The Lightbox2 module is a simple, unobtrusive script used to overlay images on the current page. It's a snap to setup 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. 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!).

Features

The version 2 module has several benefits over the plain Lightbox module. Note, not all of these features are available when the "Lightbox2 Lite" option is enabled.

  • Image Sets: group related images and navigate through them with ease - ideal for your image galleries.
  • Slideshow Capability.
  • HTML Content Support: ability to show websites or other HTML content in a lightbox.
  • Video Content Support.
  • Visual Effects: fancy pre-loader and transition when you click on the image.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: useful keyboard shortcuts for switching between images, toggling play / pause, etc.
  • Zoom Capability: larger images are reduced in size so they fit snugly inside the browser window. A zoom in button can then be clicked on to see it in its original size, while a zoom out button is provided to return you to the scaled down version.
  • Choice of Layouts.
  • Skin and Animation Configuration.
  • Right-to-Left Language Support.
  • Automatic Image Detection: configurable automatic re-formatting of image node thumbnails, previews, etc, so there is no need to add 'rel="lightbox"' to each image node link on your site. Image, Inline, Flickr, Acidfree Albums, Image Assist, Embedded Media Field and CCK Imagefield modules are all supported.
  • Page Exclusion Capability: exclude certain pages on your site from having the lightbox2 functionality.
  • Login Support: ability to modify all user/login links so the login form appears in a lightbox.
  • Gallery 2 Support: support for Gallery 2 images via the Gallery module (beta). See here for information on how to customise your Gallery2 theme to work with lightbox.

Dependencies

Lightbox2 5.x-2.0 and later versions now all use the jQuery library instead of the Scriptaculous and Prototype libraries, so there is no need to download and install a separate third party package. The 5.x versions have a dependency on the jQuery update module since the version of jQuery included in Drupal core is not that recent. Both the 1.x and 2.x versions of this module should work with Lightbox2.

There is no such dependency for the 6.x versions.

Known Issues

Please read the known issues page before logging a support request for the module. Thanks!

Comparison with Similar Modules

Please read the article at http://drupal.org/node/266126

Drupal 7

The Drupal 7 versions, now offers jQuery 1.9+ support and improved i18n support since release 7.x-2.0. If you require jQuery 1.9+ support and improved i18n support then you'll want to upgrade to 7.x-2.0. There only few things missing from Drupal 6, current support for flickr and the use of a template for lightframe.

Drupal 8

The ColorBox module has a similar set of features and has a version for Drupal 8 ready for use.

Supporting organizations: 
The Lightbox2 module was sponsored by Annertech for several years of work.

Project information

Releases