jQuery floating menu

A simple navigation menu that “follows” page scrolling and expands on mouse over, made with css and jquery.

The code

The css

body{margin:0px; padding:0px;}
#fl_menu{position:absolute; top:50px; left:0px; z-index:9999; width:150px; height:50px;}
#fl_menu .label{padding-left:20px; line-height:50px; font-family:"Arial Black", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-weight:bold; background:#000; color:#fff; letter-spacing:7px;}
#fl_menu .menu{display:none;}
#fl_menu .menu .menu_item{display:block; background:#000; color:#bbb; border-top:1px solid #333; padding:10px 20px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px; text-decoration:none;}
#fl_menu .menu a.menu_item:hover{background:#333; color:#fff;}

The jQuery library and plugins inside head tag

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="jquery.easing.1.3.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

The floating menu markup

<div id="fl_menu">
    <div class="label">MENU</div>
    <div class="menu">
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">An menu item</a>
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">A long menu item</a>
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">Item 3</a>
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">Another one</a>
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">A really, really long menu item</a>
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">Menu item 6</a>
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">And one more</a>
        <a href="#" class="menu_item">A tiny</a>
    </div>
</div>

The floating menu script is inserted in the end of the document, right before the closing body tag

<script>
//config
$float_speed=1500; //milliseconds
$float_easing="easeOutQuint";
$menu_fade_speed=500; //milliseconds
$closed_menu_opacity=0.75;
 
//cache vars
$fl_menu=$("#fl_menu");
$fl_menu_menu=$("#fl_menu .menu");
$fl_menu_label=$("#fl_menu .label");
 
$(window).load(function() {
    menuPosition=$('#fl_menu').position().top;
    FloatMenu();
    $fl_menu.hover(
        function(){ //mouse over
            $fl_menu_label.fadeTo($menu_fade_speed, 1);
            $fl_menu_menu.fadeIn($menu_fade_speed);
        },
        function(){ //mouse out
            $fl_menu_label.fadeTo($menu_fade_speed, $closed_menu_opacity);
            $fl_menu_menu.fadeOut($menu_fade_speed);
        }
    );
});
 
$(window).scroll(function () {
    FloatMenu();
});
 
function FloatMenu(){
    var scrollAmount=$(document).scrollTop();
    var newPosition=menuPosition+scrollAmount;
    if($(window).height()<$fl_menu.height()+$fl_menu_menu.height()){
        $fl_menu.css("top",menuPosition);
    } else {
        $fl_menu.stop().animate({top: newPosition}, $float_speed, $float_easing);
    }
}
</script>

Under //config comment you can set some configuration options for the menu.

Enjoy

License

You are free to use, study, improve and modify this script wherever and however you like.
All works are licensed under GNU General Public License, GNU Lesser General Public License or Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

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