Lavalamp for jQuery Lovers – Project

Let me get you started on integrating LavaLamp into your jQuery powered site.

I hope you agree that a typical HTML widget consists of 3 distinct components.

1. A semantically correct HTML markup
2. A CSS to skin the markup
3. An unobstrusive javascript that gives it a purpose

Now lets follow the above steps and implement the LavaLamp menu for your site.

Step 1: The HTML

Since most UI developers believe that an unordered list(ul) represents the correct semantic structure for a Menu/Navbar, we will start by writing just that.

    <ul class="lavaLamp">
        <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Plant a tree</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Travel</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Ride an elephant</a></li>
   </ul>
<li class="back"><div class="left"></div></li>

Step 2: The CSS

You can skin this markup in many different ways to achieve your own personalized menu.

/* Styles for the entire LavaLamp menu */
.lavaLamp {
    position: relative;
    height: 29px; width: 421px;
    background: url("../image/bg.gif") no-repeat top;
    padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0;
    overflow: hidden;
}
    /* Force the list to flow horizontally */
    .lavaLamp li {
        float: left;
        list-style: none;
    }
        /* Represents the background of the highlighted menu-item. */
        .lavaLamp li.back {
            background: url("../image/lava.gif") no-repeat right -30px;
            width: 9px; height: 30px;
            z-index: 8;
            position: absolute;
        }
            .lavaLamp li.back .left {
                background: url("../image/lava.gif") no-repeat top left;
                height: 30px;
                margin-right: 9px;
            }
        /* Styles for each menu-item. */
        .lavaLamp li a {
            position: relative; overflow: hidden;
            text-decoration: none;
            text-transform: uppercase;
            font: bold 14px arial;
            color: #fff; outline: none;
            text-align: center;
            height: 30px; top: 7px;
            z-index: 10; letter-spacing: 0;
            float: left; display: block;
            margin: auto 10px;
        }

Step 3: The Javascript

This is the easy part. Most of the javascript work is taken care by the Lava Lamp plugin itself. As a developer, you just have to include the mandatory and/or optional javascript files and fire a call to initialize the menu.

<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/jquery.lavalamp.js"></script>
<!-- Optional -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/jquery.easing.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function() { $(".lavaLamp").lavaLamp({ fx: "backout", speed: 700 }));
</script>