jQuery Releases v4: First Major Version in Almost 10 Years

"jQuery, the pioneering JavaScript library that revolutionized web development, has released jQuery 4, marking its first major version in almost 10 years. The release coincides with the library's 20th anniversary, having first been introduced on January 14, 2006. jQuery 4 brings extensive modernizations while maintaining the simplicity and developer experience. The team has focused on trimming legacy code, removing deprecated APIs, and dropping support for outdated browsers, resulting in a leaner and more performant library."

"A key support change in jQuery 4 is the removal of support for Internet Explorer 10 and older browsers, including Edge Legacy, iOS versions earlier than the last 3, and Android Browser. Internet Explorer 11 remains supported in this release, though the team has indicated that support will be removed in jQuery 5.0. The library source code has been migrated from AMD to ES modules, making jQuery compatible with modern build tools and development workflows. Developers can now import jQuery directly as ES modules through the use of script type equals module tags, and the project has switched from RequireJS to Rollup for packaging."

"I think it's a sign of how good vanilla browser JS is when half of the changelog is stuff getting removed. jQuery 4.0 adds support for Trusted Types, ensuring that HTML wrapped in TrustedHTML can be used as input to jQuery manipulation methods without violating Content Security Policy directives. The library has also switched most asynchronous script requests to use script tags rather than inline scripts to avoid CSP errors."

jQuery 4 is the first major release in nearly a decade and aligns with the library's 20th anniversary. The release removes deprecated APIs, trims legacy code, and drops support for older browsers to produce a leaner, more performant library. Internet Explorer 10 and older, Edge Legacy, older iOS versions, and Android Browser are no longer supported; Internet Explorer 11 remains supported for this release but is slated for removal in jQuery 5. The codebase migrated from AMD to ES modules to integrate with modern build tools. Trusted Types support and safer async script handling improve Content Security Policy compatibility. An upgrade guide and jQuery Migrate plugin are provided to assist migrations.

Read at InfoQ