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jQuery is a fantastic resource with a powerful base of plugins, but we often see roundup’s of the same boring plugins that all do the same thing. Here are 22 plugins that don’t simply do the same thing, but do things differently, and are exciting rather than boring. We hope that these plugins will be handy in your next project.
You know those flickering messages you see on boards at airports and train stations? That effect is now at your fingertips with this plugin.
Remember those sliding image puzzles you played when you were little? Well now you can make your own in your browser with this clever little plugin.
With this plugin, you can mimic the effect of cooly flipping over an element such as an image, or lets say for example, a business card.
A fantastic plugin to create a truly inspiring sliding header, giving the illusion of flash, without flash itself!
Slightly less unique, but still just as cool, this plugin allows you to have preview zoom in fields on an image, just like we’ve seen some major retailers using.
Re-order and sort your list items with beautiful transitions with this plugin. Super sleek, and super fast.
This image gallery offers up the feeling of flicking through items in a filing cabinet. You view images one by one, and see the ones behind stacking up.
There are plenty tools for creating heat-maps of your site, but say you want to do it yourself? This will do the trick nicely with it clean simple interface.
We’ve seen on-screen keyboards before, but this thorough tutorial shows you how to craft one for yourself, ready for use in your browser.
Want to give something the proper screen treatment it deserves? Unveil it with giant curtains using this jQuery tutorial.
Add draggable, editable stick notes to your website with this fantastic jQuery plugin!
Want to make you’re images more interactive? Then adding a lens flare to your image is a fantastic way to do so. Check out these fantastic demos.
Turn a boring set of radio buttons, or select drop down, into a fantastic looking star rating system with great fallback for JavaScript turned off.
Use Parallax to create a moving image relative to the mouse position where multiple layers move.
Allow users to listen to audio on your site with Jplayer which even supports html5!
Though I can’t really think of a practical application, this plugin lets you manipulate text with your mouse in wave effects and more.
This is a fantastic tutorial from Chris Coyier at CSS-tricks on making a unique accordion that works as a grid.
Turn normal forms into a step-by-step wizard making your forms more usable and less daunting to users.
Found yourself with an html head tag overflowing with css and JavaScript resources? Let Lazy fix that for you.
Elastic is an aptly named plugin that will grow your textarea as you type until you hit the max height defined.
UI Layout makes complex layouts with sliding panels, and so on a breeze. The demo speaks for itself on this one.
This great tutorial allows us to get dynamic with how image captions are displayed on images.
I doubt I’ve found every fantastic unique jQuery plugin out there, so if you know of more, make sure you add them in the comments for others to see as well.
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Matt is an 18 year old web designer from Scotland, UK. He loves creating beautiful websites across different platforms. High on his things to learn fully are Jquery and php. He is extremely excited by css3 and html5 and can't wait to see them rolled out fully. To learn more about Matt, follow him @QwibbleDesigns, or check out his portfolio.
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 21:24
Great list, you are right though, of few of these are not very practical but nonetheless cool.
Here is another one for you list, the ‘Before/After’ slider plug in.
http://www.catchmyfame.com/2009/06/25/jquery-beforeafter-plugin/
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012 10:29
Amazing addition, Dan! This is awesome for retouching or photomanipulation tutorials :)
Monday, November 22nd, 2010 12:36
Nice collection thanks.
I just need to find some excuses to use some of these!!
Saturday, September 18th, 2010 15:41
Thanks for this collection. With jquery you can add very cool features and effects to a website. There are always some interesting plugins in your article.
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 18:12
Absolutely nice collection with carefully selected plugins. Thanks for the list
Friday, June 25th, 2010 15:30
I have to say I’ve seen all of these plugins before, there are far more exhaustive lists out there (such as those on smashing magazine)
Saturday, June 26th, 2010 18:15
Yeh yeh yeh… We are to assume here, Jay Gilford, that being the clever dude you portray yourself to be, you would have not been here dissing the article. Dude, if you like Smashing Mag more… There’s the door! Of course, you might have known that already, right?
Would it kill you to have something positive to say?
Sunday, July 25th, 2010 05:10
Nice list.
When you get a porsche, there is always people that have a picture of a maserati.
Monday, June 21st, 2010 11:41
Excellent list Matt, one that I like to use is the form wizard, great for creating forms.
Monday, June 21st, 2010 10:50
the airport plugin is one of mah favourite one :)
thnx 4 amazing collection !
Monday, June 21st, 2010 01:27
hey but this list is really great. I will start using a few. And wait the majority is working in IE6 too! Thanks bro!
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 14:55
No new plugins this time? I’ve seen all plugins several times now…
Do something new please
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 10:42
Thanks for that – there are a couple of plugins there that I’ve not seen before….very useful – I’m liking Spritely & Quicksand quite a lot.
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 09:09
Good jQuery collections Matthew…..I’ll try some plug in add to my next project…
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 04:34
This is probably coolest set of jQueary plugins. I really like ‘Airport Text Effect’ and ‘jQuery Heat Map’, both will help me well.
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 00:58
Very cool post.
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Claudia Liersch
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 00:13
Nice jQuery Collection, thank you!
Ken
Monday, June 21st, 2010 01:27
hey but this list is really great. I will start using a few. And wait the majority is working in IE6 too! Thanks bro!
shashank
Monday, June 21st, 2010 10:50
the airport plugin is one of mah favourite one :)
thnx 4 amazing collection !
Thomas Craig
Monday, June 21st, 2010 11:41
Excellent list Matt, one that I like to use is the form wizard, great for creating forms.
Michael Pehl
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 14:55
No new plugins this time? I’ve seen all plugins several times now…
Do something new please
Tom Girling
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 10:42
Thanks for that – there are a couple of plugins there that I’ve not seen before….very useful – I’m liking Spritely & Quicksand quite a lot.
michael
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 00:58
Very cool post.
Arafat Hossain Piyada
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 04:34
This is probably coolest set of jQueary plugins. I really like ‘Airport Text Effect’ and ‘jQuery Heat Map’, both will help me well.
gopal bhattacharjee
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 09:09
Good jQuery collections Matthew…..I’ll try some plug in add to my next project…
Beben
Monday, June 21st, 2010 12:39
its a one good list…
thanks for share mate ^^
Jay Gilford
Friday, June 25th, 2010 15:30
I have to say I’ve seen all of these plugins before, there are far more exhaustive lists out there (such as those on smashing magazine)
Ron
Sunday, July 25th, 2010 05:10
Nice list.
When you get a porsche, there is always people that have a picture of a maserati.
Rebecca
Saturday, June 26th, 2010 18:15
Yeh yeh yeh… We are to assume here, Jay Gilford, that being the clever dude you portray yourself to be, you would have not been here dissing the article. Dude, if you like Smashing Mag more… There’s the door! Of course, you might have known that already, right?
Would it kill you to have something positive to say?
Yordan
Monday, January 30th, 2012 00:19
I love this collection. Great job and thanks.
Dan
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 21:24
Great list, you are right though, of few of these are not very practical but nonetheless cool.
Here is another one for you list, the ‘Before/After’ slider plug in.
http://www.catchmyfame.com/2009/06/25/jquery-beforeafter-plugin/
Dainis Graveris
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012 10:29
Amazing addition, Dan! This is awesome for retouching or photomanipulation tutorials :)
Anonymous
Monday, November 22nd, 2010 12:36
Nice collection thanks.
I just need to find some excuses to use some of these!!
Marc
Saturday, September 18th, 2010 15:41
Thanks for this collection. With jquery you can add very cool features and effects to a website. There are always some interesting plugins in your article.
burakg
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 18:12
Absolutely nice collection with carefully selected plugins. Thanks for the list