How to use jQuery with Magento?
Download jQuery from jQuery site
Add this line to the bottom of jQuery.js
jQuery.noConflict();
Copy the file to the js/jquery folder|directory
In page.xml, add it to the list of js files as:
<action method="addJs"><script>jquery/jquery-1.2.6.noConflict.min.js</script></action>
or,
<action method="addItem"><type>js</type><name>jquery.js</name><params/></action>
How to use jQuery with magento now?
The below procedure is one way.