jQuery :first vs. .first()

Question

The .first() method was added in jQuery 1.4.

The :first selector has been around since 1.0.

From the docs:

:first

Answer 1

$('li').css('color', 'red').first().css('color', 'green'); would apply the filter after the collection already has been utilised.

In most cases I would use the selector :first since it can be combined with so many other nice selectors, all in one sweep.