Too many JavaScript sort functions to accomplish the same type of sorting
function makeSorter(sortType) {
    sortType = "data-"+sortType;
    return function (a, b) {
        return $(a).attr(sortType) - $(b).attr(sortType);
    };
}

$('#sort-options').change(function () {
    var sortType = $(this).val();
    var $selectedList = $($(".drop-zone.ui-tabs-selected a").attr('href')).find('.connectedSortable');
    var $listItems = $('li', $selectedList);

    $listItems.sort(makeSorter(sortType));


Note that if val is "custom" it won't work, so I recommend replacing "custom" with "sort-order".