If you’ve viewed my “lab” section, that is a perfect example of what this is. jSquares is a jQuery plugin that pops up an image and a description in an overlay on hover. It is basically identical to the image grid found on www.ted.com. Works like a charm in IE6+, FF 3+, Safari 3+ and Opera 10.

Download It! (v1.2)

Demo It!

Donate to me :)

Setting it up

Make sure you’re including these files in the head of your document

<script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">google.load("jquery","1.3.2");</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/jsquares.css" type="text/css" media="all" />
<script src="js/jquery.jsquares.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

To initiate jSquares simply wrap it in the jQuerys document ready function like so.

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
	$('#js-container').jsquares();
});
</script>

The default chunk of HTML will look something like this:

<div id="js-container">	
	<div class="js-image">		
		<a href="#wolf!"><img class="js-small-image" src="images/wolf-moon.jpg"/></a>
		<div class="js-small-caption">
			<span>Howlla at cha boy!</span>
		</div>
		<div class="js-overlay-caption-content">
			<h4>You can't hide from wolf boy.</h4>
			<p>
				Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In elementum arcu non orci fermentum nec suscipit neque dignissim... <a href="#">Read more &raquo;</a>
			</p>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>

Optional parameters

Parameters can be added when you call jsquares like so:

$('#js-container').jsquares({ 
	shuffle_in: false, // have the pictures all fade in on page load?
	fade_on_hover: false, // do we want the images to fade on hover or just change opacity?
	caption_slide_down: false // do we want the caption to slide down or just appear?
});

Here’s a list of all of the options it can take:

Key Default Value Type Description
image .js-image String The target element holding all of the info (image/caption). View the source of the demo for a better understanding.
caption .js-small-caption String The target element holding the caption. This element is found within the element specified as js_image.
caption_overlay_spacing 12 Integer This is the padding on the caption that pops up on hover.
caption_width 400 Integer This is the width of the caption that pops up on hover.
caption_height 130 Integer This is the height of the caption that pops up on hover.
fade_to .3 Integer | Float This is the opacity that you want the images/captions to fade to when you roll over an image.
fade_start 1 Integer | Float This is opacity that images/captions are sent back to after you roll off the image set. This normally shouldn’t be altered.
shuffle_in true Boolean By default the images will shuffle in (fade in) randomly. If you don’t want any effects and to have them just appear, change this to false.
shuffle_in_speed 130 Integer If js_shuffle_in is set to true, you can set the speed in which images appear one after the other.
fade_on_hover true Boolean By default the images fade to a value set by js_fade_to, if you just want them to change opacity then change this to false.
caption_slide_down true Boolean The caption has a slide down effect when you hover over an image. If you just want it to appear instead of sliding down, change this to false.
caption_slidedown_speed fast String | Integer If the option key js_caption_slide_down is set to true, you can change the speed that it slides down at.

Any comments/suggestions are definitely encouraged. Enjoy!