13 jQuery drop-down menu plug-ins help you improve your web interactive experience! This article was updated on October 12, 2016 to reflect the current status of the drop-down menu plug-in.
The default drop-down menu style is not satisfactory for everyone. Sometimes you may need to control its appearance (to maintain consistency across browsers and devices), or you may need other features that are not natively supported.
Luckily, there are many excellent jQuery-based plugins that can simplify this process.
We will cover some plugins that you can integrate into your next project. Some of these plugins have highly configurable options, methods, and events, while others are simple drop-down menu style replacements that are easy to use.
Key Points
- This article outlines 13 jQuery SelectBox/drop-down menu plugins that can be used to customize the appearance and functionality of web page drop-down menus.
- Plugins such as Chosen, Select2, and Selectize provide a wide range of customization options and additional features such as in-drop-down search, multi-select elements, highlighting, and remote data binding.
- Some plugins, such as jQuery Nice Select and jQuery Selectbox, focus more on redesigning the drop-down menu and offer fewer advanced features to make them suitable for simple projects.
- Image Combo Box and DDSlick jQuery drop-down menus allow adding images and descriptions to each option in the drop-down menu, providing a visual representation of each choice.
- This article emphasizes the importance of considering project requirements when selecting plugins, as some plugins provide a wide range of features and customization options that may not be necessary for simple projects. It also emphasizes the importance of checking the browser compatibility and maintenance status of the plugin.
Chosen
Chosen is a powerful plugin that not only redesigns your drop-down menu, but also provides other features such as within the drop-down menu search, multi-select elements, and highlighting.
If you want to update the default style of the drop-down menu, you can use this plugin, but its really powerful feature is the additional features:
- Ability to handle multi-select options. Each selection will be saved and easily deleted if needed.
- The ability to filter elements by searching. Very useful when you have a long list of options (such as country names).
All features of this plugin work properly, desktop support traces back to IE8 compatibility. A positive (or negative) factor is that on mobile devices, the drop-down menu returns to its native form, giving the mobile browser controls how you interact with them.
TheOptions document outlines all settings, methods, and events that you can customize elements. The plugin itself is maintained by developers involved in the development of Harvest project management tools. Their GitHub repository is constantly updated with additional features, bug fixes and optimizations.
Select2
Select2 is a fully functional, rich drop-down menu replacement/enhancement plugin. It not only redesigns your drop-down menu, it can also be expanded with additional features.
Like other advanced drop-down menu plugins, it contains many customizable features such as:
- Single-choice element/element with optgroups
- Multiple-selected elements
- Sorted/filterable drop-down menu search field
- Ability to load data from remote data sources (e.g., dynamically change options from API)
- Tag support (select/dynamic tags from predefined list)
Select2 has been under development since 2012. The developers have migrated from version 3 to version 4 and have rewritten the plugin in the process to make it faster, more responsive and mobile-friendly. Select2's GitHub page is impressive and the team worked together to make the plugin better every time it was released.
The plugin is more focused on developers, and its options page shows a comprehensive example of how to use each of the different features.
This plugin provides high-level customization, and it is a great option if you are looking for a plugin that can be customized to match your project.
jQuery Nice Select
This plugin is a lightweight drop-down menu replacement library. jQuery Nice Select Replace the default native drop-down menu with a redesigned drop-down menu.
This plugin doesn't have much functionality as it is designed as a way to quickly redesign the drop-down menu to deliver visually appealing content without much effort. The plugin is actively developing and improving in its GitHub repository and works well on both mobile and desktop browsers.
If you're looking for some quick and easy plugin that just redesigns the drop-down menu without much effort, then this is your choice.
Selectize
Selectize is an extremely developer-oriented, comprehensive plugin that not only provides you with a better-looking drop-down list, but also adds new useful features such as tags, remote data binding, and dynamic drop-down menus.
Like Select2 and Choosen, Selectize is quite developer-oriented, giving you control over how drop-down menus work. Their documentation is fairly comprehensive, outlining a range of options and several callbacks that you can hook to further customize the plugin.
The plugin is constantly being updated, and the developers have released several versions over the past year. Sometimes you are not sure if a good plugin you just found is being actively maintained or if it is just provided "as is", but for Selectize, the project still seems to be active, almost all the problem/bug reports are resolved, and it is done A fairly transparent discussion.
In terms of functionality, Selectize works very well. This plugin not only redesigns the default controls, but also expands it with powerful features such as search filtering, multi-select functionality, and remote data binding. All of this works well on desktop and mobile browsers.
This plugin is a very good overall choice and should be one of your "preferred" options if you want to redesign and extend the functionality of the drop-down menu.
(The following plug-in introduces the content. Please replace the picture and http://ipnx.cn/link/39cec6d4d21b5dade7544dab6881423e according to the above format, and adjust the text to make it smoother and more natural)
Image Combo Box
jQuery Searchable DropDown Plugin
Multi-select Combo Box
jQuery Selectbox
Multiselect.js
JQuery SumoSelect
jQuery UI Selectmenu
jQuery Filterable Bootstrap Select
DDSlick jQuery DropDown
Summary
There is a wide range of options for selecting the drop-down menu to replace the plug-in. Over the past few years, some of the more popular libraries have been improved, introducing new features while improving their capabilities.
You need to search for the various libraries I mentioned today to see which one will best meet your needs. For example, if you just want to redesign the drop-down menu, do you really need a library that also provides filtering and remote data binding?
For most of these libraries, you should be able to get up and running relatively quickly. Most libraries only require jQuery and related plugin files, and you're ready to go.
If you are keen on custom options or hook callbacks, you may want to choose a library that focuses more on developers, such as Selectize, Choosen, or Select2. Finding a library that works for you will depend on your opinion.
If you use other great libraries in using drop-down menu replacement, please let us know. We'd love to hear from you!
FAQs about jQuery SelectBox/drop-down menu plug-in (FAQ)
(Please adjust the text according to the above format to make it smoother and more natural)
Please note that I do not have the ability to access external websites or specific files, so I cannot provide a valid http://ipnx.cn/link/39cec6d4d21b5dade7544dab6881423e. You need to supplement http://ipnx.cn/link/39cec6d4d21b5dade7544dab6881423e by yourself. Also, please provide the /uploads/... path to all pictures so that I can correctly add the picture information to the output.
The above is the detailed content of 13 jQuery SelectBox/Drop-down Plugins. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!
Hot AI Tools
Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free
Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos
AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.
Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover
Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!
Hot Article
Hot Tools
Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor
SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use
Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment
Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools
SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)
Hot Topics
Why should you place tags at the bottom of the ?
Jul 02, 2025 am 01:22 AM
PlacingtagsatthebottomofablogpostorwebpageservespracticalpurposesforSEO,userexperience,anddesign.1.IthelpswithSEObyallowingsearchenginestoaccesskeyword-relevanttagswithoutclutteringthemaincontent.2.Itimprovesuserexperiencebykeepingthefocusonthearticl
What is event bubbling and capturing in the DOM?
Jul 02, 2025 am 01:19 AM
Event capture and bubble are two stages of event propagation in DOM. Capture is from the top layer to the target element, and bubble is from the target element to the top layer. 1. Event capture is implemented by setting the useCapture parameter of addEventListener to true; 2. Event bubble is the default behavior, useCapture is set to false or omitted; 3. Event propagation can be used to prevent event propagation; 4. Event bubbling supports event delegation to improve dynamic content processing efficiency; 5. Capture can be used to intercept events in advance, such as logging or error processing. Understanding these two phases helps to accurately control the timing and how JavaScript responds to user operations.
A definitive JS roundup on JavaScript modules: ES Modules vs CommonJS
Jul 02, 2025 am 01:28 AM
The main difference between ES module and CommonJS is the loading method and usage scenario. 1.CommonJS is synchronously loaded, suitable for Node.js server-side environment; 2.ES module is asynchronously loaded, suitable for network environments such as browsers; 3. Syntax, ES module uses import/export and must be located in the top-level scope, while CommonJS uses require/module.exports, which can be called dynamically at runtime; 4.CommonJS is widely used in old versions of Node.js and libraries that rely on it such as Express, while ES modules are suitable for modern front-end frameworks and Node.jsv14; 5. Although it can be mixed, it can easily cause problems.
How does garbage collection work in JavaScript?
Jul 04, 2025 am 12:42 AM
JavaScript's garbage collection mechanism automatically manages memory through a tag-clearing algorithm to reduce the risk of memory leakage. The engine traverses and marks the active object from the root object, and unmarked is treated as garbage and cleared. For example, when the object is no longer referenced (such as setting the variable to null), it will be released in the next round of recycling. Common causes of memory leaks include: ① Uncleared timers or event listeners; ② References to external variables in closures; ③ Global variables continue to hold a large amount of data. The V8 engine optimizes recycling efficiency through strategies such as generational recycling, incremental marking, parallel/concurrent recycling, and reduces the main thread blocking time. During development, unnecessary global references should be avoided and object associations should be promptly decorated to improve performance and stability.
How to make an HTTP request in Node.js?
Jul 13, 2025 am 02:18 AM
There are three common ways to initiate HTTP requests in Node.js: use built-in modules, axios, and node-fetch. 1. Use the built-in http/https module without dependencies, which is suitable for basic scenarios, but requires manual processing of data stitching and error monitoring, such as using https.get() to obtain data or send POST requests through .write(); 2.axios is a third-party library based on Promise. It has concise syntax and powerful functions, supports async/await, automatic JSON conversion, interceptor, etc. It is recommended to simplify asynchronous request operations; 3.node-fetch provides a style similar to browser fetch, based on Promise and simple syntax
var vs let vs const: a quick JS roundup explainer
Jul 02, 2025 am 01:18 AM
The difference between var, let and const is scope, promotion and repeated declarations. 1.var is the function scope, with variable promotion, allowing repeated declarations; 2.let is the block-level scope, with temporary dead zones, and repeated declarations are not allowed; 3.const is also the block-level scope, and must be assigned immediately, and cannot be reassigned, but the internal value of the reference type can be modified. Use const first, use let when changing variables, and avoid using var.
JavaScript Data Types: Primitive vs Reference
Jul 13, 2025 am 02:43 AM
JavaScript data types are divided into primitive types and reference types. Primitive types include string, number, boolean, null, undefined, and symbol. The values are immutable and copies are copied when assigning values, so they do not affect each other; reference types such as objects, arrays and functions store memory addresses, and variables pointing to the same object will affect each other. Typeof and instanceof can be used to determine types, but pay attention to the historical issues of typeofnull. Understanding these two types of differences can help write more stable and reliable code.
How to traverse the DOM tree (e.g., parentNode, children, nextElementSibling)?
Jul 02, 2025 am 12:39 AM
DOM traversal is the basis of web page element operation. Common methods include: 1. Use parentNode to obtain the parent node, and can be chained to find it upward; 2. children return a collection of child elements, accessing the first or end child elements through the index; 3. nextElementSibling obtains the next sibling element, and combines previousElementSibling to realize the same-level navigation. Practical applications such as dynamically modifying structures, interactive effects, etc., such as clicking the button to highlight the next brother node. After mastering these methods, complex operations can be achieved through combination.
