star.rating.js

jQuery('input.rating,input[name*="rating"]').each(function(){	
        var span = jQuery('<span style="white-space:nowrap"><span class="rate0">&#x25CE;</span><span class="rate1">&#x2606;</span><span class="rate2">&#x2606;</span><span class="rate3">&#x2606;</span><span class="rate4">&#x2606;</span><span class="rate5">&#x2606;</span></span>');
        var self = jQuery(this).hide().after(span);
        var fill_stars = function() {
            var k = parseInt(self.val()) || 0;
            for(var i=1; i<6; i++) span.find('.rate'+i).html((i<=k)?'&#x2605;':'&#x2606;');
        };
        for(var k=0; k<6; k++) (function(k){
                span.find('.rate'+k).mouseover(function(){
                        for(var i=1; i<6; i++) span.find('.rate'+i).html((i<=k)?'&#x2605;':'&#x2606;');
                    }).click(function(){self.val(k);fill_stars();});
            })(k);
        span.mouseout(fill_stars);
        fill_stars();
    });

I have been very unsatisfied with existing star rating plugins. First, they are too complex. Second, they require dedicated fonts/images while all the necessary symbols are already in unicode. So I made this.
Just download it as star.rating.js and include it:

<script src="star.rating.js"></script>

and all the fields with a name containing the word "rating" or input fields having a class "rating" will be represented by a star 1-5 widget.