I had a rather simple show hide using jquery with a cookie that worked. I want to replace it with a more elegant solution that swaps between a close and a replay gif depending on state and whether the hidden div has already been seen by a repeat visitor. I am tearing my hair out.

My demo

http://www.cincinnati.com/test/test.html

$(document).ready(function(){

if(!document.cookie.match("sbFirstSlide")){
  var oneDay = new Date();
  oneDay.setDate(oneDay.getDate()+1); 
  document.cookie="slidedToday=true;path=/;expires="+oneDay.toGMTString();
  }

 var slideTimeout // timer
   , sbTrigger = $('#slidebartrigger') // convenience
   , sbFirstSlide = true // indicates first time through
   ;
 function toggleSlideboxes(){

   if(slideTimeout) clearTimeout(slideTimeout);

   var isDown = sbTrigger.is('.closeSlide');
   
   $('#slidebar')['slide' + (isDown ? 'Up' : 'Down')]((isDown ? 3000 :
1000), function(){

       if(sbFirstSlide){ sbTrigger.removeClass('firstSlide'); sbFirstSlide
= false; }

       sbTrigger[(isDown ? 'remove' : 'add') +
'Class']('closeSlide').one('click', toggleSlideboxes);

       if(!isDown) slideTimeout = setTimeout(toggleSlideboxes, 4000);
     });
 }
 toggleSlideboxes();
});

I have my cookie being set, it is capping the slide down of the slidebar div, but I now have a new issue. The cookie is preventing the slidebartrigger from showing and hiding slidebar on user initiated clicks.

http://www.cincinnati.com/test/testNew.html

$(document).ready(function()
{
 var slideTimeout, sbTrigger = $('#slidebartrigger'), sbFirstSlide = (document.cookie.indexOf('slidedToday') == -1);
    
 function toggleSlideboxes()
 {
  if(slideTimeout) clearTimeout(slideTimeout);
  
  var isDown = sbTrigger.is('.closeSlide');
  
  if(sbFirstSlide)
  {
   $('#slidebar')['slide' + (isDown ? 'Up' : 'Down')]((isDown ? 3000 : 1000), function()
   {
    sbTrigger.removeClass('firstSlide');
    
    if(!document.cookie.match("slidedToday"))
    {
     var oneDay = new Date();
     oneDay.setDate(oneDay.getDate()+1); 
     document.cookie="slidedToday=true;path=/;expires="+oneDay.toGMTString();
    }
    else
     sbFirstSlide = false;
   });
   
   sbTrigger[(isDown ? 'remove' : 'add') + 'Class']('closeSlide').one('click', toggleSlideboxes);
   
   if(!isDown) slideTimeout = setTimeout(toggleSlideboxes, 3000);
  }
 }
 
 toggleSlideboxes();
});