Efficiently Detect When Sibling Elements Overlap

Question

Example:

 
 
 
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Answer 1

This formula will detect if any of the specified elements is overlapping a target element:

function findIntersectors(targetSelector, intersectorsSelector) {
    var intersectors = [];

    var $target = $(targetSelector);
    var tAxis = $target.offset();
    var t_x = [tAxis.left, tAxis.left + $target.outerWidth()];
    var t_y = [tAxis.top, tAxis.top + $target.outerHeight()];

    $(intersectorsSelector).each(function() {
          var $this = $(this);
          var thisPos = $this.offset();
          var i_x = [thisPos.left, thisPos.left + $this.outerWidth()]
          var i_y = [thisPos.top, thisPos.top + $this.outerHeight()];

          if ( t_x[0] < i_x[1] && t_x[1] > i_x[0] &&
               t_y[0] < i_y[1] && t_y[1] > i_y[0]) {
              intersectors.push($this);
          }

    });
    return intersectors;
}

Here is a POC.

This SO question was very helpful in solving this problem.