A new method signature is slated for jQuery 1.4: .closest(Array). It builds upon the previous .closest() method and hyper-optimizes the logic needed for handling event delegation (and live events).

closest() (and by extension, is()) has become a critical function in jQuery. With more people using live events reducing any overhead has become of the utmost importance. Every time an event fires that live is bound to (such as click or mousemove) jQuery uses the closest() method to go from the target element and find the nearest element that matches the specific selector. The more handlers that are bound, though, the more computationally expensive it becomes.

In jQuery 1.4 we've added closest(Array) which gives us the ability to batch these selector checks together and reduce the amount of time that we spend traversing the DOM.

Example

When working with the DOM .nodeName property there are two hard-and-fast rules that most people abide by:

After reading a recent post by Steve Souders concerning a free tool called dynaTrace Ajax, I was intrigued. It claimed to provide full tracing analysis of Internet Explorer 6-8 (including JavaScript, rendering, and network traffic). Giving it a try I was very impressed. I tested against a few web sites but got the most interesting results running against the JavaScript-heavy Gmail in Internet Explorer 8.

I typically don't write about most performance analysis tools because, frankly, most of them are quite bland and don't provide very interesting information or analysis. dynaTrace provides some information that I've never seen before - in any tool on any browser.

The best way to get more articles submitted is to submit them yourself! Personally, I'm perfectly fine with a particular shift towards having more Q&A - considering that reddits, like /r/askreddit, have an influx of questions that would be better suited to here. In the end though a mix of Q&A and posts would be ideal.

No problem! :) I should be back in town on Wednesday so hopefully I'll be back in time to pick it up. Thanks again!

Yayy! :-D No worries at all, I'm quite excited! Thanks!

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