The 50 Most Useful jQuery Plugins for Frontend Development

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Although there are many JavaScript frameworks available, jQuery has remained the most popular and influential in web design and development.

Its main purpose is to simplify the process of writing complex JavaScript functions by bundling them into methods that can be called with just one line of code. This makes it lightweight and easy to extend with free plugins for almost any functionality you can think of.

However, using jQuery also comes with some potential downsides, such as performance issues, added overhead, a learning curve, specific version dependencies, and compatibility with newer technologies.

Despite these drawbacks, jQuery can still be incredibly useful for legacy systems or specific projects, and it remains a popular choice for many developers. In fact, there are a vast number of jQuery plugins available that can help improve the functionality of your website or application.

In this collection, we share some of our favorite jQuery plugins that we believe can help take your web development projects to the next level.

jQuery Plugins for Layouts

pagePiling.js

pagePiling.js is a jQuery plugin for ‘piling’ your layout sections over one another and accessing them by scrolling.

pagePiling.js jQuery plugin for 'piling' your sections over one another and accessing them by scrolling

fullPage.js

fullPage.js is a simple plugin for creating fullscreen scrolling websites.

fullPage.js fullscreen scrolling websites jQuery plugin

gridscrolling.js

gridscrolling.js is a plugin for positioning sections and asides in a grid & allowing for easy cursor key navigation.

gridscrolling.js jQuery plugin A layout for positioning sections and asides in a grid & allowing for easy cursor key navigation

Flickerplate

Flickerplate is a responsive, touch-enabled and lightweight plugin that allows you to ‘flick’ through content.

Flickerplate responsive touch-enabled lightweight flick content

jInvertScroll

jInvertScroll is a lightweight plugin that allows you to move horizontally with a parallax effect while scrolling down.

jInvertScroll lightweight plugin horizontal parallax effect

Animsition

Animsition is a simple plugin for adding page transitions with CSS animations.

Animsition - A simple jQuery plugin for adding page transitions with CSS animations

Brick Work

Brick Work is a lightweight (15kb) and feature-rich plugin for creating responsive dynamic layouts.

Brick Work is a lightweight (15kb) and feature-rich jQuery plugin for creating responsive dynamic layouts

ScrollMe

ScrollMe is a lightweight plugin that allows you to add simple scrolling effects to webpages.

ScrollMe is a lightweight jQuery plugin that will allow you to add simple scrolling effects to web pages

smoothState.js

jquery.smoothState.js is a plugin that progressively enhances pages to behave more like a single-page application.

jquery.smoothState.js - A jQuery plugin that progressively enhances pages to behave more like a single-page application

multiscroll.js

multiscroll.js is a simple plugin for creating multi-scrolling websites with two vertical scrolling panels.

multiscroll.js is a simple jQuery plugin for creating multi scrolling websites in this weeks designer news

matchHeight.js

matchHeight.js is a more robust equal heights plugin for jQuery.

jquery.matchHeight.js is a more robust equal heights plugin for jQuery frontend

jQuery Navigation & Menu Plugins

Slidebars

Slidebars is a lightweight (2kb) plugin for creating an app-style push-menu.

Slidebars frontend app-style push-menu jquery plugins

scotchPanels.js

scotchPanels.js is a jQuery off-canvas menu and panel plugin.

scotchPanels.js a jQuery off canvas menu and panel plugin

jQuery Image & Video Plugins

Focuspoint

Focuspoint is a plugin for dynamically cropping images to fill the available space without cutting out the image’s subject.

Focuspoint jQuery plugin for responsive cropping

Fluidbox

Fluidbox is a replication of the Medium.com lightbox module, with some added improvements.

Fluidbox frontend Medium lightbox module jquery plugins

GifPlayer

GifPlayer is a small plugin that allows you to control when to play and stop animated GIFs.

GifPlayer plugin control play and stop animated gifs jquery

rowGrid.js

rowGrid.js is a plugin for placing images on a grid with support for infinite scrolling.

rowGrid.js images grid infinte scrolling frontend jquery plugins

SVGMagic

SVGMagic is a simple SVG fallback plugin that finds SVG images on your site and creates PNG versions if the browser doesn’t support them.

SVGMagic simple SVG fallback jquery plugin

Vide jQuery

Vide is a jQuery plugin for quickly adding video backgrounds to your webpages.

Vide - easy as hell jQuery plugin for video backgrounds

Dense.js

Dense.js is a plugin for easily serving retina-ready images.

Dense.js - A jQuery plugin for easily serving retina-ready images

Covervid

Covervid is a simple plugin that will allow you to make HTML5 video behave like a background image.

Covervid is a simple jQuery plugin that will allow you to make your HTML5 video behave like a background image

jQuery-Cropbox

jQuery-Cropbox is a handy plugin for in-place image cropping (zoom & pan, as opposed to select and drag).

jQuery-Cropbox image cropping frontend jquery plugins

Face Detection

Face Detection is a powerful jQuery/Zepto plugin that detects faces on images, videos, and canvases.

Face Detection - A powerful jQuery/Zepto plugin that detects faces on images, videos and canvases

BttrLazyLoading

BttrLazyLoading is a plugin that allows your web app to only load images within the viewport as the user scrolls.

BttrLazyLoading load images viewport scrolls plugin

jQuery Slider, Carousel & Gallery Plugins

Simple jQuery Slider

Simple jQuery Slider is a lightweight jQuery Slider that does precisely what a slider should do: ‘slide slides..

uper-simple and lightweight jQuery Slider

FSVS

FSVS is a simple fullscreen vertical slider using CSS3 transitions with jQuery fallback.

FSVS simple fullscreen vertical slider using CSS3 transitions with jQuery fallback

anoFlow

anoFlow is a feature-rich and responsive lightbox/gallery plugin.

anoFlow feature-rich responsive lightbox gallery plugin

nanoGALLERY

nanoGALLERY is a responsive, touch-enabled and easy-to-use image gallery plugin.

nanoGALLERY responsive touch-enabled easy to use image gallery plugin jquery

Justified.js

Justified.js is a plugin that creates a justified image grid of images.

Justified.js - A jQuery plugin that creates a justified image grid of images

Shuffle Images

Shuffle Images is a jQuery plugin that allows you to display and shuffle multiple images within a gallery by moving or shaking the cursor.

Shuffle Images plugin that allows you to display and shuffle multiple images within a gallery

Skippr

Skippr is a super simple and lightweight slideshow plugin for jQuery.

Skippr is a super simple and lightweight slideshow plugin for jQuery

jQuery Text Effect Plugins

fontFlex.js

fontFlex.js is a lightweight plugin for dynamically changing font sizes.

jQuery.fontFlex.js lightweight jQuery extension for dynamically changing font sizes

Typewriter

t.js is a lightweight jQuery plugin for typewriter-like text effects.

t.js lightweight jQuery plugin for typewriter-like text effects

Morphext

Morphext – An Animate.css powered jQuery carousel plugin for text phrases.

Powered by Animate.css Morphext is a simple jQuery carousel plugin for text phrases

Splitchar

Splitchar is a jQuery plugin that allows you to style and design the first, second or both halves of a character.

Splitchar is a jQuery plugin that allows you to style and design the first, second or both halves of a character in this weeks designer news

jQuery Form Element Plugins

BootstrapValidator

BootstrapValidator is a jQuery plugin for validating Bootstrap forms.

BootstrapValidator - A jQuery plugin for validating Bootstrap forms

Labelauty

Labelauty – An excellent and lightweight jQuery plugin that gives beauty to checkboxes and radio buttons.

Labelauty - A nice and lightweight jQuery plugin that gives beauty to checkboxes and radio buttons

Guardian

Guardian is a flexible and easy-to-extend all-purpose form validation jQuery plugin.

Guardian flexible and easy to extend all-purpose form validation jQuery plugin

fontIconPicker

fontIconPicker is a lightweight plugin that allows you to include a simple icon picker (with search and pagination) within any form.

fontIconPicker lightweight plugin simple icon picker

HideSeek

HideSeek is a simple yet customizable jQuery plugin for live search.

HideSeek customizable jQuery plugin for live search

ClockPicker

ClockPicker is a clock-style timepicker for jQuery or Bootstrap.

ClockPicker is a clock-style timepicker for either Bootstrap or jQuery

jQuery Utility Plugins

jQuery Confirm Mailto

jQuery Confirm Mailto is a plugin to Confirm with users before opening any mailto: link through their default email client.

jQuery Confirm Mailto jQuery plugin to confirm before opening mailto links

jNottery

jNottery is a plugin that allows you to add notes to a page.

jNottery jQuery plugin that allows you to add notes to a web page

Responsive Tabs

Responsive Tabs is a plugin that offers responsive tab functionality.

Responsive Tabs A jQuery plugin that offers responsive tab functionality

adaptive-backgrounds.js

adaptive-backgrounds.js is a fantastic plugin that extracts the dominant color from the images on your web page and applies the color to their parent.

extracts the dominant color from the images on your web page and magically applies the color to their parent jquery plugins

…and finally…

Planetarium

Planetarium is a jQuery plugin that allows you to construct interactive planets and build the Universe.

jQuery.planetarium Construct interactive planets and build the Universe

table-dragger

table-dragger allows you to easily add drag-and-drop sorting to your table without jQuery.

table-dragger

Selector

Selector is a micro JavaScript library used as a replacement for jQuery, weighing in at nearly 5KB.

Selector

wanker.js

jquery.wanker.js is a humourous jQuery plugin that reveals a public service announcement when people start excessively resizing their desktop browser as they try to see your responsive breakpoints. As they say, ‘The web is meant to be read, not squished!.

jquery.wanker.js frontend jquery plugins

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