The Enduring Role of jQuery in Modern Web Development

jQuery is one of the longest‑running and most influential JavaScript libraries on the web, boasting a market share of about 78% and usage on tens of millions of sites according to BuiltWith . In contrast, the newer React library has a usage rate of roughly 14% .

First released in 2006 during the Ajax boom, jQuery helped developers overcome browser incompatibilities, especially in the era of Internet Explorer 6, by simplifying DOM manipulation, event handling, and animation.

Recent OpenJS blog posts by MGO (Michał Gołębiowski‑Owczarek) announced that jQuery UI will receive only maintenance updates as its final version, and that jQuery Mobile has been deprecated, while the core library ( jQuery Core ) will continue to be maintained for the foreseeable future.

jQuery is still heavily used in the WordPress ecosystem; many themes and plugins depend on it, and it serves as a foundation for other popular tools such as AngularJS and Bootstrap 4.0 and earlier. Its simplicity makes it attractive for static sites that need modest dynamic behavior.

Historically, jQuery was created to address the shortcomings of early browsers and to provide a unified way to work with the DOM, competing with libraries like Dojo, MochiKit, Prototype/Scriptaculous, and Yahoo UI.

Today, modern browsers and the advent of ECMAScript 6 have reduced the need for a library that normalizes cross‑browser quirks. Frameworks such as React , Next.js , and Angular offer component‑based architectures that abstract away direct DOM manipulation, making jQuery less essential for large‑scale applications.

Nevertheless, jQuery still faces performance concerns in massive applications because it wraps DOM nodes in its own objects rather than modifying native prototypes, which can add overhead in complex scenarios.

In conclusion, while jQuery is no longer the preferred tool for building new, highly scalable web applications, its deep integration with platforms like WordPress and its continued maintenance ensure that it will remain a relevant part of the web ecosystem for years to come.