Question

I have this code:

$('.pic_windows img').mouseenter(function () {
    $(this).effect('shake', {
        times : 4,
        distance : 5
    }, 15).attr('src', $(this).attr('src').replace(/.jpg/, '-1.jpg'))
});

$('.pic_windows img').mouseleave(function () {
    $(this).attr('src', $(this).attr('src').replace(/-1.jpg/, '.jpg'))
});

where I’m using JQuery’s .attr to swap the images, but I’d like the swapping to occur over the course of around 1 second. I’ve googled this and get all these complicated “CSS3 transitions with JQuery fallback” tutorials. Is there a way to ‘animate’ an .attr change?

I think I should do a fadeOut while the other fadeIn but I don’t know how to write it, as I’m almost a complete JQuery newbie. I have a number of these transitions to do over the course of several pages. It’d be a cinch if I needed to write this for just one instance.

UPDATE On mouseenter, the image shakes and then should during this shake, fade from one picture to its swapped picture. On mouseleave, the image should just fade back to the original picture. Unfortunately I have also found that the shake effect is breaking on IE, all versions, as well as the image swap (it doesn’t see image 2 at all)

Answer 1

No, you cannot animate an attribute change. What you can do is clone an element, change an attribute and transition between them.

var target = $(this).fadeOut();
var src = target.attr('src').replace(/-1.jpg/, '.jpg');
var copy = target.clone()
    .attr('src', src)
    .hide()
    .insertAfter(target)
    .fadeIn();

EDIT: Thank you for clarifying your intentions, I would advise not playing with the ‘src’, which will essentially require building a small stateful plugin. Instead, stick with the desired effect here, reveal an image on hover. jsFiddle

HTML

<div class="shaker">
    <img src="http://lorempixel.com/output/nature-q-c-360-240-3.jpg" />
    <img class="hover" src="http://lorempixel.com/output/technics-q-c-360-240-9.jpg" />
</div>​

CSS

.shaker {
    position: relative;
}
.shaker img {
    position: absolute;
}
.hover {
    display: none;
}

JS

$('.shaker').hover(function () {
    $(this).effect('shake', {
        times: 4,
        distance: 5
    }, 15);
    $(this).find('.hover').fadeIn();
}, function () {
    $(this).find('.hover').stop().fadeOut();
});​

http://jsfiddle.net/eHQ3t/13/