The Lightbox Lowdown (Global Moxie)

Blog

What's Global Moxie?

Global Moxie is the hypertext laboratory of Josh Clark, a designer, developer, and author who offers workshops and consulting for iPhone app design. He’s also creator of Big Medium, a web content management system. Josh spins words and code from multimedia studios in Providence, RI, and Paris, France.

On Shelves

Books by Josh Clark

Moxiemail

Enter your e-mail to receive occasional updates:

News feeds

Home > Blog

The Lightbox Lowdown

E-mail this page

Print this page

Posted May 22, 2007 (updated Jun 13, 2007)

I’ve been working today on improving Big Medium’s “lightbox” slideshow feature for browsing image galleries.

Up ’til now, you could navigate forward and back through the slideshow by clicking on the image itself; clicking on the left side of the image took you back, and clicking right took you forward.

Alas, while visually elegant, this navigation was far too hidden. It wasn’t visible until you actually hovered over the image, when a forward or back arrow appeared above the image. I received consistent feedback that site visitors took a long time to figure it out, if ever.

Before: Navigation was visible only when hovering over the image.

After: Navigation is always visible above the image.

Today I updated my development version of Big Medium to move this navigation above the slideshow images. The forward/back arrows are now always visible, making it much clearer how to navigate through the gallery.

Another new slideshow nicety is that clicking anywhere outside of the slideshow now makes it go away. In the past, you had to click the little “X” close box at the bottom of the image to dismiss the slideshow. That’s still an option, but adding this additional new method makes it easier to get back to the page when you’re done browsing the gallery.

Other recent changes elsewhere in Big Medium include a handful of bug fixes and some significant performance improvements to Big Medium’s JavaScript libraries, which makes the interface a bit peppier.

All of these changes will be part of the next beta update, which I expect to update sometime before the end of the month.

Before I release that update, though, I plan to add one more significant feature: the ability to limit editing privileges of individual accounts to only certain sections of a site. Currently all accounts have permission to add content to any portion of a site. The new feature will give webmasters and admins the option to constrain any account to specific sections. I’ll be digging into that feature this week.

Stay tuned, there’s more to come!

Tags: bigmedium, lightbox

Want more? Recent blog entries...

Comments

4 comment(s) on this page: Add your own comment below.

Tom

May 23, 2007 9:30am [ 1 ]

Luuuuuvely. Looking forward to the update! Till now I've been setting the slideshow arrows to always show, and the timing for the section-specific editing couldn't be better. Site cloning and one-click editing - we're soooo close! Dear I say a month or two?

Josh

May 23, 2007 11:41am [ 2 ]

Glad you like! Yep, we're getting close.... a month or two seems about right for the release of Big Medium 2.0 if all goes well.

anton

Oct 26, 2007 3:07pm [ 3 ]

hi great idea ..... i was look for some thing lik this all the time ... if you finished you lightbox navigation fix ..could you informe me ... thnax alot

anton

Josh

Oct 28, 2007 4:11pm [ 4 ]

Hi Anton,

Yes indeed, the change has already been incorporated into Big Medium 2, which uses a modified version of lightbox. You can check it out here.

Add a Comment

Don't be shy.

More from this section

Home > Blog

Tapworthy App Design at SXSW
I'm in Austin to talk about iPhone interface design on March 15. Come say howdy. 0 comment(s)

“Curating” SXSW’s iPhone Apps Workshop
As usual, I'm all atingle for South by Southwest, but this year the tingle is especially tingly because I’ll be on the other side of the podium. 2 comment(s)

Ready for My Close-Up: September Speaking Events
I moved back to the US this month, and to mark the occasion, I’m taking my show on the road. Come say hello at one of my four talks on iPhone apps and iWork power tips. 4 comment(s)

Best iPhone Apps: Picks, advice, and resources
Browse this selection of my writings from around the web to help you unlock the full potential of your iPhone or iPod Touch. 3 comment(s)

Vote Early and Often: My SXSW Talks
Got a second? I'm pitching talks for SXSW Interactive about delightful iPhone apps and playful fitness technology—and I need your vote. 4 comment(s)

Buzz for Best iPhone Apps
My new book hit shelves the last week of July, and the response has been incredibly gratifying. The book's climbing the charts and enjoying positive reviews. Exciting! 3 comment(s)

Best iPhone Apps: Reinventing (and Designing) Books in the Web Era
Or, “Why I wrote and designed an entire book in Pages.” The web has changed the way we read, and my new book is part of an experiment to create a new kind of print storytelling, with lessons for writers, designers, and publishers alike. 4 comment(s)

The Future in Your Pocket, and Why I'm Writing Another Book
My new book, Best iPhone Apps, comes straight out of my childhood yearning for this very device. 6 comment(s)

iWork ’09 Tips, Interviews, and Book Reviews
I hit the bricks this month to spread the word about my book, iWork ‘09: The Missing Manual. 0 comment(s)