showing off your images with a lightbox
If you are looking for ways to spruce up your website (or even your blog), adding great images is a good place to start. But why have just a small image when it could be clickable to view an enlarged full screen view.
So called “lightbox” scripts are handy little programs that you can add on to your website or blog that offer a neat way to show off images. The work by overlaying an enlarged image over the web page.
To see what I am talking about, have a look at Amy’s design portfolio, and click on one of the thumbnail images.
Apart from having zoomable images, it is also possible to arrange them into mini photo gallerys.
OK, so where do you go from here? Why not check out some of the scripts available to see what they can do. While a bit of HTML knowledge may be helpful, most people will find that the instructions provided are easy enough to follow.
- Lightbox v2 - a revised version of the original script
- Shadowbox.js - a new script with extra features (including video support)
- Slimbox - a lightweight Lightbox clone
Note: If you have a creative coast blog and would like to try it out for yourself, it will require a couple of simple changes to the template or ‘theme’ that your blog uses. This is something that requires admin access to the server, but if you ask nicely someone (Adrian, Gordon or me) will be able to help you out.