If you want to jump start your jQuery plugins, give this plugin framework a try: http://starter.pixelgraphics.us/

Nice tut for simple plugins. For plugins that keep lots of state per element and allow subsequent modification thereof, I would suggest building with the jQuery UI widget framework. Among its conveniences are method calls via $(element).customWidget('methodName') I was pleasantly surprised to find the core to be completely independent of the template system, meaning there's no custom css mixed in there, and no explicit/hacky support for any of the jQuery UI widgets.

Anyone have any favorite links to a good rapid jquery intro for someone familiar with programming?

Not to be cheeky but if you're familiar with programming and JavaScript I'd start with the jQuery source:

http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.js

Be patient and focus on understanding one part that your are familiar with - perhaps handling AJAX requests.

You need a little more than familiarity with programming to get started with a JS toolkit.

Most JS toolkits are heavily biased towards the browser environment, so you also need some knowledge of the DOM and the host environment provided by browsers for JS execution.

That said, if you feel like experimenting, I'd recommend using Firefox, installing FireBug and reading http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:Getting_Started_with_jQuery . That should get you started.