Improving (manipulating) standard HTML elements with JavaScript for a better usability makes sense when used wisely.

ddSlick, a lightweight jQuery plugin, does that by mimicking the behavior of list-menus with a better look and more information.

It works as a drop-down menu where we can use images and description besides a simple text.

The data source that populates the drop-down options is JSON and there are multiple options for customizing the functionality. The look & feel can be changed as well (very few styles used).

There is also a callback function that is fired when an option is selected (which is good for auto-modifying a hidden form for a possible submit, etc.).

ADxMenu is a JavaScript and CSS drop-down menu solution which web designers will find easy to modify.

It supports unlimited sub-menus and offers a simplified usage as it uses the well-known <ul> <li> tags to create the menus rather than JavaScript configurations (JavaScript editing can be done for extra modification).

ADxMenu works in most of the modern browsers (an extra solution exists for IE6) and supports both horizontal & vertical menu types, even right-to-left and bottom-to-top.