title: jQuery binding click event best practices
body: <p>Lately when binding click events in jQuery I find myself questioning whether to use the jQuery shortcut <code>click()</code> or if I should specify the <code>.on('click', ...)</code> call myself.</p>
  
  <p>The <a href="http://api.jquery.com/click/" rel="noreferrer">.click().</a> function in jQuery is just a shortcut.  To me it makes sense to use because jQuery handles everything behind the scenes accounting for the preferred method per the version of jQuery being used.  When I upgraded my scripts from jQuery 1.6 -> 1.7 I know that all of my <code>click()</code>s went from being a shortcut to <code>bind()</code> to the preferred <code>on()</code> method.  This, alone, seems reason enough to use the shortcuts.</p>
  
  <p><em>...however....</em></p>
  
  <p>Trevor Burnham, whom I greatly respect, says in his eBook <a href="http://leanpub.com/asyncjs" rel="noreferrer">Async Javascript</a> that he</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>... prefer(s) to consistently use the more powerful bind/on)   (over click)</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>That confuses me and I was wondering why using bind/on is 'more powerful'. </p>
  
  <p>What have you found to be the best practices when binding events that have shortcuts in jQuery?  Use the shortcut or do it yourself?</p>