Plugins are used to create a modular part of an application using various elements that can be used in multiple projects. Here is a simple demonstration:
The jQuery community is huge. Developers have made some really great jQuery plugins and extensions that you can use in your projects. All these projects are available free of cost; however, there are some paid options too. The following are some great jQuery plugins:
NIVO Slider: This is one of the oldest and most popular image gallery plugins by Dev7Studios. It has a built-in image cropping system and comes with many themes and visual transitions.
nanoGALLERY: This is another great image gallery plugin that comes with navigation, lightbox, lazy load, thumbnails, and many more goodies. It is also compatible with Bootstrap.
MixItUp: This plugin will help you make AJAX filters for your portfolio and galleries with smooth animations.
jQuery Knob: This is an extremely innovative jQuery plugin that makes touchable and clickable dials. Even if you are not using it in your projects, you should definitely take a look at its implementation.
Tubular: This plugin lets you set a YouTube video as your web page's background.
Arc Text: This plugin converts your text into arc shapes. You can use your mouse to push and pull the text to shape them in arcs.