I get more emails about how this than anything else:
“Dear Larissa,
How do you achieve that cool image gallery affect on your about page where the images overlay your content? It is so cool! I would love to do that on my site!”
For some reason I assume the whole world has heard of Lightbox JS but then I remember not everyone is a web designer. The great news is, it is really easy to achieve! Lightbox JS is the best invention next to sliced bread YouTube. This effect is achieved using JavaScript and CSS. Basically an external image is loaded into a hidden div which becomes visible when called. This has been growing in popularity over the last 2 years and is a great method for displaying larger images without the use of pop-ups (*cringe*) or a page refresh.
Here’s a variety of useful LightBoxes.
Entry Filed under: Web Design
12 Comments
1. robert… | August 3rd, 2007 at 4:01 am
I couldn’t find a page for this plug in but also floating about is a modded version of flickrRSS that works with lightbox to allow a flickr feed to open up with the lightbox effect rather than going directly to the flickr page.
Flickr probably wouldn’t like this plug in but it’s useful and fun.
2. John… | August 3rd, 2007 at 7:59 am
I have been looking more at the photo’s then then at the techniek You used :-).
I use Greybox myself. Its just a little more then Lightbox, but I stil have to put more photo’s in it…..
There is a little work for using GB on WP, but the result is great..
3. G Zoli… | August 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 am
I changed my gallery to SmoothGallery from Thickbox.
4. Josh Stodola… | August 3rd, 2007 at 1:38 pm
[offtopic]
For some reason, your main RSS feed isn’t hooking it up. I am getting hungry here!
[/offtopic]
5. larissa… | August 3rd, 2007 at 2:23 pm
@ Josh,
II’m using Feedburner so I’m not sure why it was down but it’s back up now. :)
6. Philip Williams… | August 4th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
ahh, thanks for the information. It is a cool effect.
7. Respiro Media… | August 4th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
JS does miracles. Thanks, Larissa! :)
8. adel… | August 4th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
> I get more emails about how this than anything else
for some reason, I thought you get more emails like
“dear larissa, be my gf”
j/k
9. Lisa Bettany… | August 5th, 2007 at 12:14 am
so helpful. thanks! i’m just learning all this stuff for the first time so i really appreciate you sharing your wikkid knowledge!
you rock!
10. Claudio Azevedo… | August 7th, 2007 at 12:58 am
Helpful article, Larissa!
I´m a webdesigner from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and here, despite our full and rich interactive design context and community, there is a lack of good design blogs like yours.
11. Jermayn Parker… | August 7th, 2007 at 4:26 am
Yes it is a great tool indeed, I have used it several times but did have some trouble with it when I had a conflicting plugin also installed.
http://germworks.net/blog/2007/07/16/wordpress-plugins-lightbox/
12. A critical look at the de… | September 10th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
[...] If you do decide to use thumbnails I would strongly advice against using pop-ups as a means to display the full-size image. Pop ups are annoying, associated with advertising and will often be blocked. I would also advise you not to open new windows for images. Apart from the fact that you’re forcing the user to have another browser window open, having to close a new window every time I want to view one of your images gets old really fast. If you want an effect similar to pop ups or new windows without frustrating the user look into the lightbox script. Larissa Meek wrote an article with some useful links on the topic. [...]