Through research how to best display my samples of design work for my portfolio, I discovered CSS galleries, which are readily available on web. I choose to use Lightbox2 because i felt it fit my needs and I like the look and feel of it.
LIGHTBOX 2 is an ingenious piece of coding by Lokesh Dhakar, which I have used to display my portfolio of images for Louin Design.
WHAT IS LIGHTBOX 2?
LIghtbox2 a simple, unobtrusive script used to overlay images on the current page. It’s easy to set up and works on most modern browsers. The module places images above your current page, not within. This frees you from the constraints of the layout, particularly column widths. One of the reasons I choose to work with it is the fact that it keeps users on the same page. Clicking to view an image and then having to click the back button to return to your site is bad for continuity (and no fun!). The module inserts the required JavaScript and CSS directly into your page with no need to edit the theme.
With Lightbox you can view images singly or as group related images and navigate through them with ease – ideal for your image galleries or in my case for a portfolio.
To install the code for Lightbox2 is relatively easy. Download code, then follow instructions given. However you must watch where you place the scripts given in your root folder. If you place them in the wrong place the code does not work. Also there is some tinkering needed to get the forward backward options to appear on screen and to get the grey cover to work properly in IE. I found the Lightbox Forum a great source in solving these problems. But once it is working properly you’ll be glad you decided to use this option over other CSS galleries.
WHAT ELSE IS OUT THERE?
Ok so you’ve seen lightbox2 in action and its not exactly what you were looking for. Well i’ve discovered 4 other CSS Galleries which I might fit you needs better. I’ve attached links to each gallery type, so you can see demos in action and view the code and instructions on offer.
1. Lightview: Lightview allows you to display images singly and within groups like Lightbox 2, but also allows mixed media (ie view image, flash and quicktime movie within same group). However, you have to pay to use this code. €3 is the fee for non commercial users on a single domain. But it should also be mention that this code is completely editable and customizable without having to know CSS. Also worth nothing, the installation steps are very detailed, taken each step along the way, unlike Lightbox2.
2. Fancybox: FancyBox is a tool for displaying images, html content and multi-media in a Mac-style “lightbox” that floats overtop of web page. It was built using the jQuery library. Licensed under both MIT and GPL licenses. It is very clean, simple design, that requires some knowledge of coding like lightbox2.
3. s3Slider: this is a jQuery plugin which is super stylish and slightly different in style from other galleries i’ve mentioned. This gallery is styled like a slideshow which has smooth image transitions with a semi-transparent overlaid with the images description.
4. Galleriffic: this is a jQuery plugin for rendering rich, fast-performing photo galleries. It is optimized to handle high volumes of photos while conserving bandwidth. It has two types of gallery setup, “simple” and “advanced”. The simple option uses text links to link to each image in the gallery while the advanced choice displays thumbnails on the left hand side. Other features include bookmark friendly URLs, image caption and descriptions and slideshow options.
Louin stationery 