If you’re running JQuery on a production site, which library should you load? JQuery.js or JQuery.min.js? The short answer is, they are essentially the same, with the same functionality.
One version is long, while the other is the minified version. The minified is compressed to save space and page load time. White spaces have been removed in the minified version making them jibberish and impossible to read.
If you’re going to run the JQuery library on a production site, I recommend that you use the minified version, to decrease page load time, which Google now considers in their page ranking.
Another good option is to use Google’s online javascript library. This will save you the hassle of downloading the library, as well as uploading to your site. In addition, your site also does not use resources when JQuery is loaded.
The latest JQuery minified version from Google is available here.
You can link to it in your pages using:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js"></script> |