First thing that pops to mind is jQuery animations vs CSS transitions/keyframe animations, especially on low-powered mobile devices. I guess that's not explicitly jQuery vs JS, but it's still an example of how it can be done far better.
There's also the fact that you don't have to include a gigantic library of functions you'll never use, just to show a box when you click a button. 37kb is way over 10% of my ideal page load for a simple to moderate site.
i'd say 87% of the pages on the web have graphics whose
importance is sketchy, and whose total size dwarfs 37k.
and since i almost always do _something_ which has been
found to show cross-browser inconsistencies, the peace
that jquery gives _me_ is well worth those paltry 37k...
that's me. other people might be different. but that's me.
There's also the fact that you don't have to include a gigantic library of functions you'll never use, just to show a box when you click a button. 37kb is way over 10% of my ideal page load for a simple to moderate site.