Another release candidate for Simple Lightbox is here and ready for testing!

This release is focused on a final tightening of the screws and ensuring consistent behavior across mobile and desktop browsers. Read on for the truly mind-blowing details.

Revisiting The Responsive Theme

Initially the plan for SLB’s responsive themes was to always be optimized on mobile devices (full-screen, finger-friendly UI, etc.), even if the site’s own WordPress theme was not responsive itself. This made the lightbox easier to use and looked a lot nicer on smaller screens.

A bit of hoop-jumping was required to make this work on sites that were not mobile-optimized to begin with, and as more mobile platforms were tested, it was looking like even more hoops were in SLB’s future due to inconsistent behavior across mobile browsers. With the prospect of adding more and more hacks to SLB, I began to wonder why I was so concerned with a mobile-optimized layout if the site’s own WordPress theme wasn’t.

Good question.

As of this release, SLB’s responsiveness takes a cue from the site’s WordPress theme. If the WordPress theme is optimized for mobile devices, then SLB’s themes will be as well. If the WordPress theme is not responsive, then SLB’s lightbox will look and act just like it does on desktop browsers.

I would love for SLB to be optimized on all devices by default, but ultimately, I think it’s better to let you— the site owner– decide how responsive your site (and lightbox) will be.

IE 8, Ain’t it great!

No, it’s not.

I would like nothing more than to ignore legacy browsers and focus solely on modern browsers. Unfortunately, nearly a quarter of users on the internet are still using Internet Explorer 8 so it was necessary to make sure SLB worked well on it.

We’re all well aware of IE8’s deficiencies, so I won’t go into the gritty details of the work involved, but the bottom line is that SLB now enjoys full functionality in IE8.

But really, if you are using IE8 (or lower???), life could be so much better. You’re welcome.

Finally Final?

I’m itching to get SLB 2.0 officially released so that I can focus on some new features that I’m pretty excited about. As long as there are no major issues, the next release should be the final one.

As ever, your feedback has made SLB better with every update, so please continue to send in those reports if you find anything amiss.

So what are you waiting for? Download Simple Lightbox now!