A quick survey of jQuery content sliders identified almost 30 options! Since the goal is to integrate this with the RavenNuke™ content management system primarily for news articles that may or may not have associated images, the ability to slide HTML content (as opposed to just images) knocked out almost one third. Having an open source license without requiring branding (sorry, SlideDeck), knocked out almost another third - leaving 11 real options.
Check out this feature comparison of 11 jQuery content sliders. Which do you prefer? Key factors include license, size, navigation capabilities, supported transitions, and other features. Although I'd like to consider how well the tool degrades (i.e. does it work without javascript), most do and it's quite a bit of work to verify. Similar issues exist with HTML compliance and support for browsers (few list compatibility). Some aren't true plugins and don't have a license beyond that of jQuery and other components like the commonly supported easing transitions plugin.
Read more to find my initial favorite...
Features / Attributes | Anything Slider | Awkward showcase | bxSlider | carouFredSel | CodaSlider | dualSlider | Featured Content Slider | jQuery Tools Scrollable | simpleSli.de | Slides | SudoSlider | |
Requires | jQuery, easing (opt) |
jQuery | jQuery, easing (opt) | jQuery, easing (opt), nap (opt) |
jQuery 1.3+, CodaSlider, easing (opt) | jQuery 1.32, easing.1.3, timers-1.2 | jQuery 1.3+, UI 1.5.3+ | jQuery, jQuery Tools | jQuery 1.4+ | jQuery 1.4.4+, easing (opt) | jQuery, easing (opt) | |
Version | 1.7.4 | 1.1.1 | 3.0 | 4.2.3 | 2.0 | 0.3 | n/a | 1.2.5 | 1.6 | 1.1.8 | 2.1.1 | |
License | n/a | CC AS 3.0 | MIT | MIT, GPL | MIT, GPL | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Apache | MIT, GPL | |
Size | 14KB | 27KB | 22KB | 20KB | 9.38KB | 4.2KB | n/a | 46KB | 6KB | 8.4KB | 9KB | |
Navigation | ||||||||||||
Slider content | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS, Ajax | |
Thumbnails / HTML preview | HTML, CSS | yes | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | |
Title bars | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS, title (images) | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | ? | HTML, CSS | HTML, CSS | |
Auto Number | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes? | no | yes w/ navigator | no | no | yes | |
Auto "Dot" (not via HTML) | yes | yes | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | yes | yes | |
Prev / Next | yes | arrows | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
Autoplay | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
Auto Delay | yes | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no | no | |
pause / resume ; start / stop | yes | no | yes | yes | no | yes | no | yes | no | no | no | |
Number of items to scroll (carousel) | yes | thumbnails | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes w/ autoscroll | no | no | yes | |
Mouse wheel support | ? | ? | ? | yes | ? | ? | ? | yes | ? | ? | ? | |
Pause on Hover | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | yes | yes w/ autoscroll | no | yes | yes | |
onBefore function | yes | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
onAfter function | yes | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | no | no | yes | yes | |
onSlideInit | yes | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
onSlideBegin (animation) | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | yes | no | |
onEnd / SlideComplete function | yes | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes | no | yes | no | |
onFirst / ScrollBefore function | no | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
onLast / ScrollAfter function | no | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
onNext function | no | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | |
onPrev function | no | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | |
onPause | yes | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
onResume | yes | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
random start | no | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
pause video when not showing | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
Transitions | ||||||||||||
Interval | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
swing (jQuery default) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||
linear (jQuery default) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||
fade | no | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no | no | yes | yes | |
cross fade | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | yes | yes | |
cover | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
uncover | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | |
vertical | no | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes | no | no | yes | |
carousel / ticker / viewline | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | yes | no | no | yes | ||
easing transitions | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||
Other | ||||||||||||
width, height (if no, can be CSS) | yes | yes | no | yes | no | no | no | no | yes | no | no | |
auto height, auto width | no | yes | no | yes | yes, no | no | no | no | images only | yes | yes |
My pick so far: carouFredSel.