When I build a theme from scratch I have to “enable” sidebars and specific menus in the functions.php.
Similarly, do I need to “enable” access to the javascript and jquery libraries that come bundled with WordPress?
I ask because 2 How-to books I’ve been using (WordPress 2.8 Theme Design, and Beginning WP 3) both talk about needing to do this and provide code, but neither of them makes explicit whether you need to do this just to make things work in general, or whether you need to do this only if you want to include your own “standalone” javascript(s) as opposed to a script that is part of a plugin/widget.
I’m assuming the latter but want to confirm –
If you’ll be using jQuery in your theme you need to “enqueue” it. If you do not need the JS , ie if you do not run custom jQuery plugins, you don’t need to “enqueue” it
via wp_enqueue_script