Really awesome Squarespace plugin: Lightbox Anything
Squarespace is a very capable website design platform. Right out of the box it’s capable of just about anything most websites need.
However, even more functionality can be added to the platform through the use of plugins. The features this adds to Squarespace varies quite wildly. Some are quite simple, tweaking small things, and some affect huge changes to the look, feel, and function of a website.
Today I want to share one of my favorites: The Lightbox Anything plugin.
To be clear, I am not being paid for this endorsement, nor am I offering affiliate links. Not that I’m against it… I just haven’t figured out how to do that yet, to be honest… unlike designing websites, running a business is still rather new to me.
The Lightbox Anything plugin works on both Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1 websites. However, as it requires JavaScript to run, a Squarespce Business plan or higher is required to use this plugin.
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Lightbox Anything
The Lightbox Anything plugin was developed by Omari and Dmitri over at Sqsp Themes, and is one of many great plugins they have. This particular plugin is one of the most widely used Squarespace plugins there is.
What does it do?
The Lightbox Anything plugin allows you to…well… put anything in a lightbox. A lightbox, just for reference, is basically a popup within the current website, like a small window into another website (or document, video, picture, etc) that can be shown without leaving the current website, and without opening a brand new browser window. Any website, page, video, picture… you name it, this plugin can most likely do it.
This is especially useful for showing content from somewhere else on the internet, without taking the user away from your website, which, for many reasons, you don’t want to do.
How is this useful?
Well, I can only give you the example of how I use it. At the moment, I’m not actually using it here on this website. However, I’ve used it on several other websites I’ve designed.
For example, I use it on my church’s website to pop up a page that contains a form to sign-up for events. Squarespace’s form builder allows you to collapse the form into a single button, but that form only exists on that page. If I wanted the same form on other pages, I would have to create an exact copy of it on another page, which can be tedious and time consuming. And if I make a change to one, I have to go change all of them if I want them to match. So instead, I add the form by itself to an otherwise empty page, and then use the Lightbox Anything plugin to show the page with the form when a button is clicked. That way I can simply add a button to any page that pulls up the page with the form. And when I change that form, it changes on all the pages where the Lightbox Anything plugin pops it up.
I’ve also used the plugin to pop up a small window to display videos or pictures, and even PDF documents at the click of a button.
The bottom line
This simple functionality makes the Lightbox Anything plugin one of the most widely used and versatile Squarespace plugins out there. I highly recommend giving it a try.
If you design websites for more than one person, you should consider a business license, which will allow you to add the plugin to multiple client sites.
Enjoy!
WAS THIS HELPFUL?
Do you think this tweak is dumb? Or did it save you a bunch of stress? Any other anchor link tweaks you have to share? Just leave a comment at the bottom of the page! 👇
Elevate user experience on your Squarespace site by implementing smooth scroll behavior for anchor links. Learn how to effortlessly add this CSS tweak to create a seamless transition when users navigate to anchored sections of your website. Follow this simple tutorial for a smoother and more engaging browsing experience.