Moleskine Notebook with jQuery Booklet

Today we will show you how to use and customize the brilliant jQuery Booklet Plugin by talented Will Grauvogel. We will create a virtual Moleskine notebook with latest posts from the blog.

You can find the beautiful Moleskine Photoshop file by Dennern at deviantart here:
My Moleskine (PSD)

For the navigation arrows we used the pixel perfect PSD provided by premiumpixels.com under
Simple Little Arrows (PSD)

Ok, so let’s get started!

The Markup

The HTML structure will be made up of the booklet plugin markup which includes the div with the id “mybook”. We will also add some navigation items and a loading element which we want to show while the content of the book is loading:

<div class="book_wrapper">

	<a id="next_page_button"></a>
	<a id="prev_page_button"></a>
	
	<div id="loading" class="loading">Loading pages...</div>
	
	<div id="mybook" style="display:none;">
		<div class="b-load">
		
			<div>
				<img src="images/1.jpg" alt=""/>
				<h1>Slider Gallery</h1>
				<p>This tutorial is about creating a creative gallery...</p>
				<a href="#" class="article">Article</a>
				<a href="#" class="demo">Demo</a>
			</div>
			
			<div>
				...
			</div>
			
		</div>
	</div>
</div>

Each page of the booklet will be placed in a div element inside of the element with the class “b-load”.
Since the plugin allows us to use custom buttons for flipping the pages, we will configure the plugin to use our arrow anchors.

Let’s take a look at the style.

The CSS

For the styling we will simply create a “skin” for the plugin, i.e. a stylesheet that will overwrite some style properties that come with the plugin stylesheet (so be sure to place it after the inclusion of our customization).

We will start by adapting the “booklet” class and giving it some shadow and rounded borders:

.booklet{
	-moz-box-shadow:0px 0px 1px #fff;
	-webkit-box-shadow:0px 0px 1px #fff;
	box-shadow:0px 0px 1px #fff;
	-moz-border-radius:10px;
	-webkit-border-radius:10px;
	border-radius:10px;
}

We want to add a background image to the left and the right page, so that it looks more like a real book:

.booklet .b-wrap-left{
	background:#fff url(../images/left_bg.jpg) no-repeat top left;
	-webkit-border-top-left-radius: 10px;
	-webkit-border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
	-moz-border-radius-topleft:10px;
	-moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 10px;
	border-top-left-radius: 10px;
	border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
}
.booklet .b-wrap-right{
	background:#efefef url(../images/right_bg.jpg) no-repeat top left;
	-webkit-border-top-right-radius: 10px;
	-webkit-border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
	-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;
	-moz-border-radius-bottomright: 10px;
	border-top-right-radius: 10px;
	border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
}

We will also style the page numbers and adding some decent top border:

.booklet .b-counter{
	bottom:10px;
	position:absolute;
	display:block;
	width:90%;
	height:20px;
	border-top:1px solid #ddd;
	color:#222;
	text-align:center;
	font-size:12px;
	padding:5px 0 0;
	background:transparent;
	-moz-box-shadow:0px -1px 1px #fff;
	-webkit-box-shadow:0px -1px 1px #fff;
	box-shadow:0px -1px 1px #fff;
	opacity:0.8;
}

In the HTML stucture, we added a wrapper around the booklet, so that we can use a moleskine background image:

.book_wrapper{
	margin:0 auto;
	padding-top:50px;
	width:905px;
	height:540px;
	position:relative;
	background:transparent url(../images/bg.png) no-repeat 9px 27px;
}

We want to add a hand-drawn line beneath the heading on each page:

.book_wrapper h1{
	color:#13386a;
	margin:5px 5px 5px 15px;
	font-size:26px;
	background:transparent url(../images/h1.png) no-repeat bottom left;
	padding-bottom:7px;
}

The paragraphs and the links will have the following style:

.book_wrapper p{
	font-size:16px;
	margin:5px 5px 5px 15px;
}
.book_wrapper a.article,
.book_wrapper a.demo{
	background:transparent url(../images/circle.png) no-repeat 50% 0px;
	display:block;
	width:95px;
	height:41px;
	text-decoration:none;
	outline:none;
	font-size:16px;
	color:#555;
	float:left;
	line-height:41px;
	padding-left:47px;
}
.book_wrapper a.demo{
	margin-left:50px;
}
.book_wrapper a.article:hover,
.book_wrapper a.demo:hover{
	background-position:50% -41px;
	color:#13386a;
}

We will give the images a slight touch by adding a light border with a white box shadow, creating a slightly engraved look:

.book_wrapper img{
	margin:10px 0px 5px 35px;
	width:300px;
	padding:4px;
	border:1px solid #ddd;
	-moz-box-shadow:1px 1px 1px #fff;
	-webkit-box-shadow:1px 1px 1px #fff;
	box-shadow:1px 1px 1px #fff;
}

The border color on the right page needs to be a little bit darker:

.booklet .b-wrap-right img{
	border:1px solid #E6E3C2;
}

For the navigation arrows we will use a sprites image that contains all four arrow types:

a#next_page_button,
a#prev_page_button{
	display:none;
	position:absolute;
	width:41px;
	height:40px;
	cursor:pointer;
	margin-top:-20px;
	top:50%;
	background:transparent url(../images/buttons.png) no-repeat 0px -40px;
}
a#prev_page_button{
	left:-30px;
}
a#next_page_button{
	right:-30px;
	background-position:-41px -40px;
}
a#next_page_button:hover{
	background-position:-41px 0px;
}
a#prev_page_button:hover{
	background-position:0px 0px;
}

The loading element will have rounded borders and be semi-transparent. We will position it absolutely on the right side of the book:

.loading{
	width:160px;
	height:56px;
	position: absolute;
	top:50%;
	margin-top:-28px;
	right:135px;
	line-height:56px;
	color:#fff;
	padding-left:60px;
	font-size:15px;
	background: #000 url(../images/ajax-loader.gif) no-repeat 10px 50%;
	opacity: 0.7;
	z-index:9999;
	-moz-border-radius:20px;
	-webkit-border-radius:20px;
	border-radius:20px;
}

And that was all the style! Let’s add some magic!

The JavaScript

In the jQuery we will simply call the plugin after all the images in the book are loaded. Check out all the options here:
Booklet jQuery Plugin Options

var $mybook 		= $('#mybook');
var $bttn_next		= $('#next_page_button');
var $bttn_prev		= $('#prev_page_button');
var $loading		= $('#loading');
var $mybook_images	= $mybook.find('img');
var cnt_images		= $mybook_images.length;
var loaded			= 0;
//preload all the images in the book,
//and then call the booklet plugin

$mybook_images.each(function(){
	var $img 	= $(this);
	var source	= $img.attr('src');
	$('<img/>').load(function(){
		++loaded;
		if(loaded == cnt_images){
			$loading.hide();
			$bttn_next.show();
			$bttn_prev.show();
			$mybook.show().booklet({
				name:               null,                            
				// name of the booklet to display in the document title bar
				width:              800,                             
				// container width
				height:             500,                             
				// container height
				speed:              600,                             
				// speed of the transition between pages
				direction:          'LTR',                           
				// direction of the overall content 
				// organization, default LTR, left to right, can be 
				// RTL for languages which read right to left
				startingPage:       0,                               
				// index of the first page to be displayed
				easing:             'easeInOutQuad',                 
				// easing method for complete transition
				easeIn:             'easeInQuad',                    
				// easing method for first half of transition
				easeOut:            'easeOutQuad',                   
				// easing method for second half of transition

				closed:             true,                           
				// start with the book "closed", will add empty 
				// pages to beginning and end of book
				closedFrontTitle:   null,                            
				// used with "closed", "menu" and "pageSelector", 
				// determines title of blank starting page
				closedFrontChapter: null,                            
				// used with "closed", "menu" and "chapterSelector", 
				// determines chapter name of blank starting page
				closedBackTitle:    null,                            
				// used with "closed", "menu" and "pageSelector", 
				// determines chapter name of blank ending page
				closedBackChapter:  null,                            
				// used with "closed", "menu" and "chapterSelector", 
				// determines chapter name of blank ending page
				covers:             false,                           
				// used with  "closed", makes first and last pages 
				//into covers, without page numbers (if enabled)

				pagePadding:        10,                              
				// padding for each page wrapper
				pageNumbers:        true,                            
				// display page numbers on each page

				hovers:             false,                            
				// enables preview pageturn hover animation, 
				// shows a small preview of previous or next page on hover
				overlays:           false,                            
				// enables navigation using a page sized overlay, 
				// when enabled links inside the content will 
				// not be clickable
				tabs:               false,                           
				// adds tabs along the top of the pages
				tabWidth:           60,                              
				// set the width of the tabs
				tabHeight:          20,                              
				// set the height of the tabs
				arrows:             false,                           
				// adds arrows overlayed over the book edges
				cursor:             'pointer',                       
				// cursor css setting for side bar areas

				hash:               false,                           
				// enables navigation using a hash string, 
				// ex: #/page/1 for page 1, will affect 
				// all booklets with 'hash' enabled
				keyboard:           true,                            
				// enables navigation with arrow keys 
				// (left: previous, right: next)
				next:               $bttn_next,          			
				// selector for element to use as click 
				// trigger for next page
				prev:               $bttn_prev,          			
				// selector for element to use as click 
				// trigger for previous page

				menu:               null,                            
				// selector for element to use as the menu area, 
				// required for 'pageSelector'
				pageSelector:       false,                           
				// enables navigation with a dropdown menu of pages, 
				// requires 'menu'
				chapterSelector:    false,                           
				// enables navigation with a dropdown menu of chapters, 
				// determined by the "rel" attribute, requires 'menu'

				shadows:            true,                            
				// display shadows on page animations
				shadowTopFwdWidth:  166,                             
				// shadow width for top forward anim
				shadowTopBackWidth: 166,                             
				// shadow width for top back anim
				shadowBtmWidth:     50,                              
				// shadow width for bottom shadow

				before:             function(){},                    
				// callback invoked before each page turn animation
				after:              function(){}                     
				// callback invoked after each page turn animation
			});
			Cufon.refresh(); // if you want to use cufon
		}
	}).attr('src',source);
});

For cufonizing the content in the book, we will add the following lines to the head of our HTML:

<script src="cufon/cufon-yui.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="cufon/ChunkFive_400.font.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="cufon/Note_this_400.font.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
	Cufon.replace('h1,p,.b-counter');
	Cufon.replace('.book_wrapper a', {hover:true});
	Cufon.replace('.title', {textShadow: '1px 1px #C59471', fontFamily:'ChunkFive'});
	Cufon.replace('.reference a', {textShadow: '1px 1px #C59471', fontFamily:'ChunkFive'});
	Cufon.replace('.loading', {textShadow: '1px 1px #000', fontFamily:'ChunkFive'});
</script>

And that’s all! We hope you liked this tutorial, enjoyed it and find it useful 🙂