Slider Gallery

Posted on 18th February 2008 — Michiel Kenis requested a tutorial explaining how to create a similar effect used to showcase the products on the Apple web site.

This ‘product slider’ is similar to a straight forward gallery, except that there is a slider to navigate the items, i.e. the bit the user controls to view the items. Simple stuff.

jQuery already has the plugins to create these effects so we don’t have to go about creating them ourselves from scratch.

How to Solve the Problem

To create the slider controlled gallery, we need the following:

Markup that allows us to place several items within a list, and that overflows out of sight.
A slider widget to control what subsection of products we can see.
Logic to translate the sliders position to slide the products inversely (i.e. we slide left-to-right, the products go right-to-left).

I’ve provided a screencast to walk through how create this functionality. Details on how and what I used can be found below.

Watch the slider gallery screencast (alternative flash version)

View the demo and source code used in the screencast

jQuery UI

jQuery UI is “a set of themable widgets and interactions”. For this task, we don’t need much of jQuery UI, but for the UI slider widget, we’ll need the following:

jquery.dimensions.js
ui.mouse.js
ui.slider.js

Of course we’ll still need the latest jquery.js.

All the above scripts can be extracted from the jQuery UI download.

HTML Markup

The markup for the example is straight forward. It boils down to a ul holding the items you want in the gallery, and a div with another nested div, for the slider and it’s handle.

<div class="sliderGallery">
  <ul class="items">
    <li>Item one</li>
    <li>Item two</li>
    <li>Item three, etc...</li>
  </ul>
  <div class="slider">
    <!-- the handler to action the slide -->
    <div class="handle"></div>
    <!-- labels appear against the slider, as pointers to the user -->
    <span class="slider-lb1">slider label 1</span>
    <span class="slider-lb2">slider label 2</span>
    <span class="slider-lb3">slider label 3</span>
  </div>
</div>

CSS

One key feature about the CSS used: in my example, I assumed that I would not have a predefined width to the ul element. As such, I can’t float the li elements and have set widths. To ensure everything flows horizontally, I make use of white-space: nowrap.

I’ve only included the required CSS to create the sliding gallery effect. If you want to see the complete CSS used in the screencast just view the source for the demo

Slider Gallery Container

The overflow ensures the items are hidden, and the position: relative is used to absolutely position the ul element within it.

.sliderGallery {
    overflow: hidden;
    position: relative;
    padding: 10px;
    height: 160px;
    width: 960px;
}

Slider Gallery Items

The white-space: nowrap is what allows us to work with an unknown width in the ul element.

.sliderGallery UL {
    position: absolute;
    list-style: none;
    overflow: none;
    white-space: nowrap;
    padding: 0;
    margin: 0;
}

.sliderGallery UL LI {
    display: inline;
}

Slider Handle

In the screencast, the example uses a background image for the slider handle, and in particular from the example, the width of the handle is larger than the image to allow it to overlay on the left and right arrows.

.handle {
    position: absolute;
    cursor: move;
    top: 0;
    z-index: 100;
    /* bespoke to your own solution */
    height: 17px;
    width: 181px;
}

jQuery

As stated above, we will need to include a series of plugins from the jQuery UI download, then we will add our dash of jQuery to create the sliding gallery effect.

Required Plugins

<script src="jquery.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
  
<script src="jquery.dimensions.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="ui.mouse.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="ui.slider.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Slider Code

$(function () { // see note below
$(window).ready(function () {
  $('div.sliderGallery').each(function () {
    var ul = $('ul', this);
    var productWidth = ul.innerWidth() - $(this).outerWidth();

    var slider = $('.slider', this).slider({ 
      handle: '.handle',
      minValue: 0, 
      maxValue: productWidth, 
      slide: function (ev, ui) {
        ul.css('left', '-' + ui.value + 'px');
      }, 
      stop: function (ev, ui) {
        ul.animate({ 'left' : '-' + ui.value + 'px' }, 500, 'linear');
      }
    });
  });
});

Please note during the screencast I used $(function () {}) - but I’ve had to since change this to $(window).ready. This is because I’m using white-space: nowrap and the width isn’t calculated until after the images are loaded. jQuery’s document ready function fires before the images are loaded - to allow the JavaScript access to the DOM as early as possible.

This wasn’t a problem in the demo because the images were loaded from a local server, and thus loaded fast enough to allow the code to work out the width correctly.

The code breaks down as follows:

window.onload = function () {

When the DOM and images are ready (note that if you don’t use white-space: nowrap then you should use the standard $(document).ready() method).

$('div.sliderGallery').each(function () {

Loop through all the div.sliderGallery elements. This code design sets us up to convert our code to a reusable plugin.

var ul = $('ul', this);

Search for the ul in the context of this - which is currently a div.sliderGallery.

var productWidth = ul.innerWidth() - $(this).outerWidth();

.innerWidth() and .outerWidth() come from jquery.dimensions.js. We’re subtracting the current div.sliderGallery width because when we slide, we want it to stop once the last item is visible, rather than sliding it all the way left until it’s out of sight.

var slider = $('.slider', this).slider({

.slider() comes from ui.slider.js.

handle: '.handle',

The class of our slider handle.

slide: function (ev, ui) {
  ul.css('left', '-' + ui.value + 'px');
},

As the handle is moved, we move the ul of items, note that it moves negatively, creating the scrolling effect.

stop: function (ev, ui) {
  ul.animate({ 'left' : '-' + ui.value + 'px' }, 500, 'linear');
}

We use this for when slider area has been clicked, to create the scroll effect.

Taking it Further

When I have a working version of the code, I often try to think how the interaction could be better. Here’s a list of ways it could be improved, in no particular order - if you fancy a challenge:

Better scrolling effect, in particular, fast scroll for the bulk of the animation, and slows down when it’s settling on the final item.
Turn it in to a plugin.
The arrow can be turned in to handlers to slide the handle only part of the distance, rather than all.
A nice effect the Apple version has, is the jump labels, within the slider element, change class given the distance they are from the slider handle. They appear brighter as they’re closer and duller as they are further away from the handle.
Anything else you can think of!

Coda Slider Effect Although Panic didn’t really invent the effect, the sliding panels...

Demo

If you find this demo doesn't work as expected, it's possibly due to the demo running from within an iframe. Try running the demo in it's own window.

Source Code

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title>Slider Gallery</title>
    <style type="text/css" media="screen">
    <!--
        body {
            padding: 0; 
            font: 1em "Trebuchet MS", verdana, arial, sans-serif; 
            font-size: 100%;
            background-color: #212121;
            margin: 0;
        }

        h1 { 
            margin-bottom: 2px; 
        }

        #container {
            background-color: #fff;
            width: 580px;
            margin: 15px auto;
            padding: 50px;
        }
        
        /* slider specific CSS */
        .sliderGallery {
            background: url(images/productbrowser_background_20070622.jpg) no-repeat;
            overflow: hidden;
            position: relative;
            padding: 10px;
            height: 160px;
            width: 560px;
        }
        
        .sliderGallery UL {
            position: absolute;
            list-style: none;
            overflow: none;
            white-space: nowrap;
            padding: 0;
            margin: 0;
        }
        
        .sliderGallery UL LI {
            display: inline;
        }
        
        .slider {
            width: 542px;
            height: 17px;
            margin-top: 140px;
            margin-left: 5px;
            padding: 1px;
            position: relative;
            background: url(images/productbrowser_scrollbar_20070622.png) no-repeat;
        }
        
        .handle {
            position: absolute;
            cursor: move;
            height: 17px;
            width: 181px;
            top: 0;
            background: url(images/productbrowser_scroller_20080115.png) no-repeat;
            z-index: 100;
        }
        
        .slider span {
            color: #bbb;
            font-size: 80%;
            cursor: pointer;
            position: absolute;
            z-index: 110;
            top: 3px;
        }
        
        .slider .slider-lbl1 {
            left: 50px;
        }
        
        .slider .slider-lbl2 {
            left: 107px;
        }
        
        .slider .slider-lbl3 {
            left: 156px;
        }

        .slider .slider-lbl4 {
            left: 280px;
        }

        .slider .slider-lbl5 {
            left: 455px;
        }
    -->
    </style>

    <!-- updated to jQ 1.2.6 and UI 1.5.2 2008-11-28 -->
    <script src="jquery-1.2.6.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
    <script src="jquery-ui-full-1.5.2.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
    
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
        window.onload = function () {
            var container = $('div.sliderGallery');
            var ul = $('ul', container);
            
            var itemsWidth = ul.innerWidth() - container.outerWidth();
            
            $('.slider', container).slider({
                min: 0,
                max: itemsWidth,
                handle: '.handle',
                stop: function (event, ui) {
                    ul.animate({'left' : ui.value * -1}, 500);
                },
                slide: function (event, ui) {
                    ul.css('left', ui.value * -1);
                }
            });
        };
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="container">
        <h1>Slider Gallery</h1>
        <p>This shows a demonstration of a slider widget from the jQuery UI library used to create the same effect used on <a href="http://www.apple.com/mac/">Apple's web site</a>.</p>
        <p><a href="/slider-gallery">Read the article, and see the screencast this demonstration relates to</a></p>

        <div class="sliderGallery">
            <ul>
                <li><img class="pb-airportexpress" src="images/pb_airport_express.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_airport_extreme.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_timecapsule_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_keyboards20070807.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_mighty_mouse.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_cinema_display20071026.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_mac_pro_20070622.jpg" /></li>

                <li><img class="pb-macmini" src="images/pb_mac_mini.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_macbook20071026.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img class="pb-macbookair" src="images/pb_macbookair_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img class="pb-macbookpro" src="images/pb_macbook_pro20071026.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img class="pb-imac" src="images/pb_imac20071026.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_macosx_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_ilife_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_dot_mac_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_iwork_20080115.jpg" /></li>

                <li><img src="images/pb_quicktime.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_aperture20080212.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_final_cut_studio2_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_final_cut_express_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_logic_studio_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_logic_express_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_shake_20080115.jpg" /></li>                    
                <li><img src="images/pb_apple_remote_desktop_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img src="images/pb_xserve.jpg" /></li>

                <li><img src="images/pb_xserve_raid.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img class="pb-xsan" src="images/pb_xsan_20080115.jpg" /></li>
                <li><img class="pb-macosxserver" src="images/pb_macosx_server20071016.jpg" /></li>                    
            </ul>
            <div class="slider">
                <div class="handle"></div>
                <span class="slider-lbl1">Wi-Fi</span>
                <span class="slider-lbl3">Macs</span>
                <span class="slider-lbl4">Applications</span>
                <span class="slider-lbl5">Servers</span>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Comments

Sarah On 25th June 2009 at 12:06

Sorry, Morris- for my page direcotry, you can just left click and click on “view page source” to view my directory.

Thanks

Sarah On 25th June 2009 at 23:06

Hi,

Morris, I’ve got the handle working using my own methods. However, not all the images are viewable when scrolled:

Here is the page: http://web.bethere.co.uk/urwayormine/trial.html

Is there a way for me to make all the images viewable when scrolled?

Here is the CSS:

body { padding: 0; font: 1em “Trebuchet MS”, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 100%; background-color: #212121; margin: 0; }

    h1 { 
        margin-bottom: 2px; 
    }

    #container {
        background-color: #fff;
        width: 580px;
        margin: 15px auto;
        padding: 50px;
    }

    /* slider specific CSS */
    .sliderGallery {
        background: url(images/productbrowser_background_20070622.jpg) no-repeat;
        overflow: hidden;
        position: relative;
        padding: 10px;
        height: 160px;
        width: 560px;
    }

    .sliderGallery UL {
        position: absolute;
        list-style: none;
        overflow: none;
        white-space: nowrap;
        padding: 0;
        margin: 0;
    }

    .sliderGallery UL LI {
        display: inline;
    }

    .slider {
        width: 542px;
        height: 17px;
        margin-top: 140px;
        margin-left: 5px;
        padding: 1px;
        position: relative;
        background: url(images/productbrowser_scrollbar_20070622.png) no-repeat;
    }

    .handle{
        position: absolute;
        cursor: move;
        height: 17px;
        width: 181px;
        top: 0;
        background: url(images/productbrowser_scroller_20080115.png) no-repeat;
        z-index: 100;
    }

    .slider span {
        color: #bbb;
        font-size: 80%;
        cursor: pointer;
        position: absolute;
        z-index: 110;
        top: 3px;
    }

    .slider .slider-lbl1 {
        left: 50px;
    }

    .slider .slider-lbl2 {
        left: 107px;
    }

    .slider .slider-lbl3 {
        left: 156px;
    }

    .slider .slider-lbl4 {
        left: 280px;
    }

    .slider .slider-lbl5 {
        left: 455px;
    }

And here is the javascript:

    window.onload = function () {
        var container = $('div.sliderGallery');
        var ul = $('ul', container);

        var itemsWidth = ul.innerWidth() - container.outerWidth();

        $('.slider', container).slider({
             minValue: 0,
             maxValue: itemsWidth,
            handle: '.handle',
            stop: function (event, ui) {
                ul.animate({'left' : ui.value * -1}, 500);
            },
            slide: function (event, ui) {
                ul.css('left', ui.value * -1);
            }
        });
    };

Thanks again!

Cameron On 26th June 2009 at 04:06

Moritz,

Thanks for putting this together. I’m having trouble getting it to work consistently. When I first load the portfolio page (http://www.aiviaphoto.com/dev/), the handle works, but not the slider. When I refresh, it works great. However, a required refresh will not do.

Could you take a look and offer a solution?

Thanks in advance,

Cameron
Moritz On 26th June 2009 at 07:06

Hi,
that the images are not shown is not a problem of CSS or JS but they just do not exist.
Cameron On 26th June 2009 at 12:06

What do you mean when you say ‘they don’t exist’? The li ’s are pulled in via PHP from my database. So the images do exist, perhaps you’re looking at one of the galleries that doesn’t currently have images. (FYI, only the Portraits, Weddings, Engagements, and Landscape galleries currently have images).
Sarah On 26th June 2009 at 15:06

Morris- you are CORRECT. The images are not showing because they couldn’t be located on my harddrive- THANK YOU!

It’s fixed now- although I haven’t published the final page.
Joseph On 27th June 2009 at 03:06

Hey Sarah,

would love to see that page… I m also trying hard to make this work with 1.3.2 but can’t get the scrolling thing goin.

Thanks!
Joesh On 27th June 2009 at 08:06

Sarah,

I am also looking to make it work on 1.3.2 but can’t. I would love to see your working version.

Thanks!
Joesh On 28th June 2009 at 05:06

Ok, looks like the slider has changed so it aligns to the left and it doesn’t work for this example. The handle flies over to right beyond the slider. Only option to center it looks like giving a margin-left : handle/2 but it will not work for this particular example. I am trying to use the same slider / handle. :(

Does anyone know how to restrict the handle flying out of the slider area? I found one example but when you click on text, the handle is not in the center. It would be great to have a parameter that controls how you want to show the slider handle to make this slider work with new jQuery / UI.

Any help will be appreciated!

jQuery for Designers

Slider Gallery

How to Solve the Problem

jQuery UI

HTML Markup

CSS

Slider Gallery Container

Slider Gallery Items

Slider Handle

jQuery

Required Plugins

Slider Code

Taking it Further

Related posts

Demo

Source Code

Comments

Sarah On 25th June 2009 at 12:06

Sarah On 25th June 2009 at 23:06

Cameron On 26th June 2009 at 04:06

Moritz On 26th June 2009 at 07:06

Cameron On 26th June 2009 at 12:06

Sarah On 26th June 2009 at 15:06

Joseph On 27th June 2009 at 03:06

Joesh On 27th June 2009 at 08:06

Joesh On 28th June 2009 at 05:06

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