Part 3. Extending jQuery UI

The jQuery UI is a collection of user interface plugins built on top of jQuery. These plugins provide basic behaviors, visual effects, and UI widgets to enhance your web pages. jQuery UI has its own extension points and its own plugin framework.

Chapter 8 examines the widget framework of jQuery UI. This framework also applies the best practice principles described in the previous part and assists in creating a consistent appearance and behavior for all jQuery UI widgets. You’ll see how to develop a complete plugin using the framework.

A common requirement for UI widgets is to interact with the mouse through a drag operation. jQuery UI has built-in support for this through its Mouse module. Chapter 9 describes how this provided functionality is integrated into your plugin.

jQuery UI also provides visual effects for highlighting or showing or hiding elements on the page. In chapter 10 you’ll see how you can create your own effects using jQuery UI’s abilities, as well as how to create a new easing, or rate of acceleration of a change, for an animation.