Isotope is out now. Give it a whirl. I'm expecting great things.

In the 13 hours it's been out, here's what people have been saying:

Impressive

-- Jonathan Snook

David DeSandro’s new Isotope plugin is a must-see thing of beauty.

-- Faruk Ateş

A dynamic layout generator ... that makes things look beautiful ... automatically.

-- Paul Irish (31:30), who named it the YayQuery Plugin of the Week

Nifty

-- John Gruber

Dealing with images has always been troublesome for Masonry. To calculate the appropriate amount of space, Masonry's layout algorithm needs the size of each item element. If an image isn't loaded, that space does not get appropriately measured, and causes the layout to be thrown off.

There are several methods to resolve this issue, but the ideal solution would be a plugin that would trigger a callback after all images within some content are loaded. Fortunately, Paul Irish has already done most of the work in his imagesLoaded plugin.

I've subsequently forked the imagesLoaded plugin for use with Masonry and Isotope.

Now Masonry users no longer have to rely on $(window).load() to load every image on the page before the plugin is triggered.

imagesLoaded and Masonry fiddle

Additionally, you can use imagesLoaded inside the Infinite Scroll callback.

// call masonry as a callback
function( newElements ) {
  var $elems = $(newElements);

  $elems.imagesLoaded( function(){
    $('#container').masonry({ appendedContent: $elems })
  })
}

Isotope just about ready for prime time. Right now, the plugin, documentation, and demos are going through testing with the help of some valiant volunteers. If all goes well, I expect to release Isotope to the public in two weeks.

This is the logo for now until I can think of a better one.

I like isometric stuff and rainbows.

I was hoping that I could get by without one, but once I started signing up for Twitter accounts and whatnot, you discover you need something to take up the space.

First look at my new jQuery plugin. Feast your eyes on Isotope!

View Isotope preview video on Screenr

I should clarify what's going on here.

This business of Metafizzy is a side-project, something I'll be working on in my off-hours. My career and first professional priority remains with nclud where I am very much happy to be. Martin and Alex support my little endeavor. I'm very lucky to be working at a place I believe in with people who get it. In no way do I plan on taking hours away from nclud to devote to this little business.

Since Metafizzy is a lower priority, how I define its success is a bit unconventional.

Metafizzy should be profitable, but not at a cost of sacrificing loads of personal time.

From what I've gained regarding running your own business, this goal may be fantastical. But I feel its achievable as I should be able to manage my time as I see fit. If I do end up pouring hour after endless hour of my free-time to this project, I can always pull the plug, brush off my hands, walk away, and chalk it up as a loss.

The initial revenue stream — selling licenses for the super-Masonry plugin — fits in with this definition of success. After I complete development on the plugin, and get the payment system up and running, my workload is pretty much complete on that front.

But the real question I've been wrestling with is how to handle support.

Currently with Masonry, I get an average of 3 support requests a week. After Isotope is released, I imagine I can expect to receive even more. Isotope has more features, and consequently will generate more questions. Now the good-guy/open-source dude in me wants to help these people. But the business manager knows that isn't feasible to put hours into resolving others' issues unless I can turn it into revenue. Of course there are ways to do that, but I'm not sure if it will fit into my measure for success.