So what is a Content Delivery Network (CDN)?

In a nutshell, a CDN is a network of computers strategically placed around the world that serve up cached content to users. The content types include images, videos, style sheets, and in this case,  script libraries. As you can imagine, your pages will load faster when browsers are downloading these objects from a server closer to them than from one central location half way across the globe.

When it comes to jquery, there are two main CDNs I’ll reference in projects: Microsoft’s and Google’s. Adding a reference to either CDN is really easy. All you have to do is add one of the following lines into your page header.

Microsoft’s jQuery CDN reference:

<script src=”http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery/jquery-1.3.2.min.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>

Google’s jQuery CDN reference:

<script src=”http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>

That’s it!