What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a well-established and continually growing scripting language that is used to create animations and different effects on web pages. Chances are if you’ve got a plugin on your website and all of here at WA do. After all, we are given plugins that come already pre-installed when we create a new website on the WA platform. Some examples of plugins that use JavaScript are image sliders, social media plugins, or responsive menu navigation. Those plugins use JavaScript to create the effects.

JavaScript is a front end programming language and sometimes referred to as client-side, which means it communicates with a visitor's web browser when they go to your website.

As a WordPress user which all of us at WA are, you are already using JavaScript to power the backend WordPress admin screens. If you’ve ever dragged and dropped items onto your menus, created widgets or used the Appearance > Customizer feature, then you’ve already benefited from JavaScript because doing any of those actions requires its use.

What Does JavaScript Look Like?

Often times when you are working with an external vendor, you may be asked to install code that has an opening <script> tag and a closing </script> tag, That is called JavaScript. Common examples where WA Members will be asked to copy and paste JavaScript code into their WordPress sites will be when you start doing PPC campaigns. The following screenshot is taken from the WA Links and Tracking page where I have JavaScript code used for a PPC Bing ad campaign.