to quickly answer your questions before going deeper
to load the plugin you must 1. upload it and 2. tell WP to load it using wp_enqueue_script
the add_stuff and my_script functions need to go in your functions.php like everything else for your child theme.
and now for more.... i agree w/ tarpontech. it is a long corridor. many swear words have been uttered by me in regards to jquery. and it is 'supposed' to be an easy language. my biggest hurdle was right where you are now: getting it implemented.
take tarpontech's advice and lookup enqueue script. but in general this is how it works....
wp_enqueue_script('script nickname','script location')
the nickname is a generic handle name for your script (this makes it so things don't get loaded twice and makes it easier to deregister stuff you dont want).
the location tells WP where to find your script. if you are packaging it w/ your theme then you need to point this to your theme folder... which i do below- by assuming it is in a scripts subfolder of your child theme
armed w/ this new knowledge take a look again at:
function add_stuff{
wp_enqueue_script('jquery', ("http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js");
wp_enqueue_script('masonry',get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory') . '/scripts/masonry.js');
}
add_action('init','add_stuff');
EDIT TO ADD: if you only want to use this script on your home page then you ought to add the condition is_home() to your enqueue. this will cut load time on other pages where the script isnt needed.
i am just guessing the name of your masonry script file. also guessing at a scripts folder. you can call it anything you want. get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory') is the location of your child theme's style.css file. so the location is relative from there.
another major headache is how jquery works in what i think is called no conflict mode? i don't understand it at all, BUT if you make your document ready function look as follows you can pretty much then be safe to use the code the way the plugin author's write it... typ using the $ shortcut. if you don't use this document ready setup your jquery will never work and it just doesn't play nice w/ WP and lots of swearing will ensue.
function my_script() {?>
<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
//now you can use jquery as normally written w/ $('#selector).whatever();
});
</script>
<?php }
add_action('wp_head', 'my_script');
hope that helps. there is a learning curve for jquery too. don't try to take on too much. also one of these days we ought to make a definitive sticky post on how to implement jquery plugins.
