10 Handy jQuery Plugins Every Web Developer Should Know

jQuery has become an essential JavaScript library for web developers. Its simple API and cross-browser compatibility make it easy to create interactive elements and animations for modern websites. If you're building sites, these 10 jQuery plugins are some of the most useful tools you'll want in your toolkit.

1. Slick - Responsive Carousel Slider

Slick is a lightweight jQuery carousel plugin that makes it easy to create beautiful responsive sliders. It has robust settings like autoplay, dots, arrows etc. To set up Slick, first include the CSS and JS files:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/slick-carousel/1.9.0/slick.css">
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.3.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/slick-carousel/1.9.0/slick.min.js"></script>

Then apply it to any element containing slides:

$(document).ready(function () {
    $('.slick-carousel').slick({
        slidesToShow: 3,
        slidesToScroll: 1,
        autoplay: true
    });
});

This creates a basic 3 slide visible slider with autoplay enabled. Slick has tons of options for effects like fade, cssEase, and custom arrows.

And here is the HTML with the set of images for autoplay:

<div class="slick-carousel">
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/id/1/200/300"></div>
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300"></div>
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/200"></div>
 
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/id/237/200/300"></div>
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/seed/picsum/200/300"></div>
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300?grayscale"></div>
 
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300/?blur"></div>
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300/?blur=2"></div>
    <div><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300.jpg"></div>
</div>

2. Fancybox - Lightbox Plugin

Fancybox is the iconic jQuery lightbox plugin that displays images, videos and content in clean overlay popups. Setup requires adding fancybox JS and CSS:

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.3.1.min.js"></script>
 
<link  href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/fancybox/3.5.7/jquery.fancybox.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
 
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/fancybox/3.5.7/jquery.fancybox.min.js"></script>

To activate on an image gallery, select images with a class and pass to $.fancybox:

$(document).ready(function () {
    $(".galleryImage").fancybox({
      animationEffect: "zoom",
    });
});

And, the sample HTML is:

<div >
    <img class="galleryImage" src="https://picsum.photos/id/1/200/300">
    <img class="galleryImage" src="https://picsum.photos/200/300">
    <img class="galleryImage" src="https://picsum.photos/200">
</div>

Fancybox offers customizable captions, slideshows, iframe content and more.

3. DataTables - Table Plugin

DataTables is the the most popular table enhancement plugin for jQuery. It adds sorting, searching, pagination and other options to plain HTML tables. To get started, include the DataTables css and js:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/datatables/1.10.21/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css">
    
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.5.1.js"></script>  
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/datatables/1.10.21/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js"></script>

Then apply it to transform a table:

$(document).ready(function () {
    $('#myTable').DataTable();
});

And the sample HTML is,

<table id="myTable">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Age</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>John</td>
            <td>30</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Alice</td>
            <td>25</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

DataTables works seamlessly with server-side data and has extensions like Buttons, Editor and Select for Excel export, editing and dropdowns.

4. SweetAlert2 - Customizable Popup

SweetAlert2 is a beautiful modern replacement for JavaScript's alert with great customization options. Include the SweetAlert2 css and js:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/sweetalert2@11.10.5/dist/sweetalert2.all.min.js"></script>
 
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/sweetalert2@11.10.5/dist/sweetalert2.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

To show a popup, call Swal with parameters:

$(document).ready(function () {
    Swal.fire({
      title: 'Submit Email to Subscribe?',
      showCancelButton: true,
      confirmButtonText: 'Subscribe'
    }).then((result) => {
      if (result.isConfirmed) {
        Swal.fire('Subscribed!', '', 'success')
      } 
    })
});

From icons, buttons and position, to animation and custom HTML, SweetAlert2 has amazing popup options.

5. Select2 - Custom Dropdowns

Select2 gives customizable select boxes to improve form dropdowns. Install is simple including the select2 css/js:

<link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/select2/4.0.13/css/select2.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/select2/4.0.13/js/select2.min.js"></script>

Initialize select2 on a select element:

$(document).ready(function () {
    $('#dropdownId').select2();
});

This transforms into a better looking dropdown with search, placeholders and other great features for long lists and tagging.

The sample HTML to make the searchable dropdown is:

<select id="dropdownId">
    <option value="1">Option 1</option>
    <option value="2">Option 2</option>
    <option value="3">Option 3</option>
    <option value="4">Option 4</option>
</select>

6. Animate.css - Just-add-water Animation

Animate.css is a library of ready-to-use cross-browser CSS animations you can easily apply. Include the animate.css stylesheet:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/animate.css/4.1.1/animate.min.css">

Then add the animation class like animate__bounce to an element:

<div class="animate__animated animate__bounce">
    <h2>This text will start showing bouncing animation.</h2>
</div>

It's that simple! With dozens of attention grabbing effects, choppy motions and specialty animations, you can add wow-factor easily.

7. Clipboard.js - Copy to Clipboard

Clipboard.js is a handy framework for copying text to clipboard from JavaScript. You can install ClipboardJS via CDNs:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/clipboard.js/2.0.8/clipboard.min.js"></script>

The easiest way to get started is by adding data-clipboard-target to an element:

<!-- Button to trigger copy on click -->
<button class="btn" data-clipboard-target="#copyme">
  Copy Text
</button>
 
<!-- Text to copy -->
<p id="copyme">Hello, check this text in your clipboard. Go and paste in any other editor.</p>
 
<script>  
    var clipboard = new ClipboardJS('.btn');
</script>

When clicked, '#copyme' paragraph text will be copied. The clipboard is great for "click-to-copy" password inputs, code boxes and more.

8. Masonry - Cascading Grid Layouts

Masonry is the go-to plugin for creating Pinterest-style cascading grid layouts. Include via CDN:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/masonry/4.2.2/masonry.pkgd.min.js"></script>

After markup is rendered, initialize masonry on a container.

<style>
    .grid-item {
        width: 200px;
        height: 300px;
    }
 
    .grid-item--width2 {
        width: 400px;
    }
 
    .grid-item--height2 {
        height: 500px;
    }
</style>
 
<script type="text/javascript"> 
    $(document).ready(function () {
        $('.grid').masonry({
          itemSelector: '.grid-item',
          columnWidth: 200
        });
    }); 
</script>

And, here is the HTML:

<div class="grid">
    <div class="grid-item"><img src="https://picsum.photos/id/1/200/300"></div>
    <div class="grid-item"><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300"></div>
    <div class="grid-item"><img src="https://picsum.photos/200"></div>
 
    <div class="grid-item grid-item--width2"><img src="https://picsum.photos/id/237/200/300"></div>
 
    <div class="grid-item"><img src="https://picsum.photos/seed/picsum/200/300"></div>
    <div class="grid-item"><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300?grayscale"></div>
 
    <div class="grid-item grid-item--height2"><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300/?blur=2"></div>
 
    <div class="grid-item"><img src="https://picsum.photos/200/300.jpg"></div>
    <div class="grid-item"><img src="https://picsum.photos/id/1/200/300"></div>
</div>

Masonry packs items into columns, arranging into an organic grid display perfect for galleries.

9. Moment.js - Time & Date Manipulation

Moment.js makes working with dates and times painless with an easy API. Get Moment from a CDN:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/moment.js/2.29.4/moment.min.js"></script>

Some examples of formatting or manipulating a date:

$(document).ready(function () {
    let now = moment(); // Current time
 
    //return November 12th 2026 format
    console.log(now.format('MMMM Do YYYY'));
 
    //reutrns 11/02/2026 format
    console.log(now.subtract(10, 'days').calendar());
 
    //return 13 years ago format
    console.log(moment('2012-11-12').fromNow());
});

Moment has timezone support, relative time and i18n localization making it perfect for blogs and dashboards.

10. FitText

FitText is a lightweight jQuery plugin that automatically scales text to fit its container, creating responsive typography. Below is a detailed example demonstrating how to use FitText. Include FitText via CDN:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/FitText.js/1.2.0/jquery.fittext.min.js"></script>

The script which to change the text to fit in any platform:

$(document).ready(function () {
    $('.fittext').fitText();
});

And, here is the sample HTML for the same:

<div class="container">
    <h1 class="fittext">Responsive Headline</h1>
    <p class="fittext">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed non diam non nisi sodales rutrum. Integer nec lectus ut odio vestibulum consectetur. Nam vestibulum metus id magna pretium, a tincidunt elit varius. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed auctor lectus non metus ultrices, id convallis quam efficitur. Duis dictum metus id arcu fermentum, non accumsan est laoreet. Quisque consequat magna ut ex fermentum, a consectetur libero tincidunt. Nunc ac velit at ipsum accumsan rhoncus.</p>
</div>

So there are 10 of the most useful jQuery plugins that can help add slick effects and complex components without needing to write everything from scratch. Give them a try on your next web tasks! All the best!!