Is it bad to hotlink jQuery from jquery.com?

Question

This will probably get a pretty nasty response, but my server isn't the fastest at the moment, and my site loads much faster if I hotlink from the jQuery homepage so they server the content. Is this bad to do? Does jQuery eventually remove those js files from their page?

Answer 1

if it is bad I haven't heard about it. However you can use a CDN for better performance probably. Google and Microsoft also serve jQuery through their CDN for free.

cdnjs: https://cdnjs.com/libraries/jquery/

Google's CDN: http://code.google.com/apis/libraries/devguide.html#Libraries

jQuery's CDN: http://docs.jquery.com/Downloading_jQuery#CDN_Hosted_jQuery

MS's CDN: http://www.asp.net/ajaxlibrary/cdn.ashx#Third-Party_Files_on_the_CDN_14

Answer 2

Are you using their official CDNs? A lot of people do.

I'm not sure why everyone is so quick to say Google. The above link says very specifically that you can hotlink to the jQuery CDN:

jQuery CDN (via Media Temple)

http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.6.1.min.js Minified version

http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.6.1.js Source version

Answer 3

Better hotlink it from Google API libraries.

Very big advantages:

• Google is fast and highly available
• Separate hosts, allows the client to load JQuery simultaneously with your pages and images (browsers support only a limited number of connections per host)
• Probably even faster still, because many websites use it, so this Google version is probably in your visitor's cache anyway.

Answer 4

If the library is not intended for loading from the URL, I would avoid it.

However, Google provides hosted versions:

http://code.google.com/apis/libraries/

Answer 5

You can use Google Libraries and link it from there : )

Answer 6

You should use Google's hosted versions:

http://code.google.com/apis/libraries/devguide.html