Posted on March 12, 2009 - by webmaster

Make jQuery plugin customizable

James Padolsey at learningjquery.com has shown us how to achieve the “optimum level” of customization to jQuery plugin, with few main points:

• Don’t create plugin-specific syntax
• Give full control of DOM elements
• Provide callback capabilities

And few considerations to be double checked:

1. Flexibility: How many situations will your plugin be able to deal with?
2. Size: Does the size of your plugin correspond to its level of functionality? I.e. Would you use a very basic tooltip plugin if it was 20k in size? – Probably not!
3. Performance: Does your plugin heavily process the options in any way? Does this effect speed? Is the overhead caused worth it for the end user?