Add a Custom jQuery Lightbox To Blogger

If you are not satisfied with the default Lightbox set up by Blogger, here's another amazing way to show off your pictures. If you've missed out, I have already shown in one of my posts how to customize the Blogger Lightbox by changing the background color, borders or the text color, but this tutorial will show you how to replace it entirely with a cool jQuery Lightbox plugin that is very popular among bloggers.

What this Lightbox does, is to display larger versions of the images that will pop-up into a larger box once we click on them, and allows us to easily navigate through that set of photos by using the previous and next buttons.

To see it in action, please visit the following demo blog and click on any picture to enlarge it.

Demo Blog

Adding jQuery Lightbox to Blogger

Step 1. From your Blogger Dashboard, click on Template > Edit HTML

Step 2. Click anywhere on the code area and press the CTRL + F keys to open the search box. Paste the following tag inside the search box and hit Enter to find it:

]]></b:skin>

Step 3. Choose one of the Lighbox styles from below and paste the CSS code just above the aforementioned ]]></b:skin> tag:

Custom Blogger Lightbox with White Background

#jquery-overlay{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;z-index:90;width:100%;height:500px;}
#jquery-lightbox{position:absolute;top:10%;left:0;width:100%;z-index:100;text-align:center;line-height:0;}
#jquery-lightbox a,#jquery-lightbox a:hover{border:none;}
#jquery-lightbox a img{border:none;}
#lightbox-container-image-box{position:relative;background-color:#fff;max-width: 960px;max-height: 560px;margin:0 auto;}
#lightbox-container-image{padding:10px;}
img#lightbox-image {max-height: 540px;max-width: 940px;}
#lightbox-loading{position:absolute;top:40%;left:0%;height:25%;width:100%;text-align:center;line-height:0;}
#lightbox-nav{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;height:100%;width: 100%;z-index:10;}
#lightbox-container-image-box > #lightbox-nav{left:0;}
#lightbox-nav a{outline:none;}
#lightbox-nav-btnPrev,#lightbox-nav-btnNext{width:49%;height:100%;zoom:1;display:block;}
#lightbox-nav-btnPrev{left:10%;float:left;}
#lightbox-nav-btnNext{right:10%;float:right;}
#lightbox-container-image-data-box{font:10px Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:#fff;margin:0 auto;line-height:1.4em;overflow:auto;max-width: 940px;;padding:0 10px 0;}
#lightbox-container-image-data{padding:0 10px;color:#555;}
#lightbox-container-image-data #lightbox-image-details{width:70%;float:left;text-align:left;}
#lightbox-image-details-caption{font-weight:bold;}
#lightbox-image-details-currentNumber{display:block;clear:left;padding-bottom:1.0em;}
#lightbox-secNav-btnClose{width:66px;float:right;padding-bottom:0.7em;}

Custom Blogger Lightbox with Dark Background:

#jquery-overlay{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;z-index:90;width:100%;height:500px;}
#jquery-lightbox{position:absolute;top:10%;left:0;width:100%;z-index:100;text-align:center;line-height:0}
#jquery-lightbox a,#jquery-lightbox a:hover{border:none}
#jquery-lightbox a img{border:none;}
#lightbox-container-image-box{position:relative;background-color:#000;max-width: 960px;max-height: 560px;margin:0 auto}
#lightbox-container-image{padding:10px;}
img#lightbox-image {max-height: 540px;max-width: 940px;}
#lightbox-loading{position:absolute;top:40%;left:0%;height:25%;width:100%;text-align:center;line-height:0}
#lightbox-nav{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;height:100%;width: 100%;z-index:10}
#lightbox-container-image-box > #lightbox-nav{left:0;}
#lightbox-nav a{outline:none}
#lightbox-nav-btnPrev,#lightbox-nav-btnNext{width:49%;height:100%;zoom:1;display:block}
#lightbox-nav-btnPrev{left:10%;float:left}
#lightbox-nav-btnNext{right:10%;float:right}
#lightbox-container-image-data-box{font:10px Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:#000;margin:0 auto;line-height:1.4em;overflow:auto;max-width: 940px;;padding:0 10px 0}
#lightbox-container-image-data{padding:0 10px;color:#fff}
#lightbox-container-image-data #lightbox-image-details{width:70%;float:left;text-align:left}
#lightbox-image-details-caption{font-weight:bold}
#lightbox-image-details-currentNumber{display:block;clear:left;padding-bottom:1.0em}
#lightbox-secNav-btnClose{width:66px;float:right;padding-bottom:0.7em}

Step 4. Now find the following tag and just above it, add the below scripts:

</head>

Script for Lightbox with White Background:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/custom-lightbox-for-blogger.js' type='text/javascript'/>

Script for Lightbox with Dark Background:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script src='http://helplogger.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/custom-lightbox-for-blogger-black.js' type='text/javascript'/>

Step 5. Click on the "Save template" button to save the changes.

Finally, we need to disable the original Blogger Lightbox so that it doesn't interfere with this one that we just added: go to "Settings" > "Posts and comments" and on the right side, you will see the "Showcase images with Lightbox" section > select "No" and click on the "Save settings" button on the upper right side.