jQuery Plugin: A 1kb Simple Slider for Images + Description

I recently set out to find a good slideshow for our homepage, but most of them are monsters, with 20kb code, no thanks…
The simples/best solution i found was the s3Slider somewhat simple and looks good.

But after it started behaving silly (sliding to fast/slow, hanging on mouseover) I decided to fix it and discovered a pile of spaghetti. So here is my s3_slider rewrite download that is smaller(now ~1kb) / simpler / maintainable and more easy to setup! Demo of the new version

How to Load Javascript Last with Inline JS

Load JS last, or it will halt the browser while loading… AMEN!

You may protest:
But i use some inline javascript and nothing will work, when jQuery / Prototype / Mootolls / … is not loaded already!!

content_for :js

#in your body: (I am using edge HAML, but works for ERB too...)
%h1 My great title
- content_for :js do
  :javascript
    $(function(){
      $('h1').html('inline js rocks!')
    });

#in you footer
  =js_tag 'jquery', 'application', 'whatever'
  yield :js #this will output all content_for blocks...

Instantly better load times, and no need to abandon inline js!!

Caching !?
When action/fragment-caching, this can get problematic, since the content_for will not be call, and hence the js will be missing.
This can be fixed by introducing a ‘later’ method, which gets filled with everything that should be done once your js framework is loaded.

#in your views
later(function(){
  $('#xxx').do_something();
})

#in you footer
later(); //call all those methods that have been stacked...

#in your head
later = function(){
  var stack = [], i_ran=0;
  return function(execute_later){
   if(typeof(execute_later)=='undefined'){
     i_ran=1;
     for(var i=0;i<stack.length;i++)stack[i].call();//execute them all
   } else {
     if(i_ran)execute_later.call()//page is loaded already, just execute
     else stack.push(execute_later)//page not finished, store
   }
 };
}()

Parsing RSS Feeds via Googles JS Feed API

So far we parsed our feeds with the acts_as_feed Rails plugin but as long as you only want to show them to users, there is an easier alternative: Googles JS Feed API!

Result

rss feed through google rss api

(The Example uses jQuery)
Example

<script type="text/javascript" src='http://jqueryjs.googlecode.com/files/jquery-1.3.1.js'></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src='http://www.google.com/jsapi?key=YOUR_API_KEY'></script><script>
google.load("feeds", "1");
$(function(){
  var feed = new google.feeds.Feed("http://rathershort.weblo.gg/rss.xml");
  feed.load(function(result) {
    if (result.error)return;
    $feed = $('#feed_entries');
    for (var i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
      var entry = result.feed.entries[i];
      $feed.append(
        '<div class="home_container_item">'+
          '<h3><a href="'+entry.link+'">'+entry.title.truncate(25)+'</a></h3>'+
          '<div class="small_gray">'+entry.publishedDate.toDate().formatted()+'</div>'+
          '<div>'+entry.contentSnippet.truncate(60)+'</div>'+
          '<br>'+
        '</div>'
        );
      }
    });
  });

//DATE
Date.shortMonths = ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'];
Date.prototype.formatted = function(){
  return this.getDate()+' '+Date.shortMonths[this.getMonth()]+' '+this.getFullYear();
};

//STRING
String.prototype.toDate = function(){
  var d = new Date();
  d.setTime(Date.parse(this));
  return d;
};

String.prototype.truncate = function(to_length){
  if(to_length >= this.length)return this;
  return this.substring(0, to_length-3)+'...';
};
</script>