DEV Community: Dipu Raj

Why I'm Still Maintaining a 10-Year-Old jQuery Plugin

Dipu Raj — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 12:56:44 +0000

If you're a modern frontend developer, you might wonder - why would anyone need to maintain a jQuery plugin in 2026?

Let's see what's wrong with jQuery

There is nothing wrong with jQuery. It is a good package — but it was created for a different era.

Today, many of the problems that jQuery solved years ago can be handled directly by JavaScript.

Modern JavaScript has come a long way. We now have powerful browser APIs, Promises, ES modules, TypeScript, modern build tools, and versatile frameworks like React, Vue, Svelte, and others.

For a new project, there are many cases where you simply don't need jQuery anymore.

Then... Why does jQuery still exist?

Because software doesn't disappear when technology changes.

For example, an application that has been running for a decade or more may have thousands of lines of JavaScript, multiple jQuery plugins, custom jQuery components, and business-critical workflows built around them.

And migration isn't always as simple as replacing $() with querySelector().

It could mean moving from:

jQuery → React / Vue / Angular

And that means replacing jQuery can also mean changing the architecture.

That's not just replacing a library.

You're potentially changing the entire programming model:

Imperative DOM manipulation → Declarative UI
jQuery plugins → Components
jQuery events → Component events and state
Existing HTML/JavaScript → New application architecture

For a new application, that may be the right decision.

But for an existing application, it can be a significant engineering effort.

So why am I still maintaining a jQuery plugin?

I've been maintaining a jQuery plugin called jQuery SmartWizard for more than 10 years.

And after all these years, jQuery SmartWizard is still being downloaded, served, and used.

The main reason is simple:

People are still using it.

It still gets roughly 50,000 npm downloads per month and receives millions of requests through CDNs.

For a small, independent, open-source UI component, those numbers are meaningful.

Somewhere, developers are still maintaining applications that depend on a little plugin I wrote years ago.

And that makes me ask:

"Is there still value in maintaining software that people are using?"

For me, the answer is yes.

SmartWizard is evolving too

Since there are still users depending on it, that also inspired me to create the next generation of SmartWizard using a more modern approach:

TypeScript
Modern build tooling
Better package architecture
Automated testing
Cleaner source code
Framework-friendly packages
Improved documentation

The existing jQuery version can continue serving applications that depend on it, while the newer architecture provides a path toward modern development.

Technology moves forward. Software doesn't always have to be thrown away.

Deploying a Node.js Application on AWS EC2 with Apache

Dipu Raj — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 12:19:39 +0000

Deploying a Node.js application to a server can feel daunting if you're just getting started with infrastructure. While managed services like Heroku or AWS Elastic Beanstalk exist, sometimes you want full control over your setup — especially if you're hosting multiple apps on the same machine.

In this guide, I'll walk you through how I deployed a Node.js web app to an AWS EC2 instance, kept it running reliably, and served it through Apache as a reverse proxy.

📌 This approach is still valid, but some tools and versions have evolved. I’ve updated commands to use modern Node versions.

🧱 What We’ll Do

We’ll break the deployment into three phases:

Install Node.js & set up the app
Keep the app running with a process manager
Configure Apache as a reverse proxy

🚀 Step 1: Install Node.js & Upload Your App

SSH into your EC2 instance:


bash
ssh ubuntu@your.ec2.ip.address

jQuery Smart Wizard - A free and open source step wizard plugin for jQuery

Dipu Raj — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 15:22:36 +0000

jQuery Smart Wizard is a step wizard plugin for jQuery. Provides a neat and stylish interface for your forms, checkout screen, registration steps, etc. Easy implementation, Bootstrap compatibility, customizable toolbars, themes, events and Ajax support are few of the features.

http://techlaboratory.net/jquery-smartwizard
https://github.com/techlab/jquery-smartwizard

jQuery Smart Tab - A cool jQuery tab control plugin

Dipu Raj — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 15:25:05 +0000

A free and open source jQuery plugin for easy implementation of tab interface with features like Ajax contents, themes, animation effects, event support

http://techlaboratory.net/jquery-smarttab
https://github.com/techlab/jquery-smarttab