When I say Lightbox the word may conjour up many different images in your mind. You may imagine a white highly lit background to photograph objects on. Perhaps even a literal box with a light in it like those pictured to the left (Gus Modern Lightbox). In the context of this post a Javascript Lightbox is a website feature that brings the chosen content front and center before the user.
Javascript lightboxes are all the rage. Most web designers find some use for them on their websites so that they can make effective usage of available pixels, or just plain make their site pop with some engaging effects. Whatever your usage may be, lightboxes are definitely part of the Web 2.0 experience.
There are also a myriad of different options out there, and it can be very difficult to find the right one that works just right for your situation. I have been very grateful for the hard work that was put in over at planetozh.com for their creation of the very useful Lightbox Clones Matrix. Unfortunately that resource has not kept up with all the changes that have happened in the Javascript Lightbox world. Here I have taken it upon myself to find and review many of the Javascript Lightboxes that have been updated or newly released since the publishing of that great matrix.
So with that let’s get to it, so in no specific order, other then the order that I add them let’s take a look at the top 49+ Javascript Lightbox Clones and what makes them tick.
Top 10 jQuery Javascript Lightbox Clones
Top 10 MooTools Javascript Lightbox Clones
Top 10 Prototype Javascript Lightbox Clones
Top 10 Javascript Lightboxes that use their own Javascript Effects Library
Top 9 YUI (Yahoo) Javascript Lightbox Clones