Use jQuery to fix code that sucks
If you’re working inside of an institutional structure chances are you occasionally have to deal with code that sucks. I know I do! We have some third party apps at the institution where I work. I believe they were designed in the early 90s before anyone knew the word “standards” or “css” and have not been revisited. While working on one of these code bases I had the idea of using jQuery to remedy my brow furrowing.
Problem
No IDs or class names on the the template code. The templates were static and I didn’t want to do a global find and replace to try and fix the problem.
jQuery to the Rescue
With jQuery’s selector support, I decided that I could use that to add the vital css, classes or ids I need to make the layout work. Example:
1: $(document).ready(function(){
2: // standard document formatting
3: $("BODY DIV:first").css("width", "800px").css("margin", "0 auto 0 auto");
4: });
Instead of injecting css directly, I could have added a class and added my styling in the stylesheet like this:
1: $(document).ready(function(){
2: // standard document formatting
3: $("BODY DIV:first").attr("class", "fixthishoriblecode");
4: });
There you have it. As simple as including the jQuery library and adding some lines of JavaScript. [of course is javascript is turned off, this is not going to work.. but I didn’t say this was a miracle solution for fixing your bad code, just a patch].
If you’ve had to deal with these types of code bases, share your story below of how you fixed the problem.
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