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Clingify

A flexible, mobile-friendly jQuery plugin for sticky page elements

Purpose

Clingify is a jQuery plugin that allows you to easily create “sticky” or “fixed” headers, navs, and other page elements. Once you scroll past the targeted element, the plugin will toggle a CSS class that gives the element a fixed position, pinning it in place on the page.

Features

There are many other sticky plugins out there, but here are a few reasons to consider Clingify:

No inline CSS, which means no overwriting styles with !important.
Everything is controlled via CSS classes. I have included some sensible default CSS, but you are free to customize the classes to work with your preferred object-oriented CSS framework.
Support for multiple sticky elements on the same page.
The plugin wraps the target element with a placeholder div set to the same height as the target. This keeps your content from shifting when the element becomes fixed and is removed from the page flow.
Built with responsive design in mind. The breakpoint option makes it easy to disable Clingify behavior for smart phones and tablets.
Callback functions for when the element is attached or detached, and when the page is resized.
The scroll and resize event listeners are throttled to improve performance. The amount of throttle is a configurable option.

Installation

Just initialize the script somewhere after you’ve included jQuery (1.7+) and the plugin. Don't forget the CSS file!


<html>
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/clingfy.css" />
</head>
<body>
...
page content
...
<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/jquery.clingify.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function() {
    $('.some-selector').clingify();
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Here’s the code for the Clingify effects being used for this demo.


$(function() {
    var $navBar = $('nav'),
        $navParent = $('.primary-content'),
        $sidebar = $('.some-sidebar'),
        $sidebarParent = $('.secondary-content'),   
        matchWidths = function($elem, $elemParent) {
            $elem.width($elemParent.width());
        },
        matchOffset = function($elem, $elemParent) {
            $elem.css({'padding-left' : $elemParent.offset().left});
        },
        resetOffset = function($elem) {
            $elem.css({'padding-left' : 0});
        };

    $navBar.clingify({
        extraClass : 'navClingy',
        locked : function() {
            matchOffset($navBar, $navParent);
        },
        detached : function() {
            resetOffset($navBar);
        },
        resized : function() {
            matchOffset($navBar, $navParent);
        }
    });
    $sidebar.clingify({
        breakpoint : 768,
        extraClass : 'sidebarClingy',
        locked : function() {
            matchWidths($sidebar, $sidebarParent);
        },
        resized : function() {
            matchWidths($sidebar, $sidebarParent);
        }
    });
});

A version of the above example is being used on this page to keep the width of the clingy nav aligned with the main content. (Try resizing the browser window.)

Options

Property	Value Types	Default	Notes
			Breakpoints
breakpointHeight	integer	0	At screen sizes shorter than this number (of pixels), disable Clingify.
breakpointWidth	integer	0	At screen sizes narrower than this number (of pixels), disable Clingify.
			Performance
throttle	integer	50	How often, in milliseconds, to fire scroll and resize dependent functions.
			CSS Selectors
extraClass	string	null	Adds an additional class to both the wrapper and placeholder divs.
lockedClass	string	js-clingify-locked	The class added to the wrapper when Clingify locks an element.
placeholderClass	string	js-clingify-placeholder	The class of the div that prevents page reflow. (Its height is set to match the height of the target element.)
overrideClass	string	js-clingify-permalock	If this class is present on the wrapper div, the element cannot be detached.
wrapperClass	string	js-clingify-wrapper	The div that wraps the target element.
			Callbacks
detached	function	null	Callback that fires just before an element is detached.
locked	function	null	Callback that fires just before an element is locked.
resized	function	null	Callback that fires just after window is resized. (This runs whether or not the element is locked.)
			Advanced modes (new!)
scrollingElem	string	window	Where to attach the event listener for the scroll event (Useful for scrolling offcanvas page elements.)
fixed	boolean	true	Switches between "fixed positioning" (classic) mode and transform mode. Fixed positioning mode relies on `position: fixed` in the CSS. Transform mode repositions the target element using TranslateY. (For advanced use cases. Experimental.)

Some filler text to force a long, scrolling page

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