Survey: Essential JavaScript for New Projects
Like many developers I have a standard set of files that I simply copy into every new project I start. These include base HTML templates, useful PHP functions, Sass mixins and a number of JavaScript files that I can’t live without. With the advent of great libraries like Modernizr and polyfills such as the indepensable html5shim we are becoming more reliant on these resources to help us create great web sites and applications.
I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the libraries and scripts our readers on Smashing Coding use on a daily basis.
Here’s a list of my standard JavaScript files that I have in my “js” directory. Not all of them get used on each project and a tidy up is undertaken before the final production deploy but most of them tend to feature in most of my sites.
What am I missing from my toolbox? I would love to hear more about what you use and why? Please do let us know in the comments.
Johan van Tongeren
October 27th, 2011 3:43 amCufon is something I use a lot in projects.
Fabrice
October 27th, 2011 3:51 amI often use Highslide for custom alert box. And of course jQuery UI plugin.
Tim Lind
October 27th, 2011 4:07 amI made the jay library (http://github.com/ngspinners/jay) to help smooth the edges of the javascript language.
Simon
October 27th, 2011 4:28 amWhat about css3pie?
Keir Whitaker
October 28th, 2011 4:43 amI hadn’t come across that one, looks very useful. Thanks for the comment.
Doug McDonald
October 27th, 2011 4:28 amjQuery.validate gets my vote, super simple, super effective
Keir Whitaker
October 28th, 2011 4:45 amI agree, it’s a great plugin and one I have used many times. I should probably grab a fresh copy and install it into my boilerplate files.
Talhah
October 27th, 2011 5:06 amjscrollpane is a winner for me. Custom div scrolling. Works on IOS as well.
Marco
October 27th, 2011 7:01 amrightjs is my new toy.
Ethan Winters
October 27th, 2011 7:43 amI am using the bootstrap javascript package from twitter a lot now. Lets me add a bunch of basic UI stuff like modal boxes and tabs in a modular fashion, with out having to either mix and match plugins and stylize them or download jquery UI with a bunch of stuff I don’t need.
Aniel
October 27th, 2011 9:27 amJust out of curiosity, what php functions/scripts/library/frameworks do you include?
Marco
October 27th, 2011 9:32 amMODx is my preferred CMF
Keir Whitaker
October 28th, 2011 4:47 amHey Aniel – Nothing too heavy to be honest just a bunch of functions that I tend to use a lot for debugging. I seem to be using WordPress for a lot of projects these days so have lost a little knowledge on the PHP framework scene.
Ulf
October 27th, 2011 11:27 amI prefer mootools to jQuery. Probably just because I know it better and it’s handier for scripting larger chunks of JS not just DOM-Manipulation things.
Stefano Zoffoli
October 27th, 2011 11:50 pmie7-js, jquery equalHeights
Supah
October 28th, 2011 1:45 amI really love http://rafael.adm.br/css_browser_selector/. Never start a new project without it!
Keir Whitaker
October 30th, 2011 1:30 pmInteresting idea, I hadn’t come across that. Thanks for sharing.
Florian
October 28th, 2011 5:45 am- jQuery
- Modernizr
- My own JavaScript Validation library
- Sometimes also underscore.js
Claudio
November 28th, 2011 10:27 amI always use head.js in my projects
Anna
January 19th, 2012 11:35 amI recently discovered head.js and it made it onto my “must have”-list straight away.