jQuery UI Widgets Review - In-Depth Analysis
Easily add jQuery UI widgets to your WordPress site with this flexible plugin. Customize themes, scripts, and styles without complex shortcodes.
Performance Overview
User Rating
4.3/5 (based on 19+
reviews)
Active Installations
1,000+
Update Frequency
Below Average
It is calculated using the weighted average of same category
plugins.
Security Score
1 / 10
(Very Low Risk)
It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.
What It Does
This plugin provides a simple and powerful way to integrate jQuery UI widgets into your WordPress posts, pages, or widgets. Installation is straightforward: just activate the plugin and enter your jQuery code in the settings.
You can customize the jQuery UI theme, choose which scripts to add, and override default CSS. The plugin supports all standard pre-defined jQuery themes and allows you to upload your own custom themes using the jQuery ThemeRoller.
Forget about cryptic shortcodes; just use clean HTML markup, and the plugin will handle the rest, adding all necessary jQuery scripts and styles automatically. It also utilizes the Google CDN for loading CSS for official jQuery UI themes.
For those looking for more features, the Pro version offers syntax highlighting, pre-made templates, and the ability to add jQuery UI scripts to specific pages. Upgrade today for enhanced functionality!
Comparing to Alternatives
jQuery UI Widgets stands alone in its category with no close direct alternatives available, making it a unique choice for users seeking this functionality.
Strengths
- Comprehensive set of jQuery UI elements and effects.
- Highly rated by the majority of users for functionality and ease of use.
- No known security vulnerabilities, ensuring safe implementation.
- Offers a premium version with enhanced features.
- Strong community and developer support.
Weaknesses
- Free version requires significant setup and understanding of jQuery UI.
- Premium features are locked behind a paywall, limiting free usage.
- May not be the easiest option for beginners seeking a plug-and-play solution.
User Sentiment Analysis
With a strong majority of 5-star ratings and very few low ratings, user sentiment is predominantly positive, highlighting the plugin's usefulness and quality.
Positive highlights
- 'Great Job' - markusthayer
- 'Simple yet Very useful plugin.' - aiyaz Khorajia
- 'Well done!' - domiconhk
Weaknesses
- Free version requires considerable effort to utilize effectively.
- Premium version needed for full functionality, which may deter some users.
Who Should Use This?
Best for
Developers and advanced users who want a robust set of jQuery UI widgets and are comfortable with some setup and customization.
Not ideal for
Beginners or users looking for an out-of-the-box, easy-to-use plugin without additional configuration or premium purchases.
Pricing & Value
Free version includes
The free version provides access to basic jQuery UI widgets but requires manual setup and lacks advanced features.
Pro version
Unlocks premium widgets and enhanced functionality for a more complete user experience.
Final Verdict
jQuery UI Widgets is a solid choice for users needing a comprehensive set of UI elements with a strong track record of positive feedback and no security concerns. Its unique position without direct alternatives makes it a valuable tool for developers.
However, the free version's complexity and the necessity of purchasing the premium version for full features may limit its appeal to beginners or casual users seeking simplicity. Overall, it offers good value for those willing to invest the time or money.
Other Notable Features
Here are a few other notable features of this free
jQuery UI Widgets plugin.
FAQ
There are plenty of examples for each jQuery widget on the official demo and documentation pages which include example code you can analyse and use on your own pages.
The Plugin supports themes created with the jQuery interactive ThemeRoller which means you can very easily create a custom jQuery theme to match your WordPress theme perfectly.
- Create your custom theme using the ThemeRoller online tool. When you have finished your masterpiece, click the ‘Download theme’ button.
- On the ‘Build Your Download’ page make sure ALL check boxes are selected (this is important).
- Click the ‘Advanced Theme Settings’ button on the right hand side of the page and a couple of text boxes will come into view. Add a name for your custom theme in the ‘Theme Folder Name’ text box. Make sure that any words are separated by a dashes NOT spaces.
- Finally, before downloading your custom theme, make sure the version radio button selected is 1.9.xx.
- Now, you can click ‘Download’ to download your custom theme to your computer. It will be saved as a zip file.
- Locate your downloaded custom theme and extract the zip file.
- Open up the extracted custom theme folder, and you’ll see three folders: ‘css’, ‘development-bundle’, and ‘js’. The one we are interested in is ‘css’.
- Open the ‘css’ folder and inside will be a single folder containing your theme, which has the name you specified above. Inside this folder will be an images folder and a single stylesheet. Make a note of the stylesheet name, you will need it later on.
- You need to now upload this custom theme folder to your site, so the Plugin can read the custom styles.
- If you take a look at the Plugin settings page you will see the folder name that you should upload to. Usually this will be something like http://www.mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/. If you are running a WordPress multisite this will be something different. Using FTP upload your custom jQuery theme to this folder.
- Finally, you just need to paste in the name of your custom theme stylesheet in Plugin settings, in the textbox provided.
- So, if your custom theme folder is named ‘mytheme’ and your custom stylesheet is called ‘jquery-ui-1.9.2.custom.css’ then you would need to paste in something like ‘mytheme/jquery-ui-1.9.2.custom.css’ into the textbox.
- If you wanted to try out multiple custom themes I would recommend adding a ‘jquery-ui-themes’ folder (or whatever name you wanted) and uploading all of your custom themes to this folder.
- The path to your stylesheet would then become ‘jquery-ui-themes/mytheme/jquery-ui-1.9.2.custom.css’.
- If for whatever the reason the Plugin cannot find your stylesheet file it will display a warning message on the Plugin settings page.
This isn’t a Plugin issue. Any problems with how the jQuery CSS interacts with your current WordPress theme will need to be fixed by using tools such as Firebug, or by contacting the theme author to help tweak the CSS. I’m afraid I can’t help with CSS queries for specific themes.
Again, this isn’t a Plugin issue. If you are using custom init code for some jQuery widgets and it isn’t working then please use Firebug to detect the issue. I would also recommend posting on the jQuery forums if you are stuck.
Contributors and developers
“jQuery UI Widgets”
is open source software. The following people have
contributed to this plugin.
