jQuery 2.0 arrives leaving IE6, 7 and 8 in the past as promised

The new version of jQuery, 2.0, has arrived and, as it is "intended for the modern web", drops support for Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8. For users who still need to support those browsers, jQuery 1.9 (and future 1.10) will continue to work with them; however, jQuery 2.0 will not, and the removal of the code and workarounds that were needed to support the older versions of Internet Explorer means that the new code base is more streamlined, with a 12 per cent reduction in size, more modular, and yet has a jQuery-1.9-compatible API.

The latter feature means that users who have already migrated to jQuery 1.9 should be able to switch to jQuery 2.0 easily. Users of earlier jQuery versions should use the jQuery Migrate plugin and Migration Guide to get to the 1.9/2.0 API level. Where users want to support older browsers, 1.9 and 2.0 can be selected between at runtime using conditional comments in the server.

The jQuery 2.0 transition now leaves the developers regarding Android/WebKit 2.x browsers as "the weakest link". They say it inhibited the removal of even more code and prevented further performance increases. The developers are watching Android 2.x's market share to determine when it can be removed from the supported list and its code removed.

Users of jQuery 1.9 and later should be aware that, in a range of generally non-web-site scenarios, there are a number of situations where jQuery 1.x will not be supported. This includes Google Chrome apps, Mozilla XUL apps and Firefox extensions, Firefox OS apps, Chrome OS apps, Windows 8 Store Apps, Blackberry 10 WebWorks apps, PhoneGap/Cordova Apps, Apple UIWebView, Microsoft WebBrowser controls, and node.js/jsdom. The jQuery developers feel that 2.x is a far better choice for these platforms.

(djwm)