Lightweight alternative to jQuery for class / id selecting

Question

Let\'s say I want to build a non-dependent javascript framework/script. Is there a way to utilize jQuery\'s amazing class and element selecting functionality

Answer 1

The answer to "I need a small JS library that..." is this site: http://microjs.com/

specifically, you're looking for a selector engine:

http://microjs.com/#css

Answer 2

In everything but IE6 and IE7, you can use document.querySelectorAll or someElement.querySelectorAll to perform similar selection functionality.

Update more details:

It looks like ZeptoJS does the following. This uses quick functions for $$(document, '#myid'), $$(document, '.myclass'), $$(document, 'div') and slow searches for $$(document, 'div > .myclass')

var classSelectorRE = /^\.([\w-]+)$/,
    idSelectorRE = /^#([\w-]+)$/,
    tagSelectorRE = /^[\w-]+$/;

$$ = function(element, selector){
  var found;
  return (element === document && idSelectorRE.test(selector)) ?
    ( (found = element.getElementById(RegExp.$1)) ? [found] : [] ) :
    Array.prototype.slice.call(
      classSelectorRE.test(selector) ? element.getElementsByClassName(RegExp.$1) :
      tagSelectorRE.test(selector) ? element.getElementsByTagName(selector) :
      element.querySelectorAll(selector)
    );
}

Answer 3

Just try jBone, library for Events and DOM manipulation. jBone has much better performance then jQuery/Zepto, smaller size and full support for all selectors, events API's.

Answer 4

MicroSelector. Even smaller and faster than Zepto, which is smaller than Sizzle, which is smaller than JQuery.

Answer 5

You could do what jQuery does and use Sizzle: http://sizzlejs.com/

Answer 6

Have you looked at zepto.js? You'd still be dependent on a framework, but it's much lighter weight: about 5kb instead of 31kb.