Generate random element position and prevent overlapping in JavaScript

Question

I have a holder div on the page where I want to load small images in on random position as a collage with 10px padding on each.

How can I make sure that images never overlap each other or holder div? Is there a plugin or function that I could use?

My code so far:

<script src="jquery-1.3.2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$("#my_canvas img").each(
function(intIndex) {

var l = Math.floor(Math.random() * $("#my_canvas").width());
var t = Math.floor(Math.random() * $("#my_canvas").height());

$(this).css("left", l);
$(this).css("top", t);

$(this).bind(
    "click",
        function() {
            alert("l=" + l + " t=" + t);
        }
    );

}

);

});

   <style type="text/css">
    #my_canvas
    {
        background: #eee;
        border: black 1px solid;
        width: 800px;
        height: 400px;
    }
    #my_canvas img
    {
        padding: 10px;
        position:absolute;
    }
</style>

<div id="my_canvas">
    <img src="images/1.jpg" />
    <img src="images/9.jpg" />
    <img src="images/2.jpg" />
    <img src="images/3.jpg" />
    <img src="images/4.jpg" />
    <img src="images/5.jpg" />
    <img src="images/6.jpg" />
    <img src="images/7.jpg" />
    <img src="images/8.jpg" />
</div>

Answer 1

Store the picked coordinates in an array, so that you can compare the coordinates of each new image you place against the previous.

If the coordinates that you picked overlaps a previous image, pick new coordinates. Limit the number of tries so that if you can't place an image with say 1000 tries, you start over with the first image.