Tooltips and slider JavaScript effects based on jQuery

Posted in on 13 October 2009

Used wisely, JavaScript effects can provide that extra Wow! factor to your website. I have been looking at a couple of different scripts recently because they seemed to be just what I wanted for a couple of websites. Both these are based on the jQuery library.

Info: JavaScript adds an extra level of interaction or behaviour to your website and it might be tempting to use scripts like these excessively. However, you should also consider what happens if your web visitors have JavaScript turned off. Is the content still visible? Does the website still provide a useful experience without these effects? See Unobtrusive JavaScript for more information on best practice.

Firstly, Tipsy is the tooltip script used by Facebook and Twitter to enhance the normal title attribute on links. However, just because these big guys are using it does not mean that you should use it without due consideration. If it fits what you are doing, go ahead and use it. It’s a neat tooltip script and rounded corners (using the border-radius property) and a subtle fade effect are also possible with Tipsy.

Secondly, one way of showcasing your content in a restricted space is to use a slider effect where the user clicks through several ‘slides’ of your valuable content. This effect has been used a lot recently but it’s great for showing website portfolios or images. I think it’s also great for showing text and image content. A slider effect can be great for website visitors and for search engines if you are using text in this way. The slider effect that I have been using is Easy Slider. This script has gone through several iterations now and it has a wealth of flexible configuration options. Just about everything has been thought of. Great work!

In both cases, these scripts provide added enhancements for your website visitors. I’ll let you know when the website examples I am working on go live.

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Comments

  1. Stephen Webb 14 October 2009, 10:48 1

    As someone who has used JavaScript a few times on a variety of sites, I am always interested to read more about new JavaScript applications and implementations. Tipsy appears to be a powerful plugin, and it’s features are certainly well recognised from sites such as Facebook.

    Showcasing content via a slider menu can be extremely useful, especially on websites that are continually expanding and therefore having their menus expand too. I find the effect itself can be quite impressive if used in the right design context, so will be looking at Easy Slider in more detail.

    Maybe if anyone has more resources, we can post them here? It would be good to see just how many implementations JavaScript and jQuery can have!

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