This is a guest post from Lior Levin.

While content is the backbone of your website, aesthetics are still very important, which is why having a site with a little eye candy doesn’t hurt. Now, you could opt for proprietary software like Flash, which allows for some amazing effects, but the problem is that not all browsers support it and it can also be quite complicated to program.

On the other hand, jQuery is a JavaScript library that allows users to build great looking websites, incorporating a wide range of effects, from animation to user interaction. The greatest advantage to using jQuery is that it is fast and simple, with more and more plugins becoming available so one can add spice to their blog without the need to be a programmer.

jQuery Tabs

At the moment, jQuery tabs are some of the most popular user interface elements on the web. They have many advantages, including the fact that they are easy to use and your audience understands immediately what they are supposed to do. They are great to organize pages for maximum user friendliness and since everyone knows what they are, it makes your site easy to navigate. It also doesn’t hurt that they help speed up load times. By not having to reload the entire page every time the user wants to move to the next page, it makes life much easier on the browser because the site moves faster.

YoxView

YoxView is an image viewer written in JavaScript with the help of jQuery. It’s a perfect plugin for a site that has lots of images to display because it has some amazing transitions. Unlike many other clunky apps, this plugin loads photos almost instantaneously and the transitions are smooth, eye catching and quick. So, if you have a portfolio or lots of images on your site, then you really need to have a closer look at this plugin.

Sliding Login Panel

If you run a site based on a membership model, there’s nothing like having a nice, sleekly designed login panel to keep things interesting for your audience. This login panel slides out, over the site’s content and makes it easier for people to log in. Once login is completed, the panel can be returned to its initial position, allowing people to enter their details and login without changing the page they were on previously.

Scrolling Background

While it has little to do with functionality, this little script really adds a little fun to a website. It can be used to make the background scroll on your website. Basically you can create a loop and have the same background scrolling continuously. It is advisable, though, to have some sort of control that users can take advantage of to interrupt the scrolling as some people might find the constant scrolling irritating after a while. However, it still creates a great first impression on your readers.

Kwiks

Kwiks is a jQuery script designed to make menus very attractive. It is a tool that is quite easy to use and can help design a very attractive menu. The options in the menu are stacked as images on top of each other, with the ones on the bottom being partially hidden. When you move your mouse over one of the images on the bottom, the others slide out of the way to let it show through. This is a simple script but it really does add character and “wow” factor to any website.

The jQuery library is constantly evolving and improving, which is why there are so many plugins and scripts available for it. So, if you want some more ideas on improving your blog with jQuery, check out a few of these ideas.

This is a guest post from Lior Levin, a marketing consultant working with a psd to css company and advisor to iAdvize, a live chat support tools for websites.