I’ve always admired the slick presentation of images within a java environment on websites. Its an excellent way of displaying images and photos whilst removing the distraction of the rest of the site. They focus your attention solely on the images and in my opinion make them look even more impressive than they already are.

With this in mind I took to the WordPress extend directory in search of a lightweight Thickbox or similar plugin. I have to say, it was a pretty tough journey. I’ve tried and tested a whole host of plugins, many of which are either far too complex for my needs (NextGEN Gallery) or simply weren’t user friendly enough, I just don’t have the time to add tags and code to posts to display images in the way I want.

And then I saw the light. It pointed me in the direction of what I think is the best java image presentation plugin available – Lightbox 2. As with all plugins it is extremely simple to install but what sets it apart from the rest is its ability to automatically append the correct code to images and display them in the Lightbox with absolutely zero user input, none what so ever, nothing, nada, nil. Simply insert a thumbnail of your image into a page or post and then link to the original. Done.

To see the plugin in action here, check my previous two posts, Cotswold Wildlife Park and Legoland Windsor. Many thanks to Robert Morris for creating this amazing plugin and to all of the other developers involved in the project!