Fade out jQuery menu after delay

Question

I'm working on a jQuery drop-down menu that fades in when you hover on the top-level items. I want to set it so that when you move the mouse away the menu doesn't disappear instantly. I have this code:

$(document).ready(function(){
  $('ul#menu > li').hover(
    // mouseover
    function(){
      $(this).find('>ul').fadeIn('fast');
    },
    // mouseout
    function(){
      setTimeout( function(){
        alert('fadeout');
        $(this).find('>ul').fadeOut('fast')
        }, 1000 );
    }  
  );
});

After a second the alert happens, but the menu isn't faded out.

Answer 1

window.setTimeout(), so this refers to the window object.

// mouseout
function(){
  var el=this;
  setTimeout( function(){
    alert('fadeout');
    $(el).find('>ul').fadeOut('fast')
    }, 1000 );
}

Answer 2

Have a look at hoverIntent. It'll give you greater control of the behaviour of the mouseover/mouseout events by configuration:

var config = {    
     sensitivity: 3, // number = sensitivity threshold (must be 1 or higher)    
     interval: 200, // number = milliseconds for onMouseOver polling interval    
     timeout: 500, // number = milliseconds delay before onMouseOut    
};

$(document).ready(function(){
  $('ul#menu > li').hoverIntent(
    // mouseover
    function(){
      $(this).find('>ul').fadeIn('fast');
    },
    // mouseout
    function(){
       $(this).find('>ul').fadeOut('fast');
    }  
  );
});