I think I understand what jQuery does, and it does what I need to do. 

I know how to develop user interface with the basic tools of a GUI -- scrollbars, menus, mouse gestures, dialogs. Learned the Mac Toolbox thoroughly. So that's the level I am approaching UI development.  

I'm not really interested in how jQuery does what it does, rather how to write code that runs a fairly standard UI. 

What's the quickest path in? What docs should I read? 

I guess this is where everyone starts?