jQuery iPhone plug-ins

[gmsc]

Yes, we all have elements of the iPhone UI that we wish were covered by NimbleKit. While I have no doubt that many (possibly all) will eventually be covered in future editions of NimbleKit, what about adding those elements today?

Its time for jQuery to the rescue! If you're not familiar with jQuery, it's a Javascript framework that improves Javascript interactions and interfaces, while requiring far less code than usual to do so. You can find out more about it at the jQuery link earlier in this paragraph.

Many, many plugins have been developed for the jQuery language, and there are even starting to be many ones intended for the iPhone, especially its unique UI. I thought I'd share some of my discoveries with you in this post. Some are even already covered in NimbleKit, but are included here as an alternative.

Each of these pages includes a demo, so you can see exactly what the plug-in does, and how it acts.

A few notes:
1. Make sure the basic jQuery module and its related plug-ins are listed in the Copy Bundle Resources (under "Targets" in your XCode project), and are not included under Complile Sources!
2. The latest version of jQuery, at this writing, is 1.3.2. However, many users are still developing for the earlier 1.2.6 (often sites have unusual dependencies that make upgrading difficult), so check for yourself that any plug-ins your using will work with the version of jQuery you're using!
3. Not all of these have been updated for the iPhone OS 3.0, so you may have to test their compatibility yourself. This is often as simple as just trying out the demos.
4. Not all of these are intended for Native Apps. Some are meant to make Web Apps look and feel more like Native iPhone Apps.

With that said, here are the plug-ins themselves:

iPhone-Style Checkboxes 1 (Those On/Off Switches you see in a program's settings)
iPhone-Style Checkboxes 2
The iPhone Springboard in XHTML, CSS and jQuery (Mimicking the "Home Screen" effect)
iPhone Unlock Screen
The iPhone Contacts App with CSS and jQuery
Flick (Detecting iPhone flick events with jQuery)
Touch (Detecting iPhone touch events with jQuery)
Recreating the MobileMe Web Gallery Interface
Create a Slick iPhone/Mobile Interface from any RSS Feed
jQTouch (A jQuery plugin with native animations, auto list navigation, and default application styles for Mobile WebKit browsers like iPhone, G1, and Pre.)
iPhone & iPod Detection Using Javascript 1
iPhone & iPod Detection Using Javascript 2
Spin The Wheel (Simulating the DatePicker, and new takes on the concept!)
meioMask – a jQuery mask plugin (iPhone compatible password masking)

Special mention needs to be given here to iUI. Although it's not a jQuery plugin, it's also very handy for iPhone interfacing, and handles the ever-elusive TableView!
iUI: iPhone User Interface Framework (Links to demos here)
More iUI work, including TableView handling!

[HalfMoon]

Thanks for the links - I'm liking the 'Spin The Wheel' very much!

[gmsc]

New jQuery iphone plug-ins!

jQuery Swipe - use Mobile Safari's built-in support of touch events (See video demo here)
jQuery Iphone Style Ajax Switch
iPhone-like password fields using jQuery