The dynamic behavior of Web sites is achieved by adding JavaScript processing to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages. Instead of programming in JavaScript, it is more efficient to use JavaScript libraries, such as jQuery, Prototype, script.aculo.us, and the Dojo toolkit.

This book can be seen as a documentation manual on jQuery, which is a JavaScript library for rapid Web development. Around 1,000 pages in length, it addresses developers of dynamic Web pages. It does not mention other similar JavaScript libraries.

Together with jQuery, two other components are described: jQuery UI, a tool for building rich user interfaces, and jQuery Mobile, a tool for creating interfaces on tablets and smartphones.

Each chapter contains a list of problems and their solutions. The problems include inserting an element into an HTML document, retrieving the position of elements, and working with events. There are hundreds of examples, which can also be downloaded from the book’s Web site (http://www.apress.com/9781430240952). Each solution includes the code and (if applicable) the browser image of the resulting Web page.

Part 1 has almost 100 pages, including very useful primers for HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), and JavaScript. Part 2 describes how to work with jQuery. In Part 3, the authors present the important skill of Ajax manipulation. Parts 4 and 5 describe jQuery UI and jQuery Mobile. The last part covers advanced features, such as jQuery utilities and a CSS framework. The book ends with an index, but there are no references.

This is a very useful book in the modern field of creating Web pages. The reader will find a wealth of knowledge to improve productivity.