Lightbox Plus WordPress Plugin video guide

The other day I ran across what is probably the best video guide to learn how to use Lightbox Plus ColorBox and easily add fancy light box photo effects to your WordPress site. I wish I could say that I created it, but frankly writing tutorials, guides and documentation is not my forte.

The author of this excellent guide is Philip Gledhill and he does an brilliant job covering all aspects of Lightbox Plus ColorBox.  The tutorial is available on Philip’s site as Lightbox Plus WordPress Plugin video guide. If you are trying to get a better understanding of how to use Lightbox Plus ColorBox I can’t recommend his guide enough!

Abandoned Sand Castle

Lightbox Plus ColorBox has been release at version 2.6 which includes additional fixes for WordPress galleries not loading correctly and the option to output HTML5 valid code. There are now 26 styles included with Lightbox Plus ColorBox.

See the change log after the jump for details.

2.6

• Added option to generate HTML5 valid code..
  • When checked will add data- instead if rel attributes.
  • Can specify specify data- attribute so it can be site specific
  • Does not effect inline lightbxes which were class based already
  • Option located in first tab (General) of base settings
• Fixed (hopefully) all unset variable notices
  • Please notify me if you still seem them
• Fixed issues with per page loading
  • Please note there is no per post loading – it’s either set for your blog/single posts or it’s not
• Added option to load javascript in header or footer
  • Footer is prefered due to potential page load delays
• Added option to set priority of javascript loading
  • Low, Normal, High with priorities as follows 5, 11, 15 relative to other plugin loads
  • May resolve some plugin conflicts due to load order
• Fixed removal of settings on deactivate
  • Will now only remove settings on uninstall
• Fixed gallery short code issues with WordPress 3.0.x and version 3.1.x to 3.4.x.
  • Now creates correct gallery output for specific versions of WordPress
• Moved ‘Use for WordPress Galleries’ option to first tab to ease location
  • Located on General tab of Primary Settings
• Added ColorBox version loading newer/older depending on WordPress version
  • It seems older verions of WordPress were having jQuery conflict with the latest version of ColorBox
• Added information to submit for support under the support tab
• Fixed issue where PHP HTML DOM Parser would throw error when getting title if link had no child img to get title from.
• Renamed plugin to Lightbox Plus ColorBox to reflect long time usage or ColorBox as the lightbox tool
• Updated ColorBox to version 1.3.32
  • Improved internal event subscribing & fixed event bug introduced in v1.3.21
  • Fixed a size-calculation bug
  • Delayed border-width calculations until after opening, to avoid a bug in FF when using ColorBox in a hidden iframe.
  • Fixes bug with bubbling delegated events
  • Fixed compatibility issue with old versions of jQuery (1.3.2-1.4.2)
  • Added className property.
  • Minor bugfix: clear the onload event handler after photo has loaded.
  • Minor bugfix for calling ColorBox on empty jQuery collections without a selector.
• Minor internal fixes and changes

2.5.5

• Fixed some issues when default jQuery of versions less than 1.4.3 (minimum required) were causing images to not load
• Fixed some jQuery methods in admin panel to work with versions of jQuery older than 1.6
• Updated ColorBox to version 1.3.21.1
  • Fixed global event issue for jQuery 1.9

You can get the latest download of Lightbox Plus at WordPress.org and 23systems or download Lightbox Plus 2.6 directly.

For support please look for support on the WordPress support forums or submit a support request through the support form.

New River Gorge

Lightbox Plus has been updated version 2.5.4 which includes fixes for WordPress galleries not loading correctly and and update to correct lightboxing galleries based on the Use for WP Gallries checkbox. In addition there are over a dozen new styles added for Lightbox Plus.

See the change log after the jump for details.

2.5.4

• Updated gallery shortcode replacement to match current implementation in WordPress
  • This was breaking galleries for some but not all people
• Updated styles to deal with the “new” CSS box model.
  • Thanks to hexagongirl for pointing this out to me
• Fixed problem where galleries where getting lighboxing treatment even if the Use for WP Galleries checkbox was unchecked.
  • You should now have to check the box for it to work
• Added a dozen new styles for a total of 26 different styles
  • Added style preview to admin panel to show a small sceeenshot of the style

You can get the latest download of Lightbox Plus at WordPress.org and 23systems or download Lightbox Plus 2.6 directly.

For support please look for support on the WordPress support forums or submit a support request through the support form.

Mississippi River Crossing, Helena, AR

I have updated Lightbox Plus version 2.5.3 which includes additional fixes to the PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser and the ability to have up to 1000 inline lightboxes.  More importantly I corrected a problem for servers that don’t have the PHP mbstring extension installed.

See the change log after the jump for details.

2.5.3

• Changed support portal to use WordPress.org only as I am unable to handle multiple vectors for support
• Updated various links throughout plugin to reflect current URLs
• Updated instructions
• Miscellaneous minor bug fixes

2.5.2

• Updated PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser to very latest rev (v 1.5 rev 202)
• Fixed PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser to create exception for servers that don’t have mbstring extension enabled
  • This regressed with an update to recent versions of PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser
• Added support for up to 1000 inline lightboxes
  • Inline lightboxes are allocated in increments of 5
  • There is a performance hit in the Lightbox Plus admin when going over 100 however.

You can get the latest download of Lightbox Plus at WordPress.org and 23systems or download Lightbox Plus 2.6 directly.

For support please submit a support request  though the support form.  For questions of comments please post a message in the Lightbox Plus forum on my site.

Cherrywood Coffeehouse, Austin, TX

Lightbox Plus is updated to version 2.5.1 which include compatibility with WordPress 3.4 and 3.5 and also updated Colorbox to version 1.3.20. This release includes a major interface overhaul and additional features and options including the ability to position the lightbox in a specific location on a page, the ability to set the position of the lightbox to stay in the viewport even when the page is scrolled, per page usage of Lightbox Plus and the ability to auto-launch the lightbox on page load and specify lightboxes on individual pages.

See the details of the post after the jump for details.

2.5.1

• Fixed php html dom functions that were throwing errors when using other plugins using PHP HTML DOM.

2.5

• Added positioning options
  • Absolute top, right, bottom, left positioning. Now able to specify horizontal and vertical position in viewport as opposed to center only.
  • Fixed positioning that allows lightbox stays on page when scrolled.
• Rebuilt interface
  • Changed interface to a combination of collapsible and tabbed to make it more concise and usable
  • Separate settings into logical groups within tabs
  • Added enhanced instructions and details of usage.
  • Improved and updated demos and tests.
• Page/Post Options
  • Auto launch on page. If auto-launch is set Lightbox Plus will automatically open the first lightboxed item on the page.
  • Per page loading. If per page options are set Lightbox JavaScript will only load for specified pages.
  • Blog/posts only loading. if per page options are set Lightbox JavaScript will only load for specified pages.
• Image grouping
  • Added more control over image grouping
  • Fixed image X of X problem, can disable Image X of X
• Scrolling – If ‘false’ ColorBox will hide scrollbars for overflowing content. This could be used on conjunction with the resize method (see below) for a smoother transition if you are appending content to an already open instance of ColorBox.
• Numerous bug fixes
  • Fixed use WP Caption option. Works with singles images and WordPress built in galleries now.
  • Fixed text links getting lightboxed even of option is not set.
  • Fixed many small issues and text errors.
• Added class check for php html dom classes to prevent stomping on other plugins using the class.
• Updated ColorBox to version 1.3.20
  • Added temporary workaround for jQuery-UI 1.8 bug (http://bugs.jquery.com/ticket/12273)
  • Added *.jpe extension to the list of image types.

You can get the latest download of Lightbox Plus at WordPress.org and 23systems or download Lightbox Plus 2.6 directly.

For support please submit a support request  though the support form.  For questions of comments please post a message in the Lightbox Plus forum on my site.

The privacy-destroying Internet bill (CISPA) goes to vote this Monday (4/23/12), and without massive resistance from the American people,it’s expected to be passed. [8:01]

CISPA: Say Hello to Big Brother!

We need to start contacting our Representatives in Congress directly. Please Share!

• Contacting Congress

More lines of Action after the jump!

Reddit

• Superdopamine: TIME TO MIGRATE FROM FACEBOOK.
• A list of ways to easily contact every company that supports CISPA.

Social Networking

• Permanently Delete Facebook
• Due to popular demand – I’m closing my FB account posters (PSD included)
• Moving to Google+
• Moving to Diaspora
• Original Photoshop Files
• If you dont like Google+ check out Diaspora

ACLU

• ACLU: Tell Congress: No Cyber Spying! No CISPA!

Electronic Frontier Foundation

• EFF: Tweet at your Representatives in Congress
• EFF: Don’t Let Congress Use “Cybersecurity” Fears to Trample on Civil Liberties

Sincerly

(sends a postcard to your reps)

• Protest CISPA: We will Print & Ship Postcards with your message to Congress

AVAAZ

• Avaaz Petition to Congress to kill CISPA. Currently on 651,000 signatures
• Avaaz Petition: To Facebook, Microsoft and IBM – immediately drop your support for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)

Demand Progress

• Tell Facebook: Withdraw Your Support For CISPA | Demand Progress
• CISPA Is The New SOPA: Help Kill It

You Anon News

• @YourAnonNews Come Together to stop CISPA!

Useful Links:

• How to Write Your Congressman

Gravity Forms HubSpot Add-On

I just released a new plugin that is an add-on for Gravity Form which allows leads generated in Gravity Forms to be fed into HubSpot.  The Gravity Forms HubSpot add-on let’s you use the HubSpot Lead API to send your Gravity Forms based landing page leads directly to HubSpot. All you need to do is add one setting and check a box when configuring your forms.  All your form entries will then be added to HubSpot from now on. Integrating with HubSpot has never been so simple.

You can grab the plugin right here:

http://WordPress.org/extend/plugins/hubspot-for-gravity-forms/

From Lightbox Plus (fancy photos) @ Using WordPress

Lightbox Plus Gallery Tutorial

Many thanks to the creator of this wonderful tutorial!

SXSW Interactive

I’ll be at SXSW Interactive later this week. I’m not sure which talks, panels and events I’m going to attend just yet.  I do plan on attending at least one or two of the keynotes – hopefully the Ray Kurzweil conversation with Lev Grossman “Expanding Our Intelligence Without Limit” and Jennifer Pahlka’s “Coding the Next Chapter of American History“.  Quite a few of the featured sessions look good too.

If you’re going too there leave me a comment about what events you might be attending.

The Biggest Fight for the Future - by vagabond

If you care about anything in this modern-day, if you are passionate about it in any way shape or form be it your religious beliefs, freedom of speech, democracy, music, science, social networking, climate change, protesting, books, or, well, anything and you use the internet in some way to participate you really, really ought to pay attention to this. Congress scooted the bill around to act as though it was no longer in play but it is. These bills SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PROTECT-IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) Act would quite literally spell the death of the internet as we know it. Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

From WordPress:

You may have heard people talking/blogging/twittering about SOPA — the Stop Online Piracy Act. The recent SOPA-related boycott of GoDaddy was all over the news, with many people expressing their outrage over the possibilities of SOPA, but when I ask people about SOPA and its sister bill in the Senate, PIPA (Protect IP Act), many don’t really know what the bills propose, or what we stand to lose. If you are not freaked out by SOPA/PIPA, please: for the next four minutes, instead of checking Facebook statuses, seeing who mentioned you on Twitter, or watching the latest episode of whatever it is people watch, watch this video (by Fight for the Future).

Stop SOPA/PROTECT-IP

Stop SOPA/PROTECT-IP

What you can do

Go to Stop American Censorship for more information and a bunch of ways you can take action quickly, easily, and painlessly. The Senate votes in two weeks, and we need to help at least 41 more senators see reason before then. Please. Make your voice heard.