jQuery in a Modern Codebase

Most of what jQuery was built to fix — inconsistent browser APIs, no fetch(), verbose DOM methods — has since been fixed by browsers themselves or absorbed into the language. That doesn't make jQuery obsolete everywhere; it makes the decision to reach for it a more deliberate one than it used to be.

Where plain JavaScript has caught up

document.querySelector()/querySelectorAll() now cover selection with the same CSS syntax jQuery uses. fetch() covers AJAX with native Promises. classList.add()/.remove()/.toggle() cover class manipulation. element.style covers inline CSS. The CSS-transition-based approach to animation (or the Web Animations API) covers most of what .fadeIn()/.slideToggle() used to be needed for. For a brand-new project, most of jQuery's original value proposition is now built into the browser for free — no 30KB library download required.

Where a framework has taken over

For anything with real interactive state — a form that re-renders as you type, a list that reorders itself, a UI with several components reacting to each other — React, Vue, and similar tools manage the relationship between data and the DOM far more reliably than hand-written jQuery ever could. jQuery has no concept of "state" at all; you're always manually keeping the DOM in sync with whatever your data currently is, which gets fragile fast as an app grows.

Where jQuery still earns its place

  • Maintaining an existing codebase. Countless production sites, admin panels, and WordPress themes/plugins are built on jQuery, and rewriting working code just to remove a dependency is rarely worth the risk.
  • The WordPress ecosystem. WordPress ships jQuery by default and much of its plugin ecosystem depends on it — if you're working inside that world, you're working with jQuery whether or not you'd choose it fresh.
  • A quick, no-build-step page. A single CDN <script> tag with no bundler, no compile step, and consistent cross-browser behavior is still genuinely convenient for a small internal tool or a prototype.
The honest takeaway: learning jQuery isn't wasted effort — you'll run into it in real codebases for years to come — but for new, interactive projects in 2026, reaching for it by default rather than plain JavaScript or a framework is usually a sign of habit rather than a deliberate technical choice.
Course complete: that covers the jQuery course from top to bottom — loading jQuery and waiting for the DOM to be ready, selectors, event handling and delegation, reading and writing the DOM, CSS and class manipulation, effects and animation, AJAX requests, and an honest read on where jQuery still fits today. Pairing this with the site's JavaScript course covers both the classic and modern ways to work with the DOM.
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