Import article by @cowboy on Special Events

[dmzza]

@cowboy
http://benalman.com/news/2010/03/jquery-special-events/

We need the markdown file for this, and someone needs to work with Dave to update it to match current convention and best practices.

[dmzza]

This may replace the existing article on custom events.

[paulirish]

@cowboy do you have this in markdown already?

[cowboy]

Yes, I just need to get the code out of my CMS. I can issue a PR here with the current content, which will then have to be edited (broken into separate sub-articles?) as-appropriate for the site, and also updated for the latest APIs (which I probably won't be able to do, but would be happy to consult on).

[ajpiano]

Sounds good, can you get that PR together @cowboy so we can have that jumping-off point?

[cowboy]

Totally. Time-wise it will probably have to wait a week or so, just because of the current push to get grunt 0.4 out the door. But please check in with me again once that's done.

[cowboy]

https://gist.github.com/4674426

[cowboy]

I just committed it in 39bb57f. Edit away!

[scottgonzalez]

@dmethvin Is this something we actually want to document? It's always seemed like special events aren't really meant for the community at large.

[arschmitz]

I think there are more people using it then you might think i had two random dev's I know ask me about special events just recently. Right now this article seems to be the defacto documentation. It would be nice if this was someplace where it can be updated easily.

[scottgonzalez]

It's not about whether people are using it, it's about whether we want people using it. Lots of people use $.browser too.

[mgol]

A very popular plugin, jquery-mousewheel, as well as my variation
about it, jquery-wheel, use it. We
won't be able to remove it without severe breakages. And the interface is
useful.

[scottgonzalez]

This isn't about whether jQuery core should continue to have a special events API. It's not even about whether specific third party plugins have a use for it. It's about whether this is a topic that should be included on a site intended largely (though not exclusively) for novice and intermediate users. 99.9% of jQuey users don't have a need for using the special events API directly. And I seem to recall @dmethvin raising concerns at various times.

[cowboy]

Maybe add an "Advanced" section. Or "Internals" to mirror what's here: http://api.jquery.com/category/internals/

[dmethvin]

I wrote a bunch of docs about 2 years ago and we just never found a place to land it. I think the @cowboy article is out of date now. I just need to find the docs I wrote and we can figure out where to put it. This is definitely an advanced feature and not something to encourage for general use.

[dmethvin]

Here it is edited and converted to markdown by @kswedberg.