question, chances are you need to think about what _your_ personal goals are with jQuery (or anything). Do you want to create an image gallery? Do you want to make more usable forms? Do you want to learn how to create a modal window from scratch? Maybe you want to learn better ways to organize your code (I gleaned this as being true from your blog). Most often, the best teacher, and often enough, the only teacher, is personal experience. Fail enough times and eventually you'll have a foundation to write about and share with others. I wish you the best of luck with your blog, and hope you have a lot of fun with jQuery; I know I have! - Daniel --- On Feb 3, 8:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ... http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
I like your Blog Cherry, the structure is a bit random and I struggled to find a way of contacting you or leaving comments etc. Otherwise I can totally relate to the content as I'm pretty much in the same boat as you are. Keep it up, but in my opinion I'd try to make the site a bit easier to snoop around and interact with. I sent a message on the chatbox thingy, although I'm not sure where it goes to ;) On Feb 6, 9:44 am, Rabbit [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Anyway, I'm not sure if you've familiar with the thread yesterday. Nay, I'm not, but thank you for bringing it up. My apologies Cherry if I confused you; not my intention. Yes, monologues do sometimes spark sudden understanding (those ah, ha! moments). By all means, write for yourself first, if you are your audience. =) - Daniel --- On Feb 4, 7:52 am, Rick Faircloth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Daniel... You're telling Cherry almost the opposite of what she (she?) was told by someone on the list yesterday. She was complaining that there wasn't enough info out there from her perspective to accomplish simple tasks. There's documentation and plug-in usage, but she said she was frustrated trying to do simple tasks. So, someone recommended that she write about jQuery based on what she already knew... don't worry about whether is completely accurate, thorough, or a best-practice... someone will come along and correct any problems. So that's what's she's done... written about what she knows as a beginner. It's probably very helpful to those who are trying to get started with jQuery and want to learn by doing simple tasks, rather than reading documentation. Better to learn by doing rather than studying theory. Anyway, I'm not sure if you've familiar with the thread yesterday. I just don't want Cherry to think she's being jerked around by people on the list telling her one thing one day and something else the next. It's frustrating enough trying to get started with jQuery enough, as it is. I know. I started only a couple of months ago with absolutely no Javascript experience, so for me, it was especially frustrating. (And in some ways, still is.) Not trying to bust your chops on this, but trying to make sure Cherry doesn't get too frustrated. Also... reading monologues can be *very* beneficial... Rick -Original Message- From: jquery-en@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rabbit Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 6:56 AM To: jQuery (English) Subject: [jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!) Reads like a confused monologue. Before you start writing, really think about what you want to convey. If someone reads your blog, will they come away with anything new or useful? I find it often helps to explicitly answer my own questions when I write. In other words, write to learn. If you don't know something, learn it, then write about it. Writing about it will reinforce your understanding of the subject and probably be in a format that other people will readily enjoy, precisely because you set out to answer a very specific question. If you find you don't have a specific question, chances are you need to think about what _your_ personal goals are with jQuery (or anything). Do you want to create an image gallery? Do you want to make more usable forms? Do you want to learn how to create a modal window from scratch? Maybe you want to learn better ways to organize your code (I gleaned this as being true from your blog). Most often, the best teacher, and often enough, the only teacher, is personal experience. Fail enough times and eventually you'll have a foundation to write about and share with others. I wish you the best of luck with your blog, and hope you have a lot of fun with jQuery; I know I have! - Daniel --- On Feb 3, 8:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ... http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
I saw your message, Pickledegg: thank you! Using Google Pages was not the time-saver I'd hoped it'd be I agree, it makes the site a pig to navigate. I will transfer the content to some more convenient format soon; just need a long enough break from jQuery mystification to do it ;) and, thanks Rabbit :) Cheers, Cherry On Feb 6, 10:52 am, Pickledegg [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I sent a message on the chatbox thingy, although I'm not sure where it goes to ;) http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
Hi Cherry - I enjoyed reading your blog. It's especially interesting
informative to read what issues jQuery newcomers come across.
One issue that it seemed you may not have grasped is when to escape
characters. This isn't something specific to jQuery - it's actually a
Javascript-wide issue, but you run across it a lot with jQuery.
It's simple once you realize what's going on: You only need to escape
characters within data when they are the same as the character you're
using to surround (define) the data. Basically you are preventing
Javascript from being confused about the start end of the data.
Simplifying the replace text with an image example in your blog a
bit:
$('h1').append('..');
...Here you are using single quotes to define the parameter data for
append, so you only need to escape any single quotes that are within
your parameter data. There are none, so it's not necessary to escape
anything. For consistency's sake, in your example the double quote
after fullinfo.html is missing a backslash. But, it doesn't matter
since again for that example, you don't need to escape double quotes
at all.
You've inadvertently discovered this: it's a great idea to use single
quotes to define the parameter data when using HTML code, since
usually you don't need to escape anything (unless there are single
quotes in your HTML). If you're defining a something like a sentence
containing single quotes, it's best to use double quotes to define it
since you don't have to escape the single quotes:
$('h1').append(Here's a sentence that's got some single
apostrophes.);
...again because I'm using double quotes to define the start/end of
the sentence, only double quotes within the sentence will cause
problems. There are none, so I'm all set.
Taking one more look at your example, I've changed the title to
contain some single quotes. Both of these examples will work, but I
prefer the 2nd one since there's a lot less escaping to be done.
$('h1').append(img src=\/images/headertext.gif\ alt=\alt text\
title=\Here's a great site. It's awesome.\ longdesc=\http://
something.com/fullinfo.html\ /);
$('h1').append('img src=/images/headertext.gif alt=alt text
title=Here\'s a great site. It\'s awesome. longdesc=http://
something.com/fullinfo.html /');
Hope that makes (more?) sense.
-Wick
CarComplaints.com
On Feb 3, 11:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ...
http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home
Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
That is absolutely brilliant :)) A massive help - thank you, Wick!
As you've seen, my Javascript is rubbish to begin with. Having to deal
with jQuery structures, without much ground-level knowledge, is really
hard at times. I almost chose Prototype, which looked as though I
could apply more PHP-type thinking ... but went for jQuery because it
has such a great community.
In that, at least, I was definitely right!
Cherry :)
On Feb 5, 5:10 pm, wick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi Cherry - I enjoyed reading your blog. It's especially interesting
informative to read what issues jQuery newcomers come across.
One issue that it seemed you may not have grasped is when to escape
characters. This isn't something specific to jQuery - it's actually a
Javascript-wide issue, but you run across it a lot with jQuery.
It's simple once you realize what's going on: You only need to escape
characters within data when they are the same as the character you're
using to surround (define) the data. Basically you are preventing
Javascript from being confused about the start end of the data.
Simplifying the replace text with an image example in your blog a
bit:
$('h1').append('..');
...Here you are using single quotes to define the parameter data for
append, so you only need to escape any single quotes that are within
your parameter data. There are none, so it's not necessary to escape
anything. For consistency's sake, in your example the double quote
after fullinfo.html is missing a backslash. But, it doesn't matter
since again for that example, you don't need to escape double quotes
at all.
You've inadvertently discovered this: it's a great idea to use single
quotes to define the parameter data when using HTML code, since
usually you don't need to escape anything (unless there are single
quotes in your HTML). If you're defining a something like a sentence
containing single quotes, it's best to use double quotes to define it
since you don't have to escape the single quotes:
$('h1').append(Here's a sentence that's got some single
apostrophes.);
...again because I'm using double quotes to define the start/end of
the sentence, only double quotes within the sentence will cause
problems. There are none, so I'm all set.
Taking one more look at your example, I've changed the title to
contain some single quotes. Both of these examples will work, but I
prefer the 2nd one since there's a lot less escaping to be done.
$('h1').append(img src=\/images/headertext.gif\ alt=\alt text\
title=\Here's a great site. It's awesome.\ longdesc=\http://
something.com/fullinfo.html\ /);
$('h1').append('img src=/images/headertext.gif alt=alt text
title=Here\'s a great site. It\'s awesome. longdesc=http://
something.com/fullinfo.html /');
Hope that makes (more?) sense.
-Wick
CarComplaints.com
On Feb 3, 11:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ...
http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home
Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
Wow, you remembered! Thanks, Rick :)) I think Daniel's point was fair - though I have no intention of writing a jQuery manual! I'll try to organise it better. It's good to know you only needed a couple of months to become less confused about it ... here's hoping! (sorry if this a double post, can't remember if I sent it before) Thanks again for your message! Cherry On Feb 4, 3:52 pm, Rick Faircloth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Daniel... So that's what's she's done... written about what she knows as a beginner. I know. I started only a couple of months ago with absolutely no Javascript experience, so for me, it was especially frustrating. (And in some ways, still is.) -Original Message- From: jquery-en@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rabbit Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 6:56 AM To: jQuery (English) Subject: [jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!) Reads like a confused monologue. On Feb 3, 8:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
I'm still trying to get the hang of the syntax. I could spend more time doing tutorials, but I've been able to ask simple questions and get good, timely answers from the list. They are a helpful, bunch! jQuery is in a fast state of growth, with the core constantly being updated, which is good, but can cause plug-ins to malfunction with a new core, while other plug-ins won't function unless they have the new core! :oP Also, plug-ins are flying everywhere! It's a blessing and a curse that there are so many involved with development for jQuery! Just grab on tightly and hang on! It's like a free-for-all! But I have to say, it's worth it! Rick -Original Message- From: jquery-en@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 2:02 PM To: jQuery (English) Subject: [jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!) Wow, you remembered! Thanks, Rick :)) I think Daniel's point was fair - though I have no intention of writing a jQuery manual! I'll try to organise it better. It's good to know you only needed a couple of months to become less confused about it ... here's hoping! (sorry if this a double post, can't remember if I sent it before) Thanks again for your message! Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
Oh dear! Thank you for taking the trouble to read reply, Daniel. learn it, then write about it. Precisely what I have been doing! Not very well, it seems Fail enough times and eventually you'll have a foundation to write about and share with others. My intention was never to write a jQuery textbook; more to communicate the specific difficulties of using it for the first time, and the solutions I've found. I do find it confusing. Perhaps I'm communicating too much of my own confusion!! I'll try rewriting it using my own html this time, instead of Google's silly templates (which only confused things further!) Cheers, Cherry. On Feb 4, 11:55 am, Rabbit [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Reads like a confused monologue. Before you start writing, really think about what you want to convey. If someone reads your blog, will they come away with anything new or useful? I find it often helps to explicitly answer my own questions when I write. In other words, write to learn. If you don't know something, learn it, then write about it. Writing about it will reinforce your understanding of the subject and probably be in a format that other people will readily enjoy, precisely because you set out to answer a very specific question. If you find you don't have a specific question, chances are you need to think about what _your_ personal goals are with jQuery (or anything). Do you want to create an image gallery? Do you want to make more usable forms? Do you want to learn how to create a modal window from scratch? Maybe you want to learn better ways to organize your code (I gleaned this as being true from your blog). Most often, the best teacher, and often enough, the only teacher, is personal experience. Fail enough times and eventually you'll have a foundation to write about and share with others. I wish you the best of luck with your blog, and hope you have a lot of fun with jQuery; I know I have! - Daniel --- On Feb 3, 8:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ... http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
Reads like a confused monologue. Before you start writing, really think about what you want to convey. If someone reads your blog, will they come away with anything new or useful? I find it often helps to explicitly answer my own questions when I write. In other words, write to learn. If you don't know something, learn it, then write about it. Writing about it will reinforce your understanding of the subject and probably be in a format that other people will readily enjoy, precisely because you set out to answer a very specific question. If you find you don't have a specific question, chances are you need to think about what _your_ personal goals are with jQuery (or anything). Do you want to create an image gallery? Do you want to make more usable forms? Do you want to learn how to create a modal window from scratch? Maybe you want to learn better ways to organize your code (I gleaned this as being true from your blog). Most often, the best teacher, and often enough, the only teacher, is personal experience. Fail enough times and eventually you'll have a foundation to write about and share with others. I wish you the best of luck with your blog, and hope you have a lot of fun with jQuery; I know I have! - Daniel --- On Feb 3, 8:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ... http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
Hi, Daniel... You're telling Cherry almost the opposite of what she (she?) was told by someone on the list yesterday. She was complaining that there wasn't enough info out there from her perspective to accomplish simple tasks. There's documentation and plug-in usage, but she said she was frustrated trying to do simple tasks. So, someone recommended that she write about jQuery based on what she already knew... don't worry about whether is completely accurate, thorough, or a best-practice... someone will come along and correct any problems. So that's what's she's done... written about what she knows as a beginner. It's probably very helpful to those who are trying to get started with jQuery and want to learn by doing simple tasks, rather than reading documentation. Better to learn by doing rather than studying theory. Anyway, I'm not sure if you've familiar with the thread yesterday. I just don't want Cherry to think she's being jerked around by people on the list telling her one thing one day and something else the next. It's frustrating enough trying to get started with jQuery enough, as it is. I know. I started only a couple of months ago with absolutely no Javascript experience, so for me, it was especially frustrating. (And in some ways, still is.) Not trying to bust your chops on this, but trying to make sure Cherry doesn't get too frustrated. Also... reading monologues can be *very* beneficial... Rick -Original Message- From: jquery-en@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rabbit Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 6:56 AM To: jQuery (English) Subject: [jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!) Reads like a confused monologue. Before you start writing, really think about what you want to convey. If someone reads your blog, will they come away with anything new or useful? I find it often helps to explicitly answer my own questions when I write. In other words, write to learn. If you don't know something, learn it, then write about it. Writing about it will reinforce your understanding of the subject and probably be in a format that other people will readily enjoy, precisely because you set out to answer a very specific question. If you find you don't have a specific question, chances are you need to think about what _your_ personal goals are with jQuery (or anything). Do you want to create an image gallery? Do you want to make more usable forms? Do you want to learn how to create a modal window from scratch? Maybe you want to learn better ways to organize your code (I gleaned this as being true from your blog). Most often, the best teacher, and often enough, the only teacher, is personal experience. Fail enough times and eventually you'll have a foundation to write about and share with others. I wish you the best of luck with your blog, and hope you have a lot of fun with jQuery; I know I have! - Daniel --- On Feb 3, 8:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ... http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home Cherry
[jQuery] Re: yet another beginner's diary (pls review!)
Wow, Rick, you remembered! Thank you :)) Daniel's point was fair enough I think, although there is absolutely no sense in my trying to write an authoritative guide to jQuery ... obviously ;) I'll try and reorganise it. And thank you VERY much for your message! Cherry On Feb 4, 3:52 pm, Rick Faircloth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Daniel... You're telling Cherry almost the opposite of what she (she?) was told by someone on the list yesterday. She was complaining that there wasn't enough info out there from her perspective to accomplish simple tasks. There's documentation and plug-in usage, but she said she was frustrated trying to do simple tasks. So, someone recommended that she write about jQuery based on what she already knew... don't worry about whether is completely accurate, thorough, or a best-practice... someone will come along and correct any problems. So that's what's she's done... written about what she knows as a beginner. It's probably very helpful to those who are trying to get started with jQuery and want to learn by doing simple tasks, rather than reading documentation. Better to learn by doing rather than studying theory. Anyway, I'm not sure if you've familiar with the thread yesterday. I just don't want Cherry to think she's being jerked around by people on the list telling her one thing one day and something else the next. It's frustrating enough trying to get started with jQuery enough, as it is. I know. I started only a couple of months ago with absolutely no Javascript experience, so for me, it was especially frustrating. (And in some ways, still is.) Not trying to bust your chops on this, but trying to make sure Cherry doesn't get too frustrated. Also... reading monologues can be *very* beneficial... Rick -Original Message- From: jquery-en@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rabbit Reads like a confused monologue. On Feb 3, 8:54 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Seriously, I beg for your opinions/corrections/suggestions ... http://cherry.austin.googlepages.com/home Cherry
