In a remarkable leap forward, the jQuery 4 release has finally arrived, marking its first major update in nearly a decade. This release aligns perfectly with the library’s 20th anniversary, first introduced on January 14, 2006. As jQuery continues evolving, it brings extensive modernizations designed to enhance performance while preserving simplicity for developers. With a strong focus on cutting away legacy code and deprecated APIs, the jQuery team has set the stage for a leaner library capable of better meeting contemporary development needs. Users can rest assured that upgrading will entail minimal code changes, supported by a comprehensive upgrade guide and the jQuery Migrate plugin.
The most significant shift with the jQuery 4 release is the decision to cease support for Internet Explorer 10 and older browsers, including Edge Legacy, iOS versions older than the last three, and Android Browser. However, Internet Explorer 11 remains supported, although it will be phased out in the forthcoming jQuery 5.0. This transition also includes migrating the library source code from AMD to ES modules, allowing compatibility with modern development workflows. Developers can now import jQuery directly as ES modules using `script type=”module”` tags, with the project moving from RequireJS to Rollup for packaging.
Modern Features of jQuery 4
The enhancements introduced in the jQuery 4 release are met with enthusiastic community feedback, particularly regarding the support for Trusted Types. This addition ensures that HTML wrapped in TrustedHTML is usable as input to jQuery manipulation methods without breaching Content Security Policy (CSP) directives. This is a pivotal step in modern web development, ensuring both security and functionality.
Furthermore, the jQuery team has shifted most asynchronous script requests towards using `
