How to use jquery in wordpress?

From WP2.5 (i think) jQuery it’s included, u have some ways to call and inject jQuery in your theme:
Directly or using the WordPress functions (recommended).

1. Directly, it’s the same way wich u has mentioned (<script src=”…).
2. Using wordpress, more elegant:
See wp_enqueue_script() and wp_register_script().

I hope this will be useful. ??

and rather than the shortcut $ you should use jQuery(“#foo”)

Can’t get jQuery localScroll to work (so there is an animation between local anchor links on the same page):

<?php wp_enqueue_script( 'scrollTo', 'wp-content/themes/abletonartists/js/jquery.scrollTo-min.js', array( 'jquery' ) ); ?>
	<?php wp_enqueue_script( 'localScroll', 'wp-content/themes/abletonartists/js/jquery.localscroll-min.js', array( 'jquery' ) ); ?>
	<script type="text/javascript">
		$(document).ready(function() {
			$.localScroll({
				duration:1600
			});
		});
	</script>

@doodlebug – any error messages from Firebug?

I’ve since done it direct like this and it works…
<script src="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/js/jquery-1.2.6.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

I know this isn’t the right way to do it – how can I use the in-built jQuery properly? All the documentation/writings concentrate on the perspective of plugin writers, not theme authors!

Your enqueue bits are fine, but make sure those calls happen BEFORE the wp_head action. This can be in a plugin or anywhere else. For a theme, puitting them in functions.php would work fine if you put them in a function hooked to the template_redirect action (to prevent them from also enqueuing in the admin screens).

function my_theme_enqueue() {
wp_enqueue_script('whatever'...
... etc, all your enqueues go here ...
}
add_action('template_redirect','my_theme_enqueue');

Your actual script output would need to be elsewhere. In the relevant template, I expect.