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© 2011 Effortless eBook Writing Blog
WordPress has many useful features that we know nothing about. I always share with you some of them. One of the features that I really like is the thumbnail gallery feature I shared it with you in this post:
How to Insert a Thumbnail Gallery Into your WordPress Post or Page
By using this feature, you can insert thumbnail images and display them this way:
The thumbnails are displayed beautifully and attractively. But there is a problem. When someone clicks on a thumbnail, s/he will be taken to a new page to see the full size image. If the person wants to see the other images, s/he will have to click on the Back button of the web browser to find the thumbnail gallery. The visitor needs to repeat this in order to see all images in full size. This is a real hassle, isn’t it?
What are the solutions?
There are two as far as I know. First, you can ask the person to open the thumbnail in a new tab. For untechy people, this is not easy. And it is a hassle for techy people as well especially in this ultra-busy world. Second, you can allow visitors to open each thumbnail in a lightbox window. They don’t need to open the thumbnail in a new tab or page. They’ll just click and see the full size image in a beautiful lightbox window. This is an example:
Great isn’t it?
To have something like this on your blog, you need to install a plugin called Lightbox 2. I installe this plugin before on my blog and it didn’t work well. Now there is a new version and it is just great. To install the plugin, follow these steps:
- Click on Plugins and then Add New
- Write the name of the plugin (Lightbox 2) and click on Install Now
- Activate the plugin
Now you have the plugin installed and activated. All you have to do is change the options if you want to. Follow these steps to do that:
- Click on Settings
- Click on LightBox 2
Here are the plugin options:
You can change the lightbox appearance. You have 4 colors to choose from. White, grey, dark grey and dark. You can also choose to allow the plugin to automatically resize large images.
That’s all you have to do!
Now, just insert the thumbnail gallery into a WordPress page or post, click on one of the thumbnail and see the plugin in action.
Make sure you read the other post about the thumbnail gallery to know how to insert it first. Here is a thumbnail gallery for you to see how the plugin works:
Cool isn’t it? 
That’s all for today. Opening full size image in a new page or tab is really annoying especially if you have a lot of thumbnails. This is the best solution in my opinion. What do you think? Let me know in the comment area below.
Have a great week!
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What Do you Think of This Post?
Please do share your knowledge by leaving comments. If you don’t agree with something on this post or you have something to add please consider leaving a comment. Thanks a lot in advance. Before you leave
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Hey Mouh,
I wondered how they did that. I was scratching my head over this same thing not long ago. I should have just asked you to begin with because I knew you would know how to do this. I’m happy you wrote this post explaining just that.
So thank you so much for sharing this with us. Great job my friend.
Will definitely be sharing this post.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..Why Free Information Is Sometimes More Expensive
I knew about the plugin before. I even installed it but it didn’t work well on my blog. Now the new version works just great here and I am happy with the result.
I am pleased you like today’s post. Thanks a lot Adrienne!
Mouh
Hey Mouh,
That’s a pretty neat plugin. thanks for the insight.
Akos
Akos Fintor recently posted..3 Basic Principles to a More Awakened You!
Glad you like it, Akos.
Thanks for stopping by.
Mouh
Now, I could finally add a thumbnail gallery in my post. But I wonder if I could adjust the spacing of each thumbnail. What I mean is if I could put 3 or more thumbnail pics in one line? Could I also adjust the thumbnail size? I hope you could actually answer some of my questions! Thanks!
Yes, you can do that. You can place 3 or more thumbnails in one line. In the thumbnail gallery settings, you can choose how many columns you want to show. Check this post and you’ll know how to do that:
http://blog.effortlessebookwriting.com/how-to-insert-a-thumbnail-gallery-into-your-wordpress-post-or-page/
About the thumbnail size, I believe you can change it. It is all up to the default thumbnail size you choose to have. To change the size, check this post to learn how to do it:
http://blog.effortlessebookwriting.com/how-to-change-default-image-sizes-in-wordpress/
Hope this answers your questions, Audery.
Have a nice day!
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..How to Get Hundreds of Targeted Followers on Twitter Part 2
Thanks for letting about these posts of yours. I’ll try it by myself too to see how it really goes. At least now I know that I can do some changes for this one cause I’ve seen some plugins that changing the features are pretty difficult to do. Unless I do the coding stuff maybe but I’m pretty clueless on that part. Anyway, thanks for the links! I already opened it and will study the process.
Don’t mention it.
Good luck and let me know if you need anything.
Hi Mouh, This is great information. You’re right, whenever people click on a link in your blog, it should open a new window/tab. Thank you so much for letting us know about this valuable plugin!
Carolyn@The Wonder of Tech recently posted..Inkling: The Future of Textbooks
Glad you like it Carolyn!
Yep, it is easier with this plugin. You don’t have to go back and forth just to see all the thumbnails.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..Who Wants This?
Hi Mouh
How’s it going mate?
Another great post and content Mouh, I love visiting your blog Mouh I learn something on each visit.
I especially like this, I have always wanted to be able to do this but never got round to finding out about it. I am bookmarking this page for future reference Mouh.
I am getting a nice little directory created on my PC of the bookmarked posts Mouh
As always mate thanks for sharing the information Mouh and I will be sharing it around.
I might just have given an answer to your Add-on issues Mouh so you can consider updating to Firefox 7.01! ha-ha
Take care, catch up soon
Ian
Ian Ieba recently posted..Firefox Add-Ons and “7″ Reasons to be Cheerful and Upgrade
Thanks a lot Ian! I appreciate everything you do.
I see the title of your blog post and it seems like you discussed a solution to one of my problems. I do believe your solution is effective. The proof is that I have just downloaded the latest version of Firefox before reading the post.
I am sure you won’t let me down!
See you very soon!
Mouh
Mouh,
This is great. I needed this a while back. I tried and tried to figure out how to do this. Finally ended up with another solution which worked but this is a really great way to set up thumbnails in a nice organized fashion and make it so people do not have to leave your page to see them.
I love it.
Thank you for showing us this. Again a really great valuable post.
~Dee Ann Rice
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..CommentLuv Premium Goes Live
Glad you like the post and the plugin. It is really great. I love it too. It can help you with other images, not just thumbnail gallerias. Other images can be opened in a lightbox window if you want to.
This solution is the best for thumbnails, I think. A great solution from WordPress, the best blogging platform. The lightbox plugin makes the gallery more beautiful and easier to check.
