You can simply use the jQuery Validate plugin as follows.

jQuery:

$(document).ready(function () {

    $('#myform').validate({ // initialize the plugin
        rules: {
            field1: {
                required: true,
                email: true
            },
            field2: {
                required: true,
                minlength: 5
            }
        }
    });

});

HTML:

<form id="myform">
    <input type="text" name="field1" />
    <input type="text" name="field2" />
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

DEMO: http://jsfiddle.net/xs5vrrso/

Options: http://jqueryvalidation.org/validate

Methods: http://jqueryvalidation.org/category/plugin/

Standard Rules: http://jqueryvalidation.org/category/methods/

Optional Rules available with the additional-methods.js file:

maxWords
minWords
rangeWords
letterswithbasicpunc
alphanumeric
lettersonly
nowhitespace
ziprange
zipcodeUS
integer
vinUS
dateITA
dateNL
time
time12h
phoneUS
phoneUK
mobileUK
phonesUK
postcodeUK
strippedminlength
email2 (optional TLD)
url2 (optional TLD)
creditcardtypes
ipv4
ipv6
pattern
require_from_group
skip_or_fill_minimum
accept
extension