Create a Custom jQuery Image Gallery with jCarousel

Introduction

Alright fellow web designers and developers. We are going to do something a little bit more hardcore this time. There are heaps of jQuery plugins out there, but it's hard to find something that suit us. So, this tutorial will teach you how to be creative and create a customize plugin.

If you have read this post - Single Page Websites With Creative Javascript Effects. You will able to see that, it's quite a popular trend that most of the designers showcase theirs work by using a vertical/horizontal carousel. So, in this tutorial, we will learn how to build an unique jQuery script by modifying other plugin - create a Image gallery with jCarousel. A picture tells thousand words, we are going to transform jCarousel to this:

1. jCarousel - the jQuery carousel plugin

First of all, let me introduce this robust plugin we are about to integrate into this image gallery. jCarousel plugin is fully configurable, and most importantly, I have tested it on different browsers IE6, IE7, IE8, Safari, Chrome and firefox, it's proven works perfectly. With the following configuration, we will get a vertical carousel:

//jCarousel Plugin
$('#carousel').jcarousel({
	vertical: true, //orientation of the carousel, in this case we use vertical
	scroll: 1, //the number of items to scroll by
	auto: 2, //the interval of scrolling
	wrap: 'last', //wrap at last item and jump back to the start
	initCallback: mycarousel_initCallback	//we will use this to further enhance the behavior of this carousel
});

Also, you will have to modify the CSS file for jCarousel as well. I can't go into this details, because the CSS file is quite straight forward. So, in the end, this would be the result from the configuration above and also the customized css files. Please note, the following layout on the left hand side is the default jCarousel layout.

For more configuration, please refer to Sorgalla's jCarousel Documentation

2. HTML

Don't freak out by the length of the HTML, it's basically two UL lists.

• #slideshow-main: This UL list has a little bit of styling. It has a caption area above a faded background
• #slidehow-carousel: This is where the jCarousel is located. Just a simple UL list with each link have a REL that will point to the #slideshow-main item.

<div id="welcomeHero">
			
	<div id="slideshow-main">
		<ul>
			<li class="p1 active">
				<a href="#">
					<img src="images/1_big.gif" width="430" height="290" alt=""/>
					<span class="opacity"></span>
					<span class="content"><h1>Title 1</h1><p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.</p></span>
				</a>
			</li>
			<li class="p2">
				<a href="#">
					<img src="images/2_big.gif" width="430" height="290" alt=""/>
					<span class="opacity"></span>
					<span class="content"><h1>Title 2</h1><p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.</p></span>
				</a>
			</li>
			<li class="p3">
				<a href="#">
					<img src="images/3_big.gif" width="430" height="290" alt=""/>
					<span class="opacity"></span>
					<span class="content"><h1>Title 3</h1><p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.</p></span>
				</a>
			</li>
		
			......

		</ul>										
	</div>
				
	<div id="slideshow-carousel">				
		  <ul id="carousel" class="jcarousel jcarousel-skin-tango">
			<li><a href="#" rel="p1"><img src="images/1.gif" width="206" height="95" alt="#"/></a></li>
			<li><a href="#" rel="p2"><img src="images/2.gif" width="206" height="95" alt="#"/></a></li>
			<li><a href="#" rel="p3"><img src="images/3.gif" width="206" height="95" alt="#"/></a></li>
			......
		  </ul>
	</div>
		
	<div class="clear"></div>
		
</div>

3. CSS

CSS is a little bit more complicated in this tutorial so I have included a brief layout to show the IDs and Classes.

However, you will have to make some changes to the jCarousel css jquery.jcarousel.css and skin.css. Note: if you grab a fresh copy from jCarousel website, it will have more complicated skin files and folder layout, the one I have included in the download is a simplified version.

body {
	font-family:arial;	
}

img {
	border:0;
}

/* Styling up the image gallery */

#slideshow-main {
	width:429px; 
	float:left; 
	margin-right:3px;
}

#slideshow-main ul {
	margin:0; 
	padding:0; 
	width:429px;
}

#slideshow-main li {
	width:429px; 
	height:290px; 
	display:none;
	position:relative;
}

#slideshow-main li.active {
	display:block !important;
}

#slideshow-main li span.opacity {
	position:absolute;
	bottom:0; left:0;
	display:block; 
	width:100%;
	height:60px;
	background:#000;
	filter:alpha(opacity=50); 
	-moz-opacity:0.5; 
	-khtml-opacity: 0.5; 
	opacity: 0.5;
	z-index:500;
}

#slideshow-main li span.content {
	position:absolute;
	bottom:0; left:0;
	display:block; 
	width:100%;
	height:60px;
	z-index:1000;
}

#slideshow-main li span.content h1 {
	font-size:14px;
	margin:5px 0;
	padding:0 10px;;
	color:#42e2e8;
}

#slideshow-main li span.content p {
	font-size:11px;
	margin:5px 0;
	padding:0 10px;;
	color:#42e2e8;
}



/* Styling up the carousel */

#slideshow-carousel {
	float:left; 
	width:206px;
	position:relative
}

#slideshow-carousel ul {
	margin:0; 
	padding:0;
	list-style:none;
}

#slideshow-carousel li {
	background:#fff; 
	height:97px; 
	position:relative
}

#slideshow-carousel li .arrow {
	left:3px; 
	top:28px; 
	position:absolute; 
	width:20px; 
	height:40px; 
	background:url(images/arrow_white.png) no-repeat 0 0; 
	display:block;
}

#slideshow-carousel li a {
	background:#000; 
	display:block; 
	width:206px; 
	height:95px;
}


#slideshow-carousel .active {
	filter:alpha(opacity=100); 
	-moz-opacity:1.0; 
	-khtml-opacity: 1.0; 
	opacity: 1.0;
}

#slideshow-carousel .faded {
	filter:alpha(opacity=50); 
	-moz-opacity:0.5; 
	-khtml-opacity: 0.5; 
	opacity: 0.5;
}

4. Javascript

We don't have to worry about the carousel, because it's quite stable. What we need to do with the jCarousel is to adjust the setting such as the speed, layout and behavior. For more setting, you can refer to jCarousel official documentation.

Other than that, most of them are basic jQuery script with hover and click events. I have added inline comments and I believe that will help.

$(document).ready(function () {
		
	//jCarousel Plugin
	$('#carousel').jcarousel({
		vertical: true,	//display vertical carousel
		scroll: 1,	//auto scroll
		auto: 2,	//the speed of scrolling
		wrap: 'last',	//go back to top when reach last item
		initCallback: mycarousel_initCallback	//extra called back function
	});

	//Front page Carousel - Initial Setup
	//set all the item to full opacity
   	$('div#slideshow-carousel a img').css({'opacity': '0.5'});
   	
   	//readjust the first item to 50% opacity
   	$('div#slideshow-carousel a img:first').css({'opacity': '1.0'});
   	
   	//append the arrow to the first item
   	$('div#slideshow-carousel li a:first').append('')

 
  	//Add hover and click event to each of the item in the carousel
    $('div#slideshow-carousel li a').hover(
       	function () {
        	
        	//check to make sure the item is not selected
       		if (!$(this).has('span').length) {
       			//reset all the item's opacity to 50%
        		$('div#slideshow-carousel li a img').stop(true, true).css({'opacity': '0.5'});
        		
        		//adust the current selected item to full opacity
   	    		$(this).stop(true, true).children('img').css({'opacity': '1.0'});
       		}		
       	},
       	function () {
        		
        	//on mouse out, reset all the item back to 50% opacity
       		$('div#slideshow-carousel li a img').stop(true, true).css({'opacity': '0.5'});
       		
       		//reactivate the selected item by loop through them and look for the one
       		//that has the span arrow
       		$('div#slideshow-carousel li a').each(function () {
				//found the span and reset the opacity back to full opacity
       			if ($(this).has('span').length) $(this).children('img').css({'opacity': '1.0'});

       		});
        		
       	}
	).click(function () {

		//remove the span.arrow
	    $('span.arrow').remove();
	    
	    //append it to the current item        
		$(this).append('');
		
		//remove the active class from the slideshow main
		$('div#slideshow-main li').removeClass('active');
		
		//display the main image by appending active class to it.        
       	$('div#slideshow-main li.' + $(this).attr('rel')).addClass('active');	
        	
       	return false;
	});


});


//Carousel Tweaking
function mycarousel_initCallback(carousel) {
	
	// Pause autoscrolling if the user moves with the cursor over the clip.
	// resume otherwise
	carousel.clip.hover(function() {
		carousel.stopAuto();
	}, function() {
		carousel.startAuto();
	});
}
	

Conclusion

This is a fairly complicated tutorial I have ever made, if you have any question at all, please drop me a comment, I will give you a hand and try my best to help you. I applied this script to a commercial website and it's well tested accross different browser such as IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and even iPhone Safari. They all behave the same and look identical.

I hope you will get something out of this tutorial, grab a plugin, customize it and build a unique jQuery script that everyone would envious about it. :)