MooTools Text Flipping

By  on  

There are lots and lots of useless but fun JavaScript techniques out there. This is another one of them.

One popular April Fools joke I quickly got tired of was websites transforming their text upside down. I found a jQuery Plugin by Paul Irish that accomplished this task so I decided to provide it in a MooTools format.

The MooTools JavaScript

/* when the dom's ready */
window.addEvent('domready',function() {
	
	/* implement flipText for Strings */
	String.implement({
		flipText: function() {
			/* define the characters */
			var charset = {a:"\u0250",b:"q",c:"\u0254",d:"p",e:"\u01DD",f:"\u025F",g:"\u0183",h:"\u0265",i:"\u0131",j:"\u027E",k:"\u029E",l:"l",m:"\u026F",n:"u",o:"o",p:"d",q:"b",r:"\u0279",s:"s",t:"\u0287",u:"n",v:"\u028C",w:"\u028D",y:"\u028E",z:"z",1:"\u21C2",2:"\u1105",3:"\u1110",4:"\u3123",5:"\u078E"   /* or u03DB */ ,6:"9",7:"\u3125",8:"8",9:"6",0:"0",".":"\u02D9",",":"'","'":",",'"':",,","´":",","`":",",";":"\u061B","!":"\u00A1","\u00A1":"!","?":"\u00BF","\u00BF":"?","[":"]","]":"[","(":")",")":"(","{":"}","}":"{","<":">",">":"<",_:"\u203E","\r":"\n"},
				result = '', 
				text = this.toLowerCase(), 
				len = text.length - 1;

			for(var x = len; x >= 0; --x) {
				var r = charset[c];
				result += r != undefined ? r : text.charAt(x);
			}
			return result;
		}
	});
	
	/* implement flipText for Elements */
	Element.implement({
		flipText: function(recurse) {
			/* get all of the children for this */
			var elements = [this, this.getChildren()].flatten();
			/* make it happen! */
			elements.each(function(el) {
				var children = el.getChildren();
				if(!children.length) {
					/* set the text of the element to this */
					el.set('text',el.get('text').flipText());
				} else if(recurse) {
					children.flipText();
				}
			});
		}
	});
	
	/* usage */
	$('button').addEvent('click',function() {
		$('flip-me').flipText(true);
	});
});

I provided functionality to accomplish this goal for both Strings and Elements. You'll also notice a recurse parameter that allows you to set whether or not you'd like to get child elements recursively.

Have fun...but not too much fun!

Recent Features

  • By
    Introducing MooTools Templated

    One major problem with creating UI components with the MooTools JavaScript framework is that there isn't a great way of allowing customization of template and ease of node creation. As of today, there are two ways of creating: new Element Madness The first way to create UI-driven...

  • By
    Vibration API

    Many of the new APIs provided to us by browser vendors are more targeted toward the mobile user than the desktop user.  One of those simple APIs the Vibration API.  The Vibration API allows developers to direct the device, using JavaScript, to vibrate in...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Spoiler Prevention with CSS Filters

    No one likes a spoiler.  Whether it be an image from an upcoming film or the result of a football match you DVR'd, sometimes you just don't want to know.  As a possible provider of spoiler content, some sites may choose to warn users ahead...

  • By
    Modal-Style Text Selection with Fokus

    Every once in a while I find a tiny JavaScript library that does something very specific, very well.  My latest find, Fokus, is a utility that listens for text selection within the page, and when such an event occurs, shows a beautiful modal dialog in...

Discussion

  1. Wes

    Cool deal…I wish this was out before April fools day.

    I did notice in the demo that p’s and b’s don’t flip. Check out the flipped header of Flip me baby!.

  2. @Wes: What browser/OS?

  3. Great but clicking it again does not become old?

  4. @taylan: Once you flip, you never go back.

  5. charlie

    Curious but, I think, useless, at least for me, hehe. What about turning text vertically? That could be more interesting.

  6. Interesting. Strange. And well coded.

  7. hmm, how about make a back into it? would be easy or? 2. charset thats revert the 1. and for exapmple if fliped adding class: “flipped” end check if the class is on the element? =)

  8. @alelo: Yep, I think turning it back and forth would be easy. I’d probably keep a “state” variable which would hold the state of the flip and then revert to the other state when clicked.

  9. rakesh juyal

    ‘Wes’ is right. p and b are not flipped. BTW m using FF3

  10. Weird — this is working correctly in every browser I try…

  11. ɟlıp ɯǝ, bɐbʎ! :)

  12. Nice! But what it’s for besides fun?

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!