Jquery Chaining vs Callbacks

Question

For jQuery, what\'s the difference in the outcome of the following two snippets. Anything? Am I correct that the callback and the second item in the chain are both executed

Answer 1

The only difference is timing: The callback in the second example will not be executed until the first animate completes. The chained animate in the first example will happen immediately after the first animation begins.

Answer 2

They are effectively the same, so you'd probably just use the first.

Callbacks (the second version) are for running any arbitrary code that isn't automatically queued.

This includes other jQuery methods like .css() for example, which if not in the callback, will run long before the animation is complete.

// .animate() is automatically queued
$(selector).animate({ opacity: 1 }).animate({ opacity: 0.5 });

---

// .css() is not automatically queued, so you'd need a callback
$(selector).animate({ opacity: 1 }, function() {
    $(this).css({ opacity: 0.5 });
});

---

Without the callback...

 // Animation starts ----v
$(selector).animate({ opacity: 1 }).css({ opacity: 0.5 });
 // ...but .css() runs immediately-------------^
 // ...because it isn't automatically added to the queue.