20 Cool jQuery Text Effects

20 Cool jQuery Text Effects:

With jQuery text effects you can do really cool and dynamic stuff on your web pages. However keep in mind that text effects in web design is far away from the popularity we saw in the early days of the Internet and in some cases can be best used as funny JavaScript effects. Back then text usually was flying around (just because it could), it was changing colors in rainbow style etc. And then of course placed next to a few ugly, intense colored animated icons and other examples of pixel art.
Today some cool jQuery text effects can still be useful when used right and often they are also simple to install and use. This article is a roundup of the jQuery text effects you can use in your web development or just check out to be inspired. Keep in mind though that the trend goes towards creating HTML5 canvas animations and text is not the only element to play around with. Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links (at no extra cost to you). I recommend that you do your own independent research before purchasing any product or service. This article is not a guideline, a recommendation or endorsement of specific products.

1. jQuery Flying Text With Fade Effect

With this great javascript framework, you can create some flash-like, very simple flying and fading text effect using jQuery.

2. jQuery Word Counter

This plugin allows you to set and limit user input by max characters within html textarea (it is only limited by characters other than words). It binds keyup, paste and drag events.

3. jQuery Text Animation

Text Animation plugin lets you to add to any text specified text animations e.g random_explosion, random_implosion, sinusoid.
MORE INFO / DEMO by Codecanyon (premium plugin)

4. jTicker Typing Text Effect using jQuery

jTicker is a jQuery plugin that can be used for creating text effect without the use of flash. This effect comes in handy when you want to force the visitor to read the text. But should be used wherever necessary, as the usability suffers. jTicker can be declared on any element and can be stylized using CSS. You can also use event buttons to play, stop and control the speed of the effect.

5. Codename Rainbows

Even without Photoshop, you can make text effects with this by just typing a little code.

6. Grab bag, jQuery text effects

With grab bag jQuery plug-ins, you can have different effects to the text.

7. Textgrad : a jQuery text gradient plugin

This simple, yet effective adds a basic gradient effect to text. It contains four functions appliable to a selection, they are: spanize, unspanize, textgrad and textscan.

8. TextFX – A jQuery Text Animation Tool

TextFX is a jQuery text animation tool for animating a single line of text
MORE INFO / DEMO

9. Fade Colors Using jQuery

This tutorial will explain how to fade a color in array of elements using jQuery

10. Playing with jQuery Color Plugin and Color Animation

This is the tool if you want to change the color of the text and icons once your mouse is pointed to it.

11. jQuery Approach

Approach is a jQuery plugin that allows you to animate style properties based on the cursor’s proximity to an object. It works in a very similar manner to jQuery animate. However it animates over distance instead of time.

12. AutoCompleter

With autocompleter, your site becomes more user friendly by providing suggestions when a text is entered.

13. 3d Tag Sphere

A rotating 3d tag cloud controlled with the mouse. Tags are scaled according to the weight assigned to them and fade into the background as they rotate.

14. Simple jQuery Text Resizer

Simple jQuery Text resizer adjusts the size of your text for easier readability by clicking the icon.
MORE INFO / DEMO

15. Airport

Airport is a rather simple text effect plugin for Jquery. It emulates the style of those flickering information boards you sometimes find on airports and train stations.

16. Zooming with jQuery

This effect allows the reader to zoom the text for better reading.

17. Text-shadow in IE with jQuery

Most of major browsers support text-shadow, yes, you guessed it, IE doesn’t. This handy jQuery plugin helps you get around that.

A handy little thing of Internet Explorer is that it gives you access to CSS declarations it does not understand, so this plugin simply requests the text-shadow value of a given element and processes that.

18. jQuery Label Effects

The Label Effects is a plugin that can apply highlight and shadow effects to anything that contains text. Several preset effects can be invoked via a single option that provides values for most of the other settings, they are: Raised, Sunken, Echoed, Floating and Shadow.

19. 3D Flying Text in jQuery

In this tutorial you will learn how to animate text with jQuery. You will build a jQuery component that takes the text from a <ul> and make it fly towards the screen at random intervals. The affect will look something like traveling through space, or a title sequence for some cheesy space flick.

20. jQuote Plugin

jQuote is a plugin which allows for semantic blockquotes created on the fly with just one line of jQuery code.

6 Tips to Stay Focused on Project Deadlines

6 Tips to Stay Focused on Project Deadlines:

Staying focused on your goals may be difficult at times as a freelancer. Not having a nine-to-five job, selecting your own clients, setting your own rates and deadlines and also doing PR work for yourself is quite different than being a full-time employee in a web design agency, where many of the things above are done by different individuals or departments. One of the most difficult things I encountered when I started as a freelancer was staying focused on the deadlines. And not only keeping my focus, but also meeting the deadline and delivering the project on time – at the end of the day, this is one of the most important things alongside the quality of your work.

You can do this by following some of these techniques. It is not physics, chemistry or math. They’re all easy to follow, therefore I think you should give them a try if you struggle with keeping yourself on schedule. As this has something to do with personal and time management, and not with the field we work in, it suits both designers and developers.

1. Be a perfectionist

Designers and developers usually need to hold perfectionism at bay, as we are creative individuals. All artists in the world have a tendency to try reaching for perfectionism. You need to know when your piece of work still needs more polishing, or when it is done. Wasting time with improving something that can’t be improved will not make help you manage your time.

Looking objectively at your projects is the solution to this. Also, it has something to do with the initial planning process. If you’ve done it right, there is no reason to go back and add something. Just because you found a cool new feature on the internet halfway through the development process doesn’t mean you have to integrate it. There is always the next project and it is probably too late to integrate something new in a current project.
If you always look for that perfect design (nothing wrong with this, by the way) you will find yourself spending more time analyzing then actually finishing the project. This needs to be worked out, as the client expects you to finish your work on time. Getting your personal feelings in the way of your work is also something you should avoid doing, as feelings have nothing to do with the business.

2. Pre-defined time for each task

This is what project managers are good at: Planning and defining time spans for each phase of a project, you need to have a solid plan in place in order to be successful.
A solid plan means working on a specific task one at a time. This will ensure you stay fully focused on the one task you have to do and therefore finish earlier or at least in time. Beginning with a typical routine is likely to wake you up in the morning or help you relax in the afternoon, therefore place them in the beginning or in the end of your work plan. Checking e-mails, Facebook, Twitter or your RSS feed are potential good routines for such times.


I am sure most of us work best when we can focus 100% on the specific task in front of us. I am also sure about the fact that the ones who can’t always reach deadlines are good at undergoing the routines mentioned above all the time. This is not good because it interrupts your workflow and concentration and slows you down. Not letting yourself get distracted is where you should begin. If you feel staying focused is one of your issues, then concentrate on working only!
Taking breaks is something recommended because none of us can work for eight hours straight. Take a 15 minutes break every two hours or a five minute break every hour and this will likely keep you fresh. Don’t forget about eating and drinking during these breaks, as a hungry person will never have enough energy to work.

3. Have a daily plan

If you work on a freelance project, you are likely to be working on your own, so you don’t depend on anybody else. This means you can have your own schedule, as nobody will influence it. Have a daily plan all the time. Break it into small tasks and, at the end of the day, see what was good and what was not. It isn’t always easy to plan ahead, but you can use this to see where it goes wrong for you. You may even notice after keeping track of your program that you are very unproductive during a certain time span.
Having a daily plan is also good for your confidence. Keeping a close eye on every phase of a project will likely make you feel better at the end of each day. Most of us break projects into larger tasks and only feel accomplished once per week, or who knows how seldom. If you manage to do something every day (and keep track of it) you will feel accomplished more often.
While planning, you can also think of keeping something out on purpose. It is always better to finish more than planned at the end of the day, then to finish less. Therefore many freelancers are in a bad mood at the end of the day. When planning to finish a lot of work and not everything is done by the end of the day, there is a feeling of disappointment. This can’t happen if, before going to sleep, you notice you are a step further down the road than expected few hours before. This will also make you feel better the second day and will probably make you look forward to further developments.

4. Work breakdown structure

Having a to-do list might work well for small projects, but once you start working on a larger scale, small lists might not be so effective.


The work breakdown structure (WBS) is something I learned about during my first year as a student. Breaking down more complex projects into smaller phases is a popular project management concept. If you have lists with large, complicated activities, checking them off at the end of the day is not likely to happen, therefore you need to break the work down into smaller bits. Having sub-lists with smaller tasks will be more rewarding for you at the end of the day.
Breaking work into smaller phases might feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but it is very rewarding in the end. The main reason behind this is to make you feel better about the project and the work you’ve completed and to make you look forward to finish it and check it off the list.

5. Larger scale management

Besides the small to-do lists and the WBS you do quite often, having a detailed monthly schedule is also recommended. Planning in advance can’t go wrong when you think of it very well. Scheduling routines is very easy with online tools such as Google Calendar, therefore trying this out for a project is something you should consider. Now I am not saying this will work for everybody, but being organized is the first step into learning how to better manage your time.

6. Reward yourself

This is something I didn’t try myself, but one of my co-workers recommended it to me. He has a reward for himself at the end of each week. It makes him look forward to reaching his goals and to the next week. Now don’t think he goes to Hawaii every weekend. His rewards are different, from small things like watching an extra hour of TV to playing video games, going out or surfing the web without having to work at the same time, to bigger things like taking a weekend off once in a while. He finds a different reward every time and keeps his work life challenging.
My friend also told me that if he finishes a task earlier than planned, he rewards himself again. Many of us try to complete the project faster, but he doesn’t. When I asked him what he does then, he answered:

“I have a strong schedule, I think about it a lot before submitting it to the client. If I finish a smaller task earlier, I take the rest of the day off. I deserve it! I never work more than planned, however I am also always on time with my work, so I never have to work more than planned either. The secret behind this is the amount of hours I put into planning and creating schedules.”

Bottom line

Being able to focus better on deadlines is something all of us are capable of; we just need to make the effort. Whenever I write an article on this topic or give someone some advice, I end up with the same conclusion: it is impossible to be good at maintaining your schedule if you are not organized.
Being organized is where everything starts. It is helpful for all of us because otherwise it is a tough job to keep track of all the things we are in charge of. For individuals that do not have a fixed schedule from nine to five, self-discipline is the only way to success.
Until next time, how easy is it for you to focus on deadlines? Have you ever had problems with delivering on time, or is this something you need to improve?

Puntos claves para tener un ambiente laboral positivo

  Puntos claves para tener un ambiente laboral positivo:  Hoy en día, sentirse escuchados y atendidos no es un requerimiento sólo de los clientes de tu negocio, también es una necesidad de los empleados. Por eso, 5 de cada 10 trabajadores están insatisfechos en sus empleos, lo que afecta su desempeño.

jQuery File Upload with Progress Bars and Previews

jQuery File Upload with Progress Bars and Previews:

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jQuery File Upload is a File Upload widget with multiple file selection, drag&drop support, progress bars and preview images for jQuery. It supports cross-domain, chunked and resumable file uploads and client-side image resizing. It also works with any server-side platform (PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, Java, Node.js, Go etc.) that supports standard HTML form file uploads.
The jQuery UI widget factory is a requirement for the basic File Upload plugin, but very lightweight without any other dependencies. The User Interface is built with Twitter’s Bootstrap Toolkit. This enables a CSS based, responsive layout and fancy transition effects on modern browsers. The demo also includes the Bootstrap Image Gallery Plugin. Both of these components are optional and not required.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://blueimp.github.com/jQuery-File-Upload/
License: MIT License

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Stylish Image Hover Effects with Adipoli jQuery Plugin

Stylish Image Hover Effects with Adipoli jQuery Plugin:


Adipoli is a simple jQuery plugin used to bring stylish image hover effects. There are over 20 transition effects (popout, sliceDown, sliceUp, fold, boxRain, boxRainGrow and etc…) you can choose from. You can also select the start effects, like transparent, normal, overlay and grayscale. It is released under MIT License.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://jobyj.in/adipoli/
License: MIT License

The jQuery HTML5 Audio / Video Library

The jQuery HTML5 Audio / Video Library:


jPlayer is the completely free and open source (GPL/MIT) media library written in JavaScript. A jQuery plugin, jPlayer allows you to rapidly weave cross platform audio and video into your web pages. jPlayer’s comprehensive API allows you to create innovative media solutions while support and encouragement is provided by jPlayer’s active and growing community.
It is easy to get started and deploy in minutes. It’s totally customizable and skinnable using HTML and CSS. It has been tested on Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://www.jplayer.org/
License: MIT License

CSS3 Shadows

CSS3 Shadows:
Les ombres portées prennent aujourd’hui une place importante dans le web design et permettent la mise en exergue d’éléments importants, ou l’ajout d’une touche de profondeur dans vos graphismes. Il est possible de dire adieu aux images superflues uniquement destinées à la réalisation d’ombres portées ; adieu à la soupe de <div>, <span>, et autres structures en tableau pour réaliser des effets graphiques riches.

Deux types d’ombres existent en CSS :

• les box-shadow, les ombres ajoutées aux éléments de type bloc,
• les text-shadow, les ombres ajoutées au contenu textuel.

Il est évident, comme tout effet graphique, que l’utilisation des ombres doit être faite avec parcimonie et ne pas gêner l'utilisateur.

La propriété box-shadow permet l’ajout d’ombres à un élément de type bloc ou en-ligne. C’est pourquoi dans nos exemples de code, sauf cas exceptionnel, nous utiliserons de manière totalement arbitraire la balise bloc : <div>.
Si vous bloquez sur la différenciation entre élément de type bloc et en-ligne, rendez-vous ici : Initiation au positionnement CSS

Syntaxe de box-shadow

Cette propriété d’ombrage est disponible nativement (sans préfixe) dans la plupart des navigateurs modernes, à savoir Internet Explorer 9+, Firefox 4.0+, Chrome 10+, Safari 5.1+ et Opera 10.5+, et nécessite des préfixes vendeurs pour  les anciennes version de Safari, Chrome et Firefox qui l'implémentaient à titre expérimental.

box-shadow: h-pos v-pos (blur) (spread) (color) (inset);

Voici le détail des valeurs attendues :

Valeur	Description	Unité
h-pos	Position horizontale de l’ombre. Il s’agit de son décalage par rapport à la position de l’élément à ombrer sur l’axe des X. (requise)	em, ex, ch, rem, in, pt, pc, cm, mm, px (peut être négative)
v-pos	Position verticale de l’ombre. Il s’agit de son décalage par rapport à la position de l’élément à ombrer sur l’axe des Y. (requise)	em, ex, ch, rem, in, pt, pc, cm, mm, px (peut être négative)
blur	Distance du flou, correspond à l’étendu du dégradé de la couleur opaque vers le transparent. (optionnelle - défaut : 0)	em, ex, ch, rem, in, pt, pc, cm, mm, px
spread	Taille de l’ombre. Permet de redimensionner l’ombre. (optionnelle - défaut : 0)	em, ex, ch, rem, in, pt, pc, cm, mm, px (peut être négative)
color	Couleur de l’ombre. Définit la couleur de votre ombre, voire son opacité grâce à la gestion de la couche Alpha. (optionnelle - défaut : #000 ou valeur de la propriété color)	Valeur de couleur
inset	Position interne de l’ombre. Permet de définir l’ombre comme étant une ombre interne et non une ombre portée. (optionnelle - défaut : vide)	Valeur : “inset” ou vide.

D'après la spécification du W3C, la couleur est optionnelle et peut être déterminée grâce à la propriété color de l'élément (cette propriété qui offre une couleur à votre texte). Cependant, Webkit n'affiche aucune ombre en l'absence de valeur de couleur dans la déclaration d'une ombre portée.

Il est possible de placer la valeur de la couleur avant ou après les valeurs de mesures (h-pos, v-pos, blur et spread), mais surtout pas au milieu de ces valeurs.

Compatibilité avec les navigateurs

Navigateurs	Versions
	Internet Explorer 9.0+
	Firefox 4.0+ Firefox 3.5 et 3.6 avec préfixe -moz-
	Chrome 10.0+ Chrome 4+ avec préfixe -webkit-
	Safari 5.1+ Safari 3.1+ avec préfixe -webkit-
	Opera 10.5+ Opera Mobile 11+
	Android 2.1+ avec préfixe -webkit-

Démonstrations

Les images étant plus parlantes que les mots, voici quelques exemples de codes et rendus graphiques. Le bloc choisi sera ce petit cadre gris auquel seront ajoutées différentes sortes d'ombrages. Voici la base du code pour créer cet élément :
En HTML

<div>Contenu</div>

En CSS

div {
   width: 200px;
   padding: 35px 20px;
   line-height: 1.5em;
   color: #444444;
   background-color: #ddd;
   background-image: linear-gradient(#E5E5E5, #CFCFCF);
}

Ombre portée

Ajouter une ombre portée à ce bloc est aisé : il suffit de compléter la feuille de style par cette ligne directement dans la déclaration de l'élément <div>.

box-shadow: -1px 2px 5px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); 

L’utilisation de RGBA permet de s'assurer une bonne cohérence entre la couleur de l’ombre et celle du fond, notamment si ce dernier n’est pas de couleur unie.
Démonstration

Ombre interne

Cette ombre va permettre de voir une utilisation de la valeur inset. Voici la ligne de code nécessaire à sa réalisation.

box-shadow: -1px 2px 10px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3) inset;

Les informations nécessaires sont donc identiques à une ombre portée externe, il suffit de rajouter la valeur inset pour passer à une ombre interne.
Démonstration

Ombre portée et interne

Il est possible, comme beaucoup de propriétés en CSS3, de déclarer plusieurs ombres en une seule fois :

box-shadow: -1px 2px 5px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7),
            -1px 2px 20px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.6) inset; 

Celles-ci sont simplement déclarées les unes à la suite des autres, séparées par une virgule.

Il est ainsi possible de créer des effets d’ombres extrêmement riches et fins en superposant et cumulant plusieurs ombres portées et internes.

Comme vous le montre cette exemple, l’ombre peut pendre la couleur que vous souhaitez, elle peut donc parfaitement servir à la création d’une zone lumineuse, un reflet, ou un halo.
Démonstration

Utilisation avancée

Détournement

Il est possible de pousser l'utilisation des ombres bien plus loin et de créer des effets de bordures spécifiques. En n'ayant pas la main sur le code HTML, ou bien en se contentant d'un simple conteneur, CSS prend le relais efficacement.

Voici le code utilisé pour cet effet de triple bordure :

div {
    padding: 26px;
    border: 1px solid #bbb;
    background: #F4F4F4;
    color: #777;
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 16px #fff inset,
                0 0 0 17px #DAD4D4 inset;
}

Démonstration
Cette méthode offre un simple ajout d'ombres internes très nettes, d'abord blanches sur 16px, puis gris clair sur 17px. L'ombre blanche étant au dessus de l'ombre grise, cet effet de bordure est obtenu.
Note : La première ombre déclarée se trouve au-dessus des autres ombres. Chaque ombre déclarée se place donc en dessous de la précédente.

Ombres et effets avancés

Voici quelques ressources de démonstrations destinées à présenter les possibilités offertes par box-shadow dans des utilisations avancées, notamment avec sa combinaison à d’autres propriétés.

• 
  Drop Shadows with CSS3 - par Divya Manian
• 
  CSS Drop shadows without images - par Nicolas Gallagher
• 
  Découvrez les mystères d'effets d'ombres avancés avec box-shadow - par Geoffrey Crofte
• 
  Démonstration d'une technique alternative d'ombres incurvées - par Geoffrey Crofte

Alternatives

La meilleure des alternatives pour les navigateurs ne comprenant pas box-shadow est encore d'accepter la dégradation gracieuse. Cependant, il est parfois nécessaire de trouver un paliatif. Voici deux scripts qui pourront vous aider :

• 
  CSS3Pie : permet de jouer avec CSS3 sur IE version inférieure à 9.
• 
  IE CSS3 : permet de rendre compatible les ombres portées avec IE version inférieure à 9.