Javascript/Jquery - Don't repeat yourself

Question

I've seen this so many times on the internet. People say to don't repeat yourself in programming languages. I wrote this script for my webpage but I repeated myself quite a bit.

Is it really that big of a deal?

Should I make a function?

How do I do it?

var active = '.teachers';
var disabled = '.teacher-link';
var width = $('.teachers .staff-outer-container').children().size() * 180;
$('.staff-outer-container').css('width', width + 'px');

$('.teacher-link').click(function() {
    if (active != '.teachers') {
        $(active).hide();
        active = '.teachers';
        $(active).show();
        width = $('.teachers .staff-outer-container').children().size() * 180;
        $('.teachers .staff-outer-container').css('width', width + 'px');
        $(disabled).removeClass('active').addClass('clickable');
        disabled = this;
        $(disabled).removeClass('clickable').addClass('active');
        $('#type').text('Teachers');
    }
});
$('.admin-link').click(function() {
    if (active != '.administrators') {
        $(active).hide();
        active = '.administrators';
        $(active).show();
        width = $('.administrators .staff-outer-container').children().size() * 180;
        $('.administrators .staff-outer-container').css('width', width + 'px');
        $(disabled).removeClass('active').addClass('clickable');
        disabled = this;
        $(disabled).removeClass('clickable').addClass('active');
        $('#type').text('Administrators');
    }
});
$('.support-link').click(function() {
    if (active != '.support') {
        $(active).hide();
        active = '.support';
        $(active).show();
        width = $('.support .staff-outer-container').children().size() * 180;
        $('.support .staff-outer-container').css('width', width + 'px');
        $(disabled).removeClass('active').addClass('clickable');
        disabled = this;
        $(disabled).removeClass('clickable').addClass('active');
        $('#type').text('Support Staff');
    }
});

edit Thanks for everyone's input! I'm confused on how to implement these functions. This is what I got: $('.teacher-link').click(handle_click('.teachers', 'Teachers')); I tried this out and it didn't work. Also where do I place the function? Do I place it inside or outside $(document).ready ? Is it best to put functions at the start or the end of my script?

Answer 1

You could build a function like this, and call it like:

• handle_click('.teachers', 'Teachers');
• handle_click('.adminstrators', 'Administrators');
• etc.

Function:

function handle_click(target, target_text) {
    if (active != target) {
        $(active).hide();
        active = target;
        $(active).show();
        width = $(target + ' .staff-outer-container').children().size() * 180;
        $(target + ' .staff-outer-container').css('width', width + 'px');
        $(disabled).removeClass('active').addClass('clickable');
        disabled = this;
        $(disabled).removeClass('clickable').addClass('active');
        $('#type').text(target_text);
    }
}