The JavaDoc search feature uses the jQuery UI autocomplete component to display search results. While this was a convenient choice, it has limited what we can do in terms of functionality.

With the introduction of the search page in JDK-8248863 we have started to implement our own search UI, which supports features the jQuery UI based solution lacks, such as a tabbed interface and search by module. We think our own search widget is mature enough to replace the jQuery UI component in the navigation bar search input.

This will not only remove the dependency on jQuery UI, but also allow use to remove the dependency on jQuery itself, since our other usage of jQuery can easily be rewritten using plain JavaScript.