Issue with P tag content covering a block level link

Question

I've been going insane with this j-query slider I adapted from juliendecaudin's barousel plugin

I've put it all on jsfiddle:

http://jsfiddle.net/psFMs

The four navigation blocks are created by the jquery code (which is why I'm having this problem). So because I needed text over each blocks, I added some p tags to the code and then positioned them over each block. This meant that they covered the links, and consequently the hover effects stop.

I have tried multiple things I thought would make it work with what limited jquery knowledge I have (when you hover over the p tag, show the relevant background image at the correct width and height and positioned, for instance) But none have worked!

What I would love to know is how to make the text act as a link like the navigation blocks, but also, make it so that when you hover over the text, the background image hovers too. Alternatively if there's a way I could fuse the two together that would be swell!

The html bit where I added the p-tags is here (the jquery code automatically creates the html ul li elements:

<div class="barousel_nav">
<p class="abs abs1">Value Proposition Development</p>
<p class="abs abs2">Sales Engagement</p>
<p class="abs abs3">Customer Communications</p>
<p class="abs abs4">Insight-driven Lead Generation Campaigns</p>
</div>

If I could specifiy each nav ul li link then I should be able to create a workaround, but as it stands each li has nothing specific about it!

Answer 1

You can change some bits to put it to work as you'd expect:

On the jquery.barousel.js file, look for this snippet:

//build the navigation
if (settings.navType == 1) {
    //items navigation type
        var strNavList = "<ul>";

And change it, by adding a class (navigationMenu) to the ul:

//build the navigation
if (settings.navType == 1) {
    //items navigation type
        var strNavList = "<ul class='navigationMenu'>";

On your page header, after you load all the libraries, add the snippet below:

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function () {
        // Look for all the spans which contains the class abs, and move them
        // to the li accordingly.
        $("span.abs").each(function (index, element) {
            var target = $("ul.navigationMenu li")[index];
            $(this).appendTo($(target).find("a"));
        });
    });
</script>

Change your CSS, by removing unused rules:

.barousel {
    height:408px;
    margin-bottom:85px;
    position:relative;
    width:750px;
}
.barousel_wrap {
    float:right;
    height:408px;
    width:650px;
}
.barousel_image {
    background-image:url(http://oliverbanham.com/quantumSite/images/SLIDER/images/bgGrayGradient.jpg);
    background-position:initial initial;
    background-repeat:repeat no-repeat;
    height:306px;
    padding-left:10px;
    width:660px;
}
.barousel_image img {
    display:none;
    position:absolute;
}
.barousel_image img.default {
    display:block;
}
.barousel_image img.current {
    z-index:10;
}
.barousel_content {
    background-color:#6D4682;
    background-image:url(http://oliverbanham.com/quantumSite/images/SLIDER/images/largegrad_05.jpg);
    background-position:initial initial;
    background-repeat:repeat no-repeat;
    display:block;
    height:auto;
    margin:0;
    padding:5px 10px 0;
    width:650px;
}
.barousel_content div {
    display:none;
    margin-bottom:7px;
    width:650px;
}
.barousel_content div.default {
    display:block;
    height:auto;
    padding-bottom:7px !important;
}
.barousel_content p {
    color:white;
    font-size:12px;
    font-weight:normal;
    line-height:16px;
    margin-bottom:8px !important;
    top:0;
    z-index:50;
}
.barousel_content p.sliderH {
    font-weight:bold;
    margin-bottom:5px;
}
.barousel_nav {
    float:left;
    height:408px;
    width:100px;
    z-index:20;
}
/*.barousel_nav p.abs {
    cursor:pointer;
    display:inline-block;
    font-size:11px;
    left:5px;
    margin:0 auto;
    position:absolute;
    text-align:center;
    width:90px;
}
.barousel_nav p.abs1 {
    top:35px;
}
.barousel_nav p.abs2 {
    top:135px;
}
.barousel_nav p.abs3 {
    bottom:140px;
}
.barousel_nav p.abs4 {
    bottom:25px;
    left:5px;
}*/
.barousel_nav ul {
    float:right;
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
}
.barousel_nav li {
    float:left;
    /*font-size:0;
    line-height:0;*/
    list-style:none;
    padding-left:3px;
}
.barousel_nav li a {
    background-image:url(http://oliverbanham.com/quantumSite/images/SLIDER/images/BTN_01.jpg);
    display:block;
    /*font-size:0;*/
    height:102px;
    /*line-height:0;*/
    text-decoration:none;
    width:100px;
}
.barousel_nav li a:hover {
    background-image:url(http://oliverbanham.com/quantumSite/images/SLIDER/images/current_BTN_01.jpg);
}
.barousel_nav li a.current {
    background-image:url(http://oliverbanham.com/quantumSite/images/SLIDER/images/current_BTN_01.jpg);
}

And finally, slightly change your HTML:

<span class="abs">Value Proposition Development</span>
<span class="abs">Sales Engagement</span>
<span class="abs">Customer Communications</span>
<span class="abs">Insight-driven Lead Generation Campaigns</span>

Working demo: http://jsfiddle.net/psFMs/2/

Of course there are some CSS tweaks to be done and make it look nicer, but the essential is here.