Checking if a dom element exists with JQuery [Byte sized tips]
This is a simple tip but one I feel makes my code a bit easier to read. I was never very pleased with the standard way of checking if a dom element exits in jquery: if($('#userName').length !== 0){ //do something with $('#firstName') } The solution I like is to create a very simple jQuery plugin to encapsulate this logic: // this extension reads better when selecting elements $.fn.exists = function () { return this .length !== 0; }; You can place this anywhere you like such as in a ‘utils.js’ file, so long as it loads after jQuery. Now your code would like so: ...