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blueimp lightbox

By blueimp

Design & Themes / Themes & Templates

blueimp lightbox Review - In-Depth Analysis

Official blueimp Gallery lightbox for WordPress. It is touch-enabled and responsive.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7/10

User Rating

4.4/5 (based on 16+ reviews)

Active Installations

1,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

blueimp Gallery is a touch-enabled, responsive and customizable image and video gallery, carousel and lightbox, optimized for both mobile and desktop web browsers.

It features swipe, mouse and keyboard navigation, transition effects, slideshow functionality, fullscreen support and on-demand content loading. The plugin can be extended to display additional content types.

This is the official WordPress plugin for the Gallery lightbox functionality. By default, it automatically adds lightbox functionality to image links ending with gif, jpg, jpeg and png extensions.

The plugin provides an options page to disable the automatic feature and to restrict the list of media types. It is also possible to add lightbox functionality for a link manually.

Comparing to Alternatives

Blueimp Lightbox is a popular choice among lightbox plugins with several alternatives available that offer similar functionalities.

Top alternatives

Strengths

High user rating with 68.8% giving 5 stars
No known security vulnerabilities reported
Simple and effective lightbox functionality
Lightweight and easy to use
Good compatibility with WordPress galleries

Weaknesses

Enqueues multiple unoptimized and unminified scripts and CSS files, impacting performance
Navigation buttons require an extra click to appear, which can confuse users
Limited customization options compared to some alternatives
No pro version or premium features available

User Sentiment Analysis

The plugin enjoys a strong positive reception with 81.3% of users rating it 4 stars or higher, reflecting general satisfaction. Negative feedback is minimal and mostly relates to performance and usability quirks.

Positive highlights

"Great lightbox, but badly packaged" - michalszota
"Good plugin but something is wrong" - stepan7466
Users appreciate the simplicity and effectiveness of the plugin
No security issues reported, increasing user confidence
Generally stable and reliable in operation

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Performance issues due to multiple unoptimized scripts and styles
User interface requires an extra click to access navigation buttons, which can be unintuitive
Lack of advanced customization features
No premium support or paid upgrades available

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users looking for a straightforward, free lightbox plugin with solid basic features and good security.

Not ideal for

Those needing advanced customization, optimized performance out of the box, or premium support options may find this plugin limiting.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers a fully functional lightbox with essential features suitable for most users.

Final Verdict

Blueimp Lightbox is a reliable and well-rated plugin that provides essential lightbox functionality without known security risks. Its simplicity and free availability make it a good choice for users who want a basic, effective solution.

However, the plugin's performance could be improved by optimizing its scripts and styles, and the user experience could benefit from more intuitive navigation controls. Users seeking advanced features or premium support might consider alternative plugins.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free blueimp lightbox plugin.

blueimp gallery

lightbox

responsive gallery

Screenshots

FAQ

In the Gallery settings, set the “Link To” option to “Media File”.

Simply add the attribute data-gallery to the link tag and it will be opened in the lightbox:

<a href="banana.jpg" data-gallery>Banana</a>

If multiple links on the page have the data-gallery attribute, the lightbox enables gallery navigation between the linked resources.

To enable the HTML5 fullscreen mode, add the #blueimp-gallery-fullscreen value for the data-gallery attribute:

<a href="banana.jpg" data-gallery="#blueimp-gallery-fullscreen">Banana</a>

Please note that this only has an effect in browsers which support the HTML5 fullscreen API.
Other browsers will simply display the lightbox without HTML5 fullscreen mode.

Add the data-gallery attribute and a type attribute with the video content type to the link:

<a href="cats.mp4" type="video/mp4" data-gallery>Cats</a> <a href="dogs.ogv" type="video/ogv" data-gallery>Dogs</a>

Please note that this is only supported in browsers which can play native HTML5 video and support the required video codec.

Add the data-gallery attribute, set the type attribute to text/html and add a data-youtube attribute with the YouTube video ID:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi4CIXpx7Bg" type="text/html" data-youtube="zi4CIXpx7Bg" data-gallery>LES TWINS - An Industry Ahead</a>

Add the data-gallery attribute, set the type attribute to text/html and add a data-vimeo attribute with the Vimeo video ID:

<a href="https://vimeo.com/73686146" type="text/html" data-vimeo="73686146" data-gallery>KN1GHT - Last Moon</a>

Contributors and developers

“blueimp lightbox” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

blueimp

Free Version Live Demo

WPS

7

Average

Ratings

4.4 out of 5 | 16

Version

1.1.1

Last updated

12 years ago

Active installations

1,000+

WordPress version

4.0.0 or higher

PHP version

or higher

Languages

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blueimp lightbox Review - In-Depth Analysis

Performance Overview

What It Does

Comparing to Alternatives

User Sentiment Analysis

Who Should Use This?

Pricing & Value

Final Verdict

Other Notable Features

Screenshots

FAQ

Contributors and developers

Ratings

Reviews (16)

Sort by:

Contributors & Developers

Interested in development?

Changelog

Security Status

Secure

No Unpatched Vulnerabilities

Known Vulnerabilities (0)

Previous Versions

WPS

7

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