jQuery plugin template

jquery-plugin-template.js

/**
 * jQuery plugin template by https://github.com/publicJorn
 * Features:
 * - dynamic plugin name (only supply once) so it's easy to change later
 * - plugin factory to make it work in the browser, or with AMD / COMMONJS modules
 * - Plugin instance is saved on the selector element
 * - Default options are saved to the instance in case you need to figure out a difference between passed options
 */
(function(global, factory) {
  'use strict';
  if (typeof define === 'function' && define.amd) {
    define(['jquery'], function($) {
      return factory($, global, global.document);
    });
  } else if (typeof exports === "object" && exports) {
    module.exports = factory(require('jquery'), global, global.document);
  } else {
    factory(jQuery, global, global.document);
  }
})(typeof window !== 'undefined' ? window : this, function($, window, document, undefined) {
  'use strict';

  // -- Name is used to keep jQUery plugin template portable
  var pluginName = 'pluginName';

  // -- Globals (shared across all plugin instances)
  var defaultOptions = {};

  var $window = $(window);
  var $document = $(document);

  // -- Plugin constructor
  // Using p object as placeholder, together with pluginName to make jQuery plugin template portable
  var p = {}; p[pluginName] = function (el, options) {
    this.el = el;
    this.options = $.extend({}, defaultOptions, options) ;

    this._defaultOptions = defaultOptions;

    this.init();
  }

  // Rest of the functions
  p[pluginName].prototype = {
    /**
     *
     */
    init: function() {
      console.info('initialised');
    }
  };

  // -- Prevent multiple instantiations
  $.fn[pluginName] = function(options) {
    return this.each(function () {
      if (!$.data(this, 'plugin_'+ pluginName)) {
        $.data(this, 'plugin_'+ pluginName, new p[pluginName](this, options));
      }
    });
  };
});

If you are interested, there's also an ES6 version
Note that it requires a build step to transpile to ES5 if you intend to use it directly in the browser. Use webpack or browserify for this.