A jQuery plugin is simply a way to put your code into a package,which makes it easier to maintain your code and use across different projects. While basic scripting is relatively straightforward,writing plugins can leave people scratching their heads. This book takes you beyond the basics of jQuery and enables you to take full advantage of jQuery's powerful plugin architecture to deliver highly interactive content to your website users. The book contains all the information you need to successfully author your very own jQuery plugin with a particular focus on the practical aspect of design and development. It will also cover some details of real life plugins and explain their functioning to gain a better understanding of the overall concept of plugin development and jQuery plugin architecture. Different topics regarding plugin development are discussed,and you will learn how to develop many types of add-ons,ranging from media plugins (such as slideshows,video and audio controls, and so on) to various utilities (image pre-loading,handling cookies) and use and applications of jQuery effects and animations (sliding, fading,combined animations) to eventually demonstrate how all of these plugins can be merged and give birth to a new, more complex,and multi purpose script that comes in handy in a lot of situations. What you will learn from this book Create numerous types of commonly used jQuery pluginsDesign a standard development pattern to apply to all your plugins to speed up the processBuild plugins that enhance viewer's multimedia experience on your websiteLearn how to build attractive animation plugins that show effects like fading and slidingDiscover how jQuery handles third party plugins and how some portions of code can(not) be accessedImplement time saving design patterns and best practices to optimize your pluginsLearn the ins and outs of some of the most popular plugins and how they actually work to do what they doLearn via an in-depth practical approach,providing you with a simple, yet effective,structure to minimize efforts and obtain better results quickly This book takes a beginner's guide approach,giving you step-by-step instructions for creating a number of different jQuery plugins covering most of the common issues one may encounter. It's a practical guide,which will show you how to design and build the most commonly used jQuery plugins.