jQuery is a fantastic resource with a powerful base of plugins, but we often see roundup’s of the same boring plugins that all do the same thing. Here are 22 plugins that don’t simply do the same thing, but do things differently, and are exciting rather than boring. We hope that these plugins will be handy in your next project.

1. Airport Text Effect

Demo | Link

You know those flickering messages you see on boards at airports and train stations? That effect is now at your fingertips with this plugin.

2. Sliding Image Puzzle

Demo | Link

Remember those sliding image puzzles you played when you were little? Well now you can make your own in your browser with this clever little plugin.

3. Quickflip

Demo | Link

With this plugin, you can mimic the effect of cooly flipping over an element such as an image, or lets say for example, a business card.

4. Spritley

Demo | Link

A fantastic plugin to create a truly inspiring sliding header, giving the illusion of flash, without flash itself!

5. JQZoom

Demo | Link

Slightly less unique, but still just as cool, this plugin allows you to have preview zoom in fields on an image, just like we’ve seen some major retailers using.

6. Quicksand

Demo | Link

Re-order and sort your list items with beautiful transitions with this plugin.  Super sleek, and super fast.

7. Spacegallery

Demo | Link

This image gallery offers up the feeling of flicking through items in a filing cabinet. You view images one by one, and see the ones behind stacking up.

8. jQuery Heat Map

Demo | Link

There are plenty tools for creating heat-maps of your site, but say you want to do it yourself? This will do the trick nicely with it clean simple interface.

9. On-screen Keyboard

Demo | Link

We’ve seen on-screen keyboards before, but this thorough tutorial shows you how to craft one for yourself, ready for use in your browser.

10. Curtains Effect

Demo | Link

Want to give something the proper screen treatment it deserves? Unveil it with giant curtains using this jQuery tutorial.

11. Sticky Notes

Demo | Link

Add draggable, editable stick notes to your website with this fantastic jQuery plugin!

12. Lens Flare

Demo | Link

Want to make you’re images more interactive? Then adding a lens flare to your image is a fantastic way to do so. Check out these fantastic demos.

13. Star Rating

Demo | Link

Turn a boring set of radio buttons, or select drop down, into a fantastic looking star rating system with great fallback for JavaScript turned off.

14. Parallax

Demo | Link

Use Parallax to create a moving image relative to the mouse position where multiple layers move.

15. Jplayer

Demo | Link

Allow users to listen to audio on your site with Jplayer which even supports html5!

16. MoaText

Demo | Link

Though I can’t really think of a practical application, this plugin lets you manipulate text with your mouse in wave effects and more.

17. Grid Accordion

Demo | Link

This is a fantastic tutorial from Chris Coyier at CSS-tricks on making a unique accordion that works as a grid.

18. Form Wizard

Demo | Link

Turn normal forms into a step-by-step wizard making your forms more usable and less daunting to users.

19. Lazy

Link

Found yourself with an html head tag overflowing with css and JavaScript resources? Let Lazy fix that for you.

20. Elastic

Demo | Link

Elastic is an aptly named plugin that will grow your textarea as you type until you hit the max height defined.

21. UI Layout

Demo | Link

UI Layout makes complex layouts with sliding panels, and so on a breeze. The demo speaks for itself on this one.

22. Sliding Boxes and Captions

Demo | Link

This great tutorial allows us to get dynamic with how image captions are displayed on images.

Further Discussion

I doubt I’ve found every fantastic unique jQuery plugin out there, so if you know of more, make sure you add them in the comments for others to see as well.

Summer's first week is over and finally I can fully enjoy it too (passed my exams). I wish you all to have a great time in summer, so here's a few tips that hopefully will help you enjoy the summer even more.

I can only give you some guidelines, just when we all are so busy working and completing our own projects we forget to enjoy our life fully – but remember we are living just once and after my own experience – when I get some good rest I am working a lot more effectively and recover the vigor of life! You should do it too!

1. Enjoy summer

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You have worked so hard all year (I hope you did), so now it's time to take a rest.

• Step away from your computer and go outside
• Get some sunburn and enjoy the weather
• Make new friends and explore the world
• Go to the beach, exhibitions, parties, anywhere you want to
• Just say yes

Later in autumn you'll have a great memories and plans for the next summer. You wouldn't want to remember how you spent all summer in front of monitor exploring HTML,CSS,PHP and all that stuff. Nobody (except other geeks) cares about it. Of course, don't leave job behind, just don't overwork. So I hope you got it, now decide what you want to do and go for it. Call an old friend, go to a trip, attend a rock festival – it's all up to you.

To man, who knows where he is going, the world shows the way itself. /David Jordan/

2. Do some sports

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Summer is the best time to keep yourself fit and take care of your health and body. You can take off some fat accumulated during winter. Have you got a gym in your town? I bet you have, but you have never been there. Find time to attend it at least twice a week. That will enlarge your muscle and you will have a good rest too.

Wake up earlier and go for a run around neighborhood. After that take a cold shower. You'll feel great and that will improve your stamina.

• Try to jump with jumping-rope at least 100 times a day.
• Take a longer ride with your bike.

There are plenty of things you can and should do. It doesn't matter if you aren't so good at them. You have to start from somewhere, right? Create a schedule with your activities. For example, start day with a mile run, then take a cold shower, after breakfast do some 3 x 10 push ups. Before lunch jump 3 x 100 times with jumping rope. In evening go for about 5 mile ride with your bike. Finally take shower and have a great sleep. Next day you can have a good rest in beach with your friends, a movie or something relaxing. Don't stick to routine if you don't want to. Don't exercise every second day if you don't want to. Just don't make a habit of doing that.

Our biggest success is not to fall, but the ability to always get up after we have fallen /Confucius/

3. Accomplish yourself

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Have you wanted to do something for a long time but always prorogue it? Summer is the right time to do it. No matter if it's physical or mental. Whether you want to learn to surf, learn a new language, quit smoking or something else – just go for it. Create yourself a programme and stick to it. Don't give up – success come only with hard work and strong belief. You can start with a little research on internet and then give it a practical try. Don't be lazy, think for future. Your achievements will depend on your past work.

If you don't have any specific goals, you can just try to live better, to be smarter. For example, read some books, magazines about history or art. Just put away those freelancer tips. What have you learned from them? To sit and slave all day at front of computer?

Success is the effect, it does not have to be the ambition /Gustav Flober/

Do not expect fast and do not acquiesce with modest success. Hurry – and you will not achieve intended, be modest, will not achieve anything great /Confucius/

4. Don't worry about autumn, but get ready for it

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Autumn's far enough, but there's a saying – create cart in winter, sledge in summer. Don't worry about autumn, but keep in mind that it will come. Do some work to make it easier later. Clean your house, workspace, buy and arrange everything necessary. When everything's set and you know you have done everything, it's time to forget your cares and let the summer take you.

5. Give your eyes a rest

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I bet a lot of you guys are have been spending too much time in front of any kind of monitor and that's bad for your eyes. Some of you realize that, some don't care. But I've set a goal to improve my vision this summer. I've actually found a great method to do it. It's called the Bates method. You can learn more about it at http://www.seeing.org/. There's also a free book available here. You should really give it a try, because a lot of people are saying that it works. Vision is our main sense and it's very important.

Don't ruin it everyday reading useless roundups, playing video games or just surfing in twitter. If you feel that your vision starts to impair, take care of it.

Who knows  –  what he wants, can do - what he wants /Rainis/

Finally – just don't become somebody like in this caricature! Fun stuff to make you smile and realise truth: