I have some repeatable functions created with jQuery I want to reuse. I could write them in functions(), but another one I'm seeing is a plugin in the form of
jQuery.fn =
so I'm not sure if I should write functions or use the plugin form, what is the difference? The code within my function is rather large, should I then use the plugin form?
The main advantage of jquery plugins is portability. It lets you build a structure that is more easy to use and maintain. Please refer to this article for other benefits:
http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/why-create-a-jquery-plugin
It depends on what you are building. For example, if there is no re-use, you might consider going for functions.
If you need a good article on creating plugins - please refer to this:http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/why-create-a-jquery-plugin.
Please consider other options as well. I like to use the Microsoft Ajax library and build a set of 'objects'.
Read this http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Authoring for more infos about the .fn from jQuery.
In your case i'd guess you can simply use normal plain JS functions because you don't write a plugin ;)
