I’ve written before about jQuery, the open-source JavaScript library that makes it far less time-consuming to do visually stimulating website effects– which one formerly could only do with Flash– using lightweight, accessible JavaScript. The greatest thing about jQuery, though, is that it by itself is lightweight and, unlike Prototype/Scriptaculous (which are bigger, more complex libraries), relies on thousands of small, easy plugins that do much of the “fancy” work.

Here are a few that I have made use of recently, and wanted to share:

• Lightbox (creates image overlays)
• Shadowbox (does the same thing as Lightbox, but supports HTML entities, video, audio, you name it
• Cycle (creates versatile slideshows)
• Step Carousel (makes “carousel-type” slideshows which slide to the right or left when the “next” or “previous” button is clicked)
• Validate (simply and easily validates forms)
• Superfish (makes versatile, animated drop-down menus)