/* VERSION: Drop Shadow jQuery Plugin 1.6 12-13-2007 REQUIRES: jquery.js (1.2.6 or later) SYNTAX: $(selector).dropShadow(options); // Creates new drop shadows $(selector).redrawShadow(); // Redraws shadows on elements $(selector).removeShadow(); // Removes shadows from elements $(selector).shadowId(); // Returns an existing shadow's ID OPTIONS: left : integer (default = 4) top : integer (default = 4) blur : integer (default = 2) opacity : decimal (default = 0.5) color : string (default = "black") swap : boolean (default = false) The left and top parameters specify the distance and direction, in pixels, to offset the shadow. Zero values position the shadow directly behind the element. Positive values shift the shadow to the right and down, while negative values shift the shadow to the left and up. The blur parameter specifies the spread, or dispersion, of the shadow. Zero produces a sharp shadow, one or two produces a normal shadow, and three or four produces a softer shadow. Higher values increase the processing load. The opacity parameter should be a decimal value, usually less than one. You can use a value higher than one in special situations, e.g. with extreme blurring. Color is specified in the usual manner, with a color name or hex value. The color parameter does not apply with transparent images. The swap parameter reverses the stacking order of the original and the shadow. This can be used for special effects, like an embossed or engraved look. EXPLANATION: This jQuery plug-in adds soft drop shadows behind page elements. It is only intended for adding a few drop shadows to mostly stationary objects, like a page heading, a photo, or content containers. The shadows it creates are not bound to the original elements, so they won't move or change size automatically if the original elements change. A window resize event listener is assigned, which should re-align the shadows in many cases, but if the elements otherwise move or resize you will have to handle those events manually. Shadows can be redrawn with the redrawShadow() method or removed with the removeShadow() method. The redrawShadow() method uses the same options used to create the original shadow. If you want to change the options, you should remove the shadow first and then create a new shadow. The dropShadow method returns a jQuery collection of the new shadow(s). If further manipulation is required, you can store it in a variable like this: var myShadow = $("#myElement").dropShadow(); You can also read the ID of the shadow from the original element at a later time. To get a shadow's ID, either read the shadowId attribute of the original element or call the shadowId() method. For example: var myShadowId = $("#myElement").attr("shadowId"); or var myShadowId = $("#myElement").shadowId(); If the original element does not already have an ID assigned, a random ID will be generated for the shadow. However, if the original does have an ID, the shadow's ID will be the original ID and "_dropShadow". For example, if the element's ID is "myElement", the shadow's ID would be "myElement_dropShadow". If you have a long piece of text and the user resizes the window so that the text wraps or unwraps, the shape of the text changes and the words are no longer in the same positions. In that case, you can either preset the height and width, so that it becomes a fixed box, or you can shadow each word separately, like this:

Your Page Title

$("h1 span").dropShadow(); The dropShadow method attempts to determine whether the selected elements have transparent backgrounds. If you want to shadow the content inside an element, like text or a transparent image, it must not have a background-color or background-image style. If the element has a solid background it will create a rectangular shadow around the outside box. The shadow elements are positioned absolutely one layer below the original element, which is positioned relatively (unless it's already absolute). *** All shadows have the "dropShadow" class, for selecting with CSS or jQuery. ISSUES: 1) Limited styling of shadowed elements by ID. Because IDs must be unique, and the shadows have their own ID, styles applied by ID won't transfer to the shadows. Instead, style elements by class or use inline styles. 2) Sometimes shadows don't align properly. Elements may need to be wrapped in container elements, margins or floats changed, etc. or you may just have to tweak the left and top offsets to get them to align. For example, with draggable objects, you have to wrap them inside two divs. Make the outer div draggable and set the inner div's position to relative. Then you can create a shadow on the element inside the inner div. 3) If the user changes font sizes it will throw the shadows off. Browsers do not expose an event for font size changes. The only known way to detect a user font size change is to embed an invisible text element and then continuously poll for changes in size. 4) Safari support is shaky, and may require even more tweaks/wrappers, etc. The bottom line is that this is a gimick effect, not PFM, and if you push it too hard or expect it to work in every possible situation on every browser, you will be disappointed. Use it sparingly, and don't use it for anything critical. Otherwise, have fun with it! AUTHOR: Larry Stevens (McLars@eyebulb.com) This work is in the public domain, and it is not supported in any way. Use it at your own risk. */ (function($){ var dropShadowZindex = 1; //z-index counter $.fn.dropShadow = function(options) { // Default options var opt = $.extend({ left: 4, top: 4, blur: 2, opacity: .5, color: "black", swap: false }, options); var jShadows = $([]); //empty jQuery collection // Loop through original elements this.not(".dropShadow").each(function() { var jthis = $(this); var shadows = []; var blur = (opt.blur <= 0) ? 0 : opt.blur; var opacity = (blur == 0) ? opt.opacity : opt.opacity / (blur * 8); var zOriginal = (opt.swap) ? dropShadowZindex : dropShadowZindex + 1; var zShadow = (opt.swap) ? dropShadowZindex + 1 : dropShadowZindex; // Create ID for shadow var shadowId; if (this.id) { shadowId = this.id + "_dropShadow"; } else { shadowId = "ds" + (1 + Math.floor(9999 * Math.random())); } // Modify original element $.data(this, "shadowId", shadowId); //store id in expando $.data(this, "shadowOptions", options); //store options in expando jthis .attr("shadowId", shadowId) .css("zIndex", zOriginal); if (jthis.css("position") != "absolute") { jthis.css({ position: "relative", zoom: 1 //for IE layout }); } // Create first shadow layer bgColor = jthis.css("backgroundColor"); if (bgColor == "rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)") bgColor = "transparent"; //Safari if (bgColor != "transparent" || jthis.css("backgroundImage") != "none" || this.nodeName == "SELECT" || this.nodeName == "INPUT" || this.nodeName == "TEXTAREA") { shadows[0] = $("
") .css("background", opt.color); } else { shadows[0] = jthis .clone() .removeAttr("id") .removeAttr("name") .removeAttr("shadowId") .css("color", opt.color); } shadows[0] .addClass("dropShadow") .css({ height: jthis.outerHeight(), left: blur, opacity: opacity, position: "absolute", top: blur, width: jthis.outerWidth(), zIndex: zShadow }); // Create other shadow layers var layers = (8 * blur) + 1; for (i = 1; i < layers; i++) { shadows[i] = shadows[0].clone(); } // Position layers var i = 1; var j = blur; while (j > 0) { shadows[i].css({left: j * 2, top: 0}); //top shadows[i + 1].css({left: j * 4, top: j * 2}); //right shadows[i + 2].css({left: j * 2, top: j * 4}); //bottom shadows[i + 3].css({left: 0, top: j * 2}); //left shadows[i + 4].css({left: j * 3, top: j}); //top-right shadows[i + 5].css({left: j * 3, top: j * 3}); //bottom-right shadows[i + 6].css({left: j, top: j * 3}); //bottom-left shadows[i + 7].css({left: j, top: j}); //top-left i += 8; j--; } // Create container var divShadow = $("
") .attr("id", shadowId) .addClass("dropShadow") .css({ left: jthis.position().left + opt.left - blur, marginTop: jthis.css("marginTop"), marginRight: jthis.css("marginRight"), marginBottom: jthis.css("marginBottom"), marginLeft: jthis.css("marginLeft"), position: "absolute", top: jthis.position().top + opt.top - blur, zIndex: zShadow }); // Add layers to container for (i = 0; i < layers; i++) { divShadow.append(shadows[i]); } // Add container to DOM jthis.after(divShadow); // Add shadow to return set jShadows = jShadows.add(divShadow); // Re-align shadow on window resize $(window).resize(function() { try { divShadow.css({ left: jthis.position().left + opt.left - blur, top: jthis.position().top + opt.top - blur }); } catch(e){} }); // Increment z-index counter dropShadowZindex += 2; }); //end each return this.pushStack(jShadows); }; $.fn.redrawShadow = function() { // Remove existing shadows this.removeShadow(); // Draw new shadows return this.each(function() { var shadowOptions = $.data(this, "shadowOptions"); $(this).dropShadow(shadowOptions); }); }; $.fn.removeShadow = function() { return this.each(function() { var shadowId = $(this).shadowId(); $("div#" + shadowId).remove(); }); }; $.fn.shadowId = function() { return $.data(this[0], "shadowId"); }; $(function() { // Suppress printing of shadows var noPrint = ""; $("head").append(noPrint); }); })(jQuery);