jQuery Chosen versions used in Joomla

Since Joomla 3.0.0

Chosen custom modified, used in Joomla 4.0.0-Alpha5 to Joomla 4.2.x
Chosen 1.6.2 (custom modified) used in Joomla 3.7.0-Alpha1 to Joomla 4.0.0-Alpha4
Chosen 0.14.0 (custom modified) used in Joomla 3.2.3 to 3.6.5
Chosen 0.9.8 (custom modified) used in Joomla 3.0.0 to 3.2.2

This is a frequently updated list of Chosen used in Joomla. Chosen is not loaded by default in Joomla 5 and 4, it has not been completely removed from the Joomla 4 package, but has been classified as Legacy. This means that 3rd party extension developers can still load it if required, but it will still be this old version you see here. The Chosen versions used in Joomla 3 are not official, they are custom modified. Joomla since version 3.0.0 to 3.2.2 was using a custom modified version of Chosen 0.9.8 and since Joomla 3.2.3 to 3.6.5, it was using a custom modified version of Chosen 0.14.0 (the latest of the Chosen 0.x.x Series). When Joomla 3.7.0-Alpha1 was released, it contained Chosen 1.6.2, but it was once again custom modified.

All Chosen versions used by the Joomla 3 core, are custom modified versions of the Chosen framework.

We can also see this as a comment. This one is from the most recent file:

/media/jui/js/chosen.jquery.js​

Modified for Joomla! UI:
- revert the check for instance type of data-chosen, to allow to disable Chosen for field with data-chosen="true", @see https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/12877
- rename the css and javascript classes and functions to revert back to using chzn and liszt
- fix zero width, based on https://github.com/harvesthq/chosen/pull/1439
- allow to add a custom value on fly, based on https://github.com/harvesthq/chosen/pull/749​

This of course, either by using the Eorisis Elements extension, or without, will result in rendering errors if you want to use the official chosen libraries, say by loading them from a CDN source -- you can't. In case you do that, just to try and see how things break, or by accident, disable the extension temporarily for the menus to come back, clear your browser's cache, then navigate to the extension and remove the official Chosen.

Chosen has been completely removed from the Eorisis Elements extension on January 20, 2017 for all the above reasons.

Chosen officially released v1.0 on 30/07/2013 and stated:

All CSS class names have been renamed from a chzn- root to a chosen- root : All custom Chosen events starting with liszt are now prefaced with a chosen: [ Link ].

Note that Chosen versions older than 1.4.0 had an XSS vulnerability in the Chosen code itself as announced here: [ Link 1 ] [ Link 2 ]. Chosen versions 0.9.7 or older would not be included in the extension because the official Chosen files come with version information mistakes.

In general, although Chosen is a nice package that transforms the default browser "select" dropdown menus into silky nice ones, the Joomla team should follow the official releases and stay up-to-date without custom modifications. If any change needs to be done in an area, that area is the Joomla core. This is why it is not a great idea to always include external libraries such as this, especially if you are not willing to follow. Otherwise it would better be out of the Joomla core, because it locks the site admin/webmaster to use it, most of the times with old versions.

For those that use the latest version of modern browsers such as Firefox, the default browser's select drop down menus are very nicely following your operating system's theme (unless you are using some pirate Windows XP), so any extreme design of the select menus on a site will most possibly from now on be considered Kitsch, once modern web design focuses on simplicity. In a way, unless you prefer oldschool styles and design.

You can add any version of Chosen or even remove it from being loaded by the Joomla core using Eorisis Elements available in both Free/Pro editions.