I didn't look at the code example (it's more fun to challenge myself :P) but this is how I would do it - demo here.
I saved the position of each element block to minimize the number of DOM calls, then just searched through the array. To help you understand some of the variables.
$(window).height() // returns the viewport height
$(document).height() // returns the height of the entire document
$(window).scrollTop() // returns the Y position of the document that is at the top of the viewport
Script:
var topRange = 200, // measure from the top of the viewport to X pixels down
edgeMargin = 20, // margin above the top or margin from the end of the page
animationTime = 1200, // time in milliseconds
contentTop = [];
$(document).ready(function(){
// Stop animated scroll if the user does something
$('html,body').bind('scroll mousedown DOMMouseScroll mousewheel keyup', function(e){
if ( e.which > 0 || e.type == 'mousedown' || e.type == 'mousewheel' ){
$('html,body').stop();
}
});
// Set up content an array of locations
$('#sidemenu').find('a').each(function(){
contentTop.push( $( $(this).attr('href') ).offset().top );
});
// Animate menu scroll to content
$('#sidemenu').find('a').click(function(){
var sel = this,
newTop = Math.min( contentTop[ $('#sidemenu a').index( $(this) ) ], $(document).height() - $(window).height() ); // get content top or top position if at the document bottom
$('html,body').stop().animate({ 'scrollTop' : newTop }, animationTime, function(){
window.location.hash = $(sel).attr('href');
});
return false;
});
// adjust side menu
$(window).scroll(function(){
var winTop = $(window).scrollTop(),
bodyHt = $(document).height(),
vpHt = $(window).height() + edgeMargin; // viewport height + margin
$.each( contentTop, function(i,loc){
if ( ( loc > winTop - edgeMargin && ( loc < winTop + topRange || ( winTop + vpHt ) >= bodyHt ) ) ){
$('#sidemenu li')
.removeClass('selected')
.eq(i).addClass('selected');
}
});
});
});