Ok so the only person that I know of to be “long awaiting” this plugin is myself. I’ve had it on the drawing board for over a year now.

I worked on a commercial project a few years back that built and utilized a database of events throughout history to display “Today in History” results. That venture slowly went belly-up so here I was with this database of Tens of Thousands of events that had been so painstakingly added to this database, so what could I do with them.

Well today is the answer and fulfillment of that question. I give you the Today In History Widget so that you can display interesting facts and figures for your readers. So I hope you will enjoy this plugin, and if you do feel free to send us your questions or comments, and if it is working well for you I hope you would consider donating to help further the development.

On the heels of a major Social Crowd plugin update last week we have a new release to increase the capabilities of this remarkable little plugin.

One of the most frequently requested networks for addition to Social Crowd, was the Linked In Business Social Network. And after reviewing copious amounts of documentation we found an easy way to add support for that network.

So that’s about it folks, you can now show off the number of Connections that you have made with the Linked In Network right on your WordPress homepage or sidebar. But we should note that the nature of this addition (like the Google+ integration) is in a BETA state, and should perform for you, but if you have any problems please feel free to Contact Us and let us know so we can address the issue.

On the heels of the maintanance release of our Browser Blocker Plugin, we announce the major and long awaited update to our Social Crowd plugin.

After many months and numerous requests from Social Crowd users, we have worked hard to make this amazing plugin even easier to use for everyone out there.

When we initially designed this plugin it was aimed at theme designers or advanced developers that would integrate the social crowd stats into their designs, so it came with no default styling or graphics. But after several emails from clients it was apparent that there were many users that wanted to use the stats, but not have to worry about learning how to integrate the php functions with their theme/site.

Additionally there have been many requests for additional social networks, and although we have not thus far been able to fulfill all of the requested social network integrations, this release is our first effort at expanding the initial set of social networks available with this plugin.

Social Crowd 0.5 enter stage right.

New Features:

Google+ Stats (Beta Support) – This will allow you to display the number of people that you have in your circles, as well as the number of people that have you in their circles. It is beta support because Google doesn’t officially provide a way to capture this data, so if they decide to change the main page layout it could break this feature.

Social Crowd Stats Widget – Lots of questions have come in asking why the stats and icons didn’t show up once the plugin was installed. Well as noted above the plugin was initially for theme developers that could utilize the plugins php functions directly. But it became increasingly evident that this was not the core group that wanted to use this plugin.

So with this release there are included two separate plugins, a basic and an advanced plugin, the basic plugin is straight forward, with very few options to configure. The advanced plugin gives the user a much deeper level of control over the content of the widget.

Short Code Support – Yes a shortcode has been created that will allow the user to display the stats they want anywhere on any post or page that they create inside wordpress. Anywhere that you can use a Short Code you can use this code to simplify your life.

Well there you have it, the major changes to the Social Crowd Plugin. Get it today to start growing your Social Crowd.

When I say Lightbox the word may conjour up many different images in your mind, possibly 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), or as in the context of this post, a website feature that brings the chosen content front and center before the user.

Lightboxes are all the rage, and most web designers find some use for them on their websites so that they can make effective usage of available pixels, get clients to interact more effectively, or just plain make their site pop with some engaging effects. Whatever your usage may be, lightboxes are definitely a ubiquitous part of the Web 2.0 experience.

With that in mind 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, but unfortunately that resource has not kept up with all the changes that have happened in the Lightbox world, so I have taken it upon myself to find and review many of the 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+ Lightbox Clones and what makes them tick.

Top 10 jQuery Lightbox Clones

Top 10 MooTools Lightbox Clones

Top 10 Prototype Lightbox Clones

Top 10 Lightboxes that use their own Javascript Effects Library

Top 9 YUI (Yahoo) Lightbox Clones

WordPress 3.3 has just recently been released, and with that release comes the ability to make your content a little more… timeless. For years the basic permalink structure on wordpress contained the year and month, or possibly even the day of your blog posts. But not all blog posts are time dependent. Unless you are a News organization or have a very specific reason for having information on your site that is specifically tied to a date, you probably don’t want your information to be tied to a date. And research shows that when people see dates in urls on google or other search engines, regardless of how relevant the content may be (because it’s timeless info) the users tend to pick other options that don’t look so… well… old.

But with the advent of wordpress 3.3 you now have the ability to have just the post name/title as the permalink structure element.

But obviously you can’t just make the change without loosing all the incoming links that are pointed at posts using the old permalink structure. Well fortunately for all of us Joost de Valk over at Yoast.com has built a quick and easy solution for you.

Use this tool that he has built to generate a 301 redirect line to add to your .htaccess file, after adding it to your .htaccess file Login to your backend and change the permalink settings to the “Post Name” option, and you are all set. Timeless content is now YOURS!!

Original Post on Yoast.com

One very interesting item that we discovered about the YUI Lightbox selection was that unlike the other javascript libraries, developers using the YUI library (for the most part) seem to be oblivious to the thought that other developers may have implemented lightbox functionality for the library already. This has led to an amazing lack of variety in the names of these different Lightbox Clones. So when you see several items with the same name…. it’s not my fault.

 1: Awesome Box

Awesome Box starts off our top 10 list, not only for it’s slick effects and overall finesse. But that this amazingly awesome little lightbox clone has a sweet name. Awesome Box leverages some unique effects to give a unique feel that other Lightbox Clones fail to achieve. So although it lacks the ability to display content other than images, Awesome Box makes images look really good.

Awesome Box supports:  Images, Image Sets

2: YUI Lightbox

YUI Lightbox is a simple image viewer script that sports some fairly standard functionality as far as lightboxes are concerned, one unique feature is that the lightbox will only close by clicking on the “close” icon in the upper right corner of the window.

YUI Lightbox Supports: Images

3: YUI Gallery Lightbox

YUI Gallery Lightbox, like the rest of the YUI lineup thus far in that it only supports images, but it does that very well. It is a complete port of the Lightbox 2 project to the YUI Library.

YUI Gallery Lightbox Supports: Images, Image Sets

4: PhotoViewer 

PhotoViewer, with its sweet effects and unique capability, offers some stiff competition to many of the other Lightbox Clones that pepper the interwebs. Some of the unique features that PhotoViewer has are the ability to load a Flickr RSS feed or run a timed slideshow.

PhotoViewer supports: Images, Image Sets

5: Lightbox with the help of YUI 2

Lightbox with the help of YUI 2 (LBWTHOY2) is a simple lightbox with some unique features and design. LBWTHOY2 has the ability (I assume given the image above) to load a Flickr feed (or single images), or to load AJAX Content and Inline Elements.

Slidewindow supports: Images, Inline Elements, AJAX Content

6: YUI Simple Lightbox

YUI Simple Lightbox appears to have borrowed some of it’s functionality and styling from YUI Lightbox (#2 above). Although it has been extended to allow for image sets, and does have a nice simple interface.

YUI Simple Lightbox supports:  Images, Image Sets

7: ShadowBox

ShadowBox is another unique lightbox, unlike most other lightboxes this script uses not just the YUI Library, but rather has the ability to run on many different javascript libraries, jQuery, Mootools, Prototype, and others. It also sports some great features and customizability.

ShadowBox supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Flash, Video

8: Another YUI Lightbox 

Another YUI Lightbox, Yes I added “Another” to it’s name to hopefully distinguish it from all the other “YUI Lightbox’s”. Like most of the rest of the YUI crowd this Lightbox Clone only supports images, but it does offer a unique design over the other contenders.

Another YUI Lightbox supports:  Images

9: Lightbox for YUI 3

Lightbox for YUI 3 in true YUI from only supports images, and image sets. Nothing very different or standoutish here, just a good solid script

Lightbox for YUI 3 supports: Images, Image Sets

 You may ask, “Where is number 10″? Well, from our research this appears to be the sum of it. We would love to add a 10 to the list, so if you find one that we have missed please drop us a note and we will get it added to the list. 

Thanks for joining us for this rundown on Lightbox clones that use their own Javascript libraries. And a big thanks to planetozh.com for publishing The Lightbox Clones Matrix which helped considerably with our research on previous posts…. but not so much on this one.

 1: Slimbox

Slimbox is a lightweight lightbox that is an exact copy of Lightbox 2 but for mootools, both lightboxes being authored by Lokesh Dhakar. Slimbox is known for being small, effective, and fully customizable. Being only 4 Kb in size, it is a very quick and convenient method to feature your images.

Slimbox supports:  Images, and Image Sets

2: Multibox

Multibox is an amazing and multi-featured lightbox that can do some pretty sweet stuff. Phatfusion, alsoknown as “Made By Jam”, created Multibox to be completely full-featured, usable and accessible. They include several methods in navigating galleries and content, even keyboard shortcuts making the viewing experience that much more pleasurable.

Multibox Supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Flash, Various Video Objects

3: Mediaboxadvanced

Mediaboxadvanced, created by John Einselen boasts to be an all in one solution, being capable of displaying your content how you want to. Now with their release of version 1.3.4 they also provide support for HTML5 players and compatibility with mobile devices. For beginners they also supply plenty of examples to implement Mediaboxadvanced.

Easybox Supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, Video, Flash

4: CeraBox

CeraBox is the alternative lightbox, doing everything you need it to and being your alternative to any other. It has a large feature set, and with the release of their newest version, they now have added support for mobile devices even including finger gestures.

CeraBox supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Video, and Flash

5: Milkbox

Milkbox is another lightbox clone but expanded. It does everything you would expect a normal lightbox to do and with style. Luca Reghellin, Milkbox Creator, provides us an easily customizable, user-friendly and HTML5 ready option to handle your basic lightbox tasks.

Milkbox supports: Images, Image Sets, Flash

6: Bumpbox

Although Bumpbox may not be the sexiest lightbox out there, it definitely competes for the most simple to implement. Not only is it quick to get set up, but it uses an auto-detection method to determine what content is being displayed. This is a great feature, especially for those of us who are considered noobs.

Bumpbox supports:  Images, Iframes, Video, Flash

7: ImageZoom

Have you ever wanted to view content both from inside of a lightbox and out at the same time, but got frustrated because you couldn’t? Well Bert Ramakers is here to change that all around with a new lightbox called ImageZoom. This clone allows you to view several images at once, also allowing you to drag the image out of the way so you can view whatever content may be underneath. Definitely makes for a cool user experience.

ImageZoom supports: Images, Image Sets

8: Litebox

The goal of Tyler Mulligan in developing this lightbox was size reduction. Weighing in at only 3 Kb Litebox is one of the smallest and “Lite” lightboxes around.

Fancybox supports:  Images, Image Sets

9: Smoothbox

Smoothbox is a beloved and well established lightbox clone. It is very easy to setup and very customizable to fit with any site. I have used it many times and it is a personal favorite of mine, hope you enjoy it as well.

Smoothbox supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content

10: Quickbox

Quickbox finishes up our list of Mootools Lightbox Clones with its unique ability to quickly jump from one image to the next. Andrew Plummer has done a great job at making this one of the quicker more stable lightboxes here.

Quickbox supports: Images, Image Sets

Thanks for joining us for this rundown on Lightbox clones that use the Mootools Javascript Framework. Also a big thanks to planetozh.com for publishing The Lightbox Clones Matrix which helped considerably with our research.

Bugfix: There was a bug in the 0.1 release, where many times when you would submit changes from the Advanced Settings page, it would display an error message even though the changes were submitted correctly.

Added Feature: One request was to provide the option to remove/restrict the options that were displayed on the splash screen, for users of offending browsers to click on and download the newly selected browser to their computer. This feature has now been added so you can select the download options that are displayed to your offending visitors.

Screenshot of new feature

Thanks Scott and Amazing Christian Songwriter Becki for your suggestions and feedback.

Stay tuned for more changes/features in the near future.

 1: Floatbox

Floatbox starts off our top 10 list, for it’s amazing features and overall finesse. This clone is also amazingly configurable, and stylable, so you can match it to the look and feel of your website.

Floatbox supports:  Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Flash, Video

2: Greybox

Greybox sports a very simple yet elegant interface, it beautifully displays your content. It has a limited scope, with images and iframes, but it’s simplicity also ensures some low overhead clocking in at only 22K

Greybox Supports: Images, Image Sets, Iframes

3: EnlargeIt!

Enlargeit! is a pretty slick lightbox clone. It has some amazing customizability allowing you to change almost every aspect of the look and feel

EnlargeIt! Supports: Images, Image Sets, Iframes, Ajax Content, Video

4: Highslide

Highslide like EnlargeIt! has a sweet zooming animation, and a small footprint, as little as 8.5K. This clone has some unique features that make it a good nitch clone.

Highslide supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Flash

5: Slidewindow

Slidewindow is a pretty good all around lightbox clone. And it is extremely small, weighing in at a minisqule 9.4K. It is a good choice for many, especially if you want to keep your overhead low

Slidewindow supports: Images, Image Sets

6: Lytebox

Lytebox has a gorgeous interface and some great features. And although it isn’t as lightweight as some of it’s friends on this list, it makes up for that with it’s great features.

tinyLightbox supports:  Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Flash, Video

7: ShadowBox

ShadowBox is another unique lightbox, unlike most other lightboxes this script uses not one single javascript library, but rather has the ability to run on many different javascript libraries, jQuery, Mootools, Prototype, and others. It also sports some great features and customizability.

ShadowBox supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Flash, Video

8: Lightbox+

Lightbox+ is another highly customizable lightbox clone, that as you can see from the screenshot above can even add overlay images on top of your lightbox content.

Lightbox+ supports:  Images, Image Sets

9: Lighterbox

Lighterbox is a very quick and dirty lightbox script with no frills, but that translates into low overhead, and it clocks in at just 7.7K. This is a great script for sites that are concerned abou their page load speed.

Tinybox supports: Images

10: SubModal

Submodal finishes up our list of Lightbox Clones with it’s simple design and great utility. It has the common feel of a window in your operating system, so it is easy to use, and familiar to your site visitors.

pirobox supports: Ajax Content

Thanks for joining us for this rundown on Lightbox clones that use their own Javascript libraries. And a big thanks to planetozh.com for publishing The Lightbox Clones Matrix which helped considerably with our research.

 1: Lightview

Lightview is an innovative lightbox that came from the brain of its author Nick Stakenburg. Lightview’s unique and elegant style combine to give an amazing presentation, which is uniquely lightview.

Lightview supports:  Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content, Flash, Video

2: Fancy Zoom for Prototype

Fancy Zoom is a port of the original Fancy Zoom script so that it will run on the prototype framework. It has a flavor that is uniquely Fancy Zoom. Appearing to “Zoom” out from the associated content on the page, this script really brings your page alive.

Fancy Zoom Supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Flash, Videos

3: Lightwindow

LightWindow is one of the most advanced Lightbox scripts that I have used. With extensive support for different content types, LightWindow is a truly amazing script.

LightWindow Supports: Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, Ajax Content, Video, Flash

4: Litebox

Litebox is a rewrite of Lightbox 2 script, with an emphasis on reducing the overall size of the script. The script is backwards compatible with all the lightbox 2 commands

Litebox supports: Images, Image Sets

5: Lightbox 2

Lightbox 2 the latest revision of the grandaddy script that started it all, is a simple lightbox that focuses on displaying images, and does it well.

Topup supports: Images, Image Sets

6: Hoverbox

Hoverbox is quite a unique script. Unlike most of the available lightbox scripts, Hoverbox includes many additional features, like Tooltips, Movable Windows, Multiple Window Styles, Windows on Hover Over, and the traditional Modal Window.

tinyLightbox supports:  Images, Image Sets, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content

7: Prototype Window

Prototype Window is another unique lightbox, unlike most other lightboxes this script uses the Apple window style for it’s theme, and allows you to use it in the same manner, ie: Multiple Windows, Resizable, Shade (roll up) the window, Zoom to Full Screen, etc. The main question is with most of these other functions… does Prototype Window qualify as a lightbox? You Decide.

Thickbox supports: Images, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content

8: ModalBox

ModalBox is another unique lightbox script. Instead of displaying content in the usual popup overlay box, ModalBox drops from the top of the page to grab the attention of your users. A very neat Lightbox clone.

Fancybox supports:  AJAX Content

9: TinyBox 2

Tinybox 2 is a very quick and simple ajax script that focuses on AJAX content. What it lacks in extra features it makes up for in agility and lower overhead, less than 5K of additional load time.

Tinybox supports: Images, Inline Elements, Iframes, AJAX Content

10: Simplebox

Simplebox finishes up our list of Lightbox Clones with its amazingly simple design and ease of use. Weighing just a bit more than our last entry at 6.8K it is still amazingly small.

pirobox supports: Inline Elements

Thanks for joining us for this rundown on Lightbox clones that use the Prototype Javascript library. And a big thanks to planetozh.com for publishing The Lightbox Clones Matrix which helped considerably with our research.