It solved problems of cross-browser compatibility back when Netscape was still a thing, before Chrome existed, when major releases of browsers (IE) radically changed functionality between releases, and if I recall, we had Phoenix&#x2F;Firefox as the most cutting-edge browser of the era. This is what browser market share looked like back then: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;uncategorized&#x2F;2007&#x2F;02&#x2F;8908&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;uncategorized&#x2F;2007&#x2F;02&#x2F;8908&#x2F;</a><p>When jQuery launched, it appeared on Del.icio.us and Digg, for context of its era: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jquery.org&#x2F;history&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jquery.org&#x2F;history&#x2F;</a>