Digg-Style Dynamic Share Widget Using MooTools

Written by David Walsh on Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I’ve always seen Digg as a very progressive website. Digg uses experimental, ajaxified methods for comments and mission-critical functions. One nice touch Digg has added to their website is their hover share widget. Here’s how to implement that functionality on your site using MooTools.

View Demo

The XHTML

<!-- My Custom Story Formatting -->
<h2>My Story 1</h2>
<p>
Mauris amet eu Vestibulum feugiat eget, est. senectus semper. tempor Pellentesque Aenean ante. quam egestas. ultricies fames sit ultricies sit placerat et ac Donec leo. morbi habitant mi eleifend tortor netus turpis libero et amet, tristique malesuada egestas quam, vitae, vitae. Mauris amet eu Vestibulum feugiat eget, est. senectus semper. tempor Pellentesque Aenean ante. quam egestas. ultricies fames sit ultricies sit placerat et ac Donec leo. morbi habitant mi eleifend tortor netus turpis libero et amet, tristique malesuada egestas quam, vitae, vitae.
</p>
		
<!-- Share Widget -- Don't Change -->
<div class="share-storylist">
	<a class="tool share" href="http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/digg-share.php?My%20Story%201">Share!</a>
	<div class="share-hover">
		<input type="text" value="http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/digg-share.php?My%20Story%201" class="share-diggbar-url" readonly>
		<ul class="share-actions">
			<li class="twitter">
				<a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=My%20Story%201:%20http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/digg-share.php?My%20Story%201" target="_blank">twitter</a>
			</li>
			<li class="email">
				<a href="mailto:?subject=My%20Story%201:%20http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/digg-share.php?My%20Story%201">email</a>
			</li>
			<li class="facebook">
				<a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://davidwalsh.name/dw-content/digg-share.php?My%20Story%201" target="_blank">facebook</a>
			</li>
		</ul>
	</div>
</div>

You can display the article or post however you’d like but the Digg share widget should closely follow what I’ve used above, which comes directly from Digg.

The CSS

/* Storylist Share */
.share-storylist { position:relative; float:left; }
.share-hover { background:url(storylist-share.png) no-repeat; width:138px; height:106px; position:absolute; top:19px; left:-35px !important; z-index:100; display:none; }
.share-diggbar-url { position:absolute; top:24px; left:14px; padding:5px; text-decoration:none; background:#fff; width:98px; border:1px solid #c6c6c6; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; }
.share-hover span { font-size:85%; font-weight:normal; color:#9ab9d5; display:block; margin-top:-1px; }
ul.share actions, ul.share-actions li { list-style:none; }
ul.share-actions li a { text-indent:-999px; width:40px; height:26px; position:absolute; top:63px;} 
.share-actions li.facebook a { left:48px; width:42px;}
.share-actions li.email a {   left:7px;}
.share-actions li.twitter a {left:91px; }

/* Storylist Share Email Box */
#share-dialog { display:none; }
.share-email a.email-suggestion { background:#edf7e6 url(/img/lightbox-email-apps.png) 460px 7px no-repeat; display:block; margin:-16px -17px 15px; padding:15px 15px 15px 65px; font-size:1.15em; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; color:#64a715; border-bottom:1px solid #daecb0; }
.share-email a.email-suggestion:hover { color:#000033; }
.share-email label { float:left !important;  display:block; position:absolute;  color:#777; }
.share-email input[type="text"] { padding:5px; -moz-border-radius:3px !important; -webkit-border-radius:3px !important; color:#777; margin:0 0 10px 0; width:490px; margin-left:50px; border:1px solid #ccc; font-size:1.1em; }
.share-email textarea { width:530px; padding:10px; height:12em; margin:10px 0 5px 0; font-size:100%; background:#fffdea; border:1px solid #dcd069; color:#39340b; }
.share-test-email .dialog-tray { text-align:left; }

This is the exact CSS from Digg — nothing’s been changed.

The MooTools Javascript

(function($){
	window.addEvent('domready',function() {
		$$('a.share').each(function(a){
			//containers
			var storyList = a.getParent();
			var shareHover = storyList.getElements('div.share-hover')[0];
			shareHover.set('opacity',0);
			//show/hide
			a.addEvent('mouseenter',function() {
					shareHover.setStyle('display','block').fade('in');
			});
			shareHover.addEvent('mouseleave',function(){
				shareHover.fade('out');
			});
			storyList.addEvent('mouseleave',function() {
				shareHover.fade('out');
			});
		});
	});
})(document.id);

The javascript is a piece of cake using MooTools. Simple show and hide.

View Demo

One way to improve your website is to check out what the large sites are doing. Feel like you have a lame sharing widget of your own? Duplicate what Digg has done!

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