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Including <strong>jQuery</strong> as an External CDN-based Files<br />

Let’s take a brief look at the basic properties of an externally included file:<br />

1. An external file is a file that is separate from your main HTML file.<br />

2. An external file can be hosted on the same host. In most cases, it is.<br />

It is not necessary, however, for an external file to be located on the same host as your web<br />

page. You can add an external JavaScript file from a separate website and it will still be included<br />

as part of your HTML page. The code will execute.<br />

The <strong>jQuery</strong> locations discussed on the previous page are hosted by Google, Microsoft and the<br />

<strong>jQuery</strong> project itself. They are offered in two flavors HTTP and HTTPS. The latter stands for a<br />

secure connection with SSL.<br />

The subject of the HTTP protocol and secure connections will not be discussed in this book.<br />

However, you must know about Relative URL References with regard to including <strong>jQuery</strong><br />

from CDN locations using either the HTTP or HTTPS protocols.<br />

For various reasons you may be interested in including either HTTP or HTTPS version of the<br />

hosted file from one of the discussed CDNs.<br />

What is a relative reference? It allows us to include external file without mentioning the absolute<br />

location such as www.mywebsite.com/js/script.js. There are similar rules at work when<br />

choosing either HTTP or HTTPS protocols, too.<br />

Some pages on your website will be using the HTTP protocol. Others, HTTPS. In order for<br />

our page to include the right protocol automatically, and according to the HTML specification,<br />

we can use the double slash // symbol, as in:<br />

<br />

Notice the leading // symbol. It means the correctly matched protocol will be used.<br />

This is useful, because, for example, if you were forcing the fixed HTTPS protocol in an externally<br />

included file, on a web page that was itself using HTTP, you would encounter a “mixed<br />

content” security message. The // also helps us properly cache the file. Note that HTTPS can<br />

never be cached.<br />

The golden rule is whenever an external file is offered in HTTP and HTTPS flavors, use only<br />

the // when including it, instead of http:// or https://<br />

This method can also improve page load speed in some cases.<br />

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