Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others vs PopupAlly

Photonic takes the WordPress gallery and super-charges it with a lot of added functionality. It adds support for several new sources and parameters to enhance the content and look-and-feel of your galleries. It supports Flickr photos, Albums (Photosets), Galleries and Collections, along with SmugMug folders, albums and images, and Zenfolio photos, Photosets and Groups. You can also set up authentication so that visitors can see private and protected photos from each provider. When used without the Gutenberg editor Photonic by default overrides the gallery shortcode. In case you happen to be using a theme or plugin that already overrides the gallery shortcode, Photonic provides you with the option to use your own shortcode for Photonic galleries. This lets your plugins coexist. Bear in mind that if you deactivate Photonic you will have to remove all instances of this custom shortcode, something that is not required if you stick to the gallery shortcode. When used with Gutenberg Photonic creates no shortcodes, rather it creates blocks. If some of your posts were written with Gutenberg and some without, Photonic supports both scenarios. Lightboxes Of all plugins free or paid, Photonic has support built in for the highest number of lightbox scripts. This includes scripts that run on pure JavaScript without relying on external libraries, or those that require jQuery. Pure JS Libraries BaguetteBox BigPicture “Gie” Lightbox (GLightbox) LightGallery PhotoSwipe v4 PhotoSwipe v5 Spotlight VenoBox jQuery Based Libraries Colorbox Fancybox2 – not GPL, so the script is not included with the plugin. See the Lightboxes page for details Fancybox3 Featherlight Image Lightbox Lightcase Strip Swipebox Thickbox Obsolete Libraries Fancybox 1 – no update since November 2010 Magnific Popup – no update since February 2016 PrettyPhoto – no update since May 2015 For the non-GPL alternatives like Fancybox2 and the obsolete libraries, Photonic has code to work with them, but you have to install the scripts yourself or rely on them from your theme or another plugin. With the exception of Thickbox the lightboxes have been adapted to become touch and gesture-friendly. See the Lightboxes page for details. Support for Multiple Platforms Flickr The following Flickr concepts are supported in Photonic: Photos PhotoSets (Albums) Galleries Collections Single Photo Authentication For demos of Flickr support visit the Flickr page. Google Photos Google API Change:** With effect from 31st March 2025, Google’s Photos API is discontinued (see here for Google’s official announcement). Consequently, Photonic will stop working for Google Photos**. For more details, see this thread. Note that while Google’s official announcement says otherwise, as of 20th April 2025 the API is still working, so older versions of Photonic will seem to work. However, there is no guarantee about when Google will truly shut it off. SmugMug The following SmugMug concepts are supported in Photonic: User Tree Photos Albums Folders For demos of SmugMug support visit the SmugMug page. Zenfolio The following Zenfolio concepts are supported in Photonic: Photos PhotoSets (Galleries and Collections) Groups Group Hierarchies For demos of Zenfolio support visit the Zenfolio page. Instagram In mid-September 2022 Meta / Facebook / Instagram changed its rules to disallow individual developers (i.e. developers not operating as a business) from meaningfully using its API. As a result, Photonic no longer works for Instagram photos. The code is still in place though, and can be used by someone with a business wishing to adopt it. Native WordPress Galleries Your existing galleries are left intact. However you can add a style parameter to a native gallery to open it up to Photonic. The style parameter can take any of the values documented on the Layouts page. Other Photonic Goodies Gallery Wizard The WordPress Classic editor shows up with a button that says “Add / Edit Photonic Gallery”. Clicking on it launches a wizard that helps you interactively build out a gallery with just a few clicks. Gutenberg Support The Gallery Wizard can be accessed via Gutenberg / the Block Editor as well. While creating a block, just look for Photonic. Please refer to the documentation. Video Support Photonic provides gallery and lightbox support for videos as well. Videos of the following sorts are supported: External videos from YouTube or Vimeo can be opened in any of the lightboxes apart from Image Lightbox, Thickbox or BaguetteBox Self-hosted or external videos in MP4 formats can be opened in any of the lightboxes apart from Image Lightbox, PrettyPhoto, Strip or Thickbox Videos hosted by external service providers (Flickr, SmugMug etc.) can be opened as a part of a gallery in any of the lightboxes apart from Image Lightbox, PrettyPhoto, Strip or Thickbox. Some lightboxes have issues with specific features. Please refer to the Lightboxes documentation for more. Deep-Linking and Social Sharing Photonic provides deep-linking support for non-WP images, and by extension, supports social sharing to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Beautiful Layouts Photonic displays your galleries in multiple forms: A grid of square thumbnails (the default) A grid of circular thumbnails (like Jetpack) A neat justified grid A masonry layout A “horizontal” masonry layout, for those who prefer having their masonry layouts sorted horizontally A tiled, random mosaic (a much improved variant of the Jetpack Tiled Gallery layout) A slideshow, using the Splide script See the Layouts documentation page for details and examples. Obsessively Comprehensive Documentation (OCD) Photonic’s documentation is comprehensive to the point of obsession. And yet, if you find something missing, please feel free to get in touch via the support forum.

If you’re looking to grow your list, then PopupAlly is the no-fluff free WordPress popup plugin for you. With built-in advanced features this lightbox popup plugin allows you to build your list as people are about to exit your website. Exit-intent popups allow you to capture lost visitors and have been shown to increase conversion by over 300%. PopupAlly allows you to create advanced popup signup forms in under 5 minutes, even if you don’t know code. PopupAlly’s visual editor allows you to customize the look-and-feel of your popups with an instant preview, saving you lots of time. Beyond popups, with PopupAlly you can also design an optin box that’s embedded anywhere on your site like in your sidebar, below your blog posts, or under your header as a horizontal opt-in. Premium Support The AccessAlly Team does not monitor the WordPress.org forums for the free popup plugin, but you’ll find our extensive tutorials will help you get started fast! Hands-on concierge email support is available to PopupAlly Pro plugin customers. Click here to see why we created the premium version with all of the extra feature requests we received! It’s even more intuitive and quick to design beautiful drag-and-drop customized popups and multiple types of embedded opt-ins, too. It’s well worth your investment! How PopupAlly Can Help You Build Your List Faster Let’s take a look at the different features that make PopupAlly worth adding to your site… and the many ways that this free popup and optin box plugin can help you build a strong subscriber base. Mobile Friendly Popups and Opt-in Forms PopupAlly and PopupAlly Pro are both mobile responsive, which means that you don’t have to worry about bad user experience for those on tablets or mobile phones. With PopupAlly, each template comes in 3 sizes that are easily tweaked to look good on smaller screens. With PopupAlly Pro, you can add an unlimited number of screen sizes, so if you wanted to show a totally different opt-in form or popup on a different device – you could do that! Horizontal Opt-In Forms Ever wanted to have a horizontal optin form across the top, bottom, or below the navigation section on your WordPress website? Now you can! With PopupAlly you can use the horizontal optin box template and have people joining your list without taking up a ton of real estate on your site. Plus, PopupAlly is compatible with any theme – so it will look good and fit with your existing set up. Time Delay and Exit-Intent Popups Not sure about using a popup on your site? With PopupAlly, you can choose when a popup appears… whether it’s after a certain amount of time of your site, or right before someone is about to leave. The exit intentionality feature is extremely effective, because it doesn’t interrupt your readers and visitors but it helps you capture their attention and their email address, before it’s too late! Why PopupAlly Should Be The Popup Plugin You Choose “PopupAlly should be THE popup that people install. It’s so much nicer and less intrusive than all of the other popups I’ve seen… even on big name sites. They should totally have PopupAlly instead of the one they have!” – Davina Fear Why You Should Consider Upgrading to PopupAlly Pro If you’ve been using our free PopupAlly plugin, then you already love the awesome exit intent functionality and the ability to create popups as well as embedded opt-ins… and you might be wondering what’s included in our premium version to justify the upgrade? We have a full side by side comparison of the two versions here. On top of the incredibly flexible drag-and-drop design templates that allow you to customize your opt-ins to your heart’s content… we’ve also included new ways to customize the user experience. You can create mini-surveys, have unlimited opt-ins, more polite popups, and much more. Click here to find out why you should consider the upgrade. Here’s a sneak peek at what new functionality you can expect when you upgrade: Drag-and-Drop Design Editor For Fully Customized Optin Forms Create Popups Of Any Shape (Circles, Transparent, You Name It!) Scroll Activated Box and Popups That Appear in Any Corner Click To Open Popups for a 2-step opt-in (shown to increase conversions!) Floating and Embedded Horizontal Optin Bars (Top or Bottom for a HelloBar Alternative) Smart-Subscriber Recognition For More Polite Popups Show Different Opt-Ins On Specific Pages And Blog Categories Reader Decision Points & “Yes Or No” aka Mini-Survey Popups Statistics Tracking and Split Testing Add Videos, Social Media Sharing Code, or Anything Else to Your Popups Customizable Popup “Contact Forms” With Any Number of Fields That Sends an Email Support for Multiple Languages Bonus Marketing and List Building Training Step-by-Step Video Tutorials, with One-on-One Email Technical Support PopupAlly Free WordPess Popup Plugin Is Compatible With All Major Email Marketing Providers PopupAlly is extremely flexible and integrates all of the major email marketing platforms, including and not limited to: MailChimp, AWeber, ConvertKit, Keap, Infusionsoft, Ontraport, ActiveCampaign, Drip, GetResponse, ConstantContact, CampaignMonitor, TotalSend, Emma, iContact, MailerLite, MadMimi, MailPoet, FeedBlitz, and any other email marketing systems that provides HTML opt-in code! Choosing The Right Email Automation Platform You do need to use an email marketing tool to collect email addresses through PopupAlly. If you haven’t yet picked an email marketing automation platform then you’ll benefit from our CRM comparison guide. Check out the video tutorial on how to integrate MailChimp and AWeber with PopupAlly: What Our Customers Love About PopupAlly Pro “I can’t believe I waited this long to get PopupAlly Pro. It’s leaps and bounds beyond and above anything else that I’ve tried. I’m just discovering it now but the features and display options are WAY cool. Thank you!” – Nathalie Guerin Check Out Our PopupAlly Step by Step Tutorials This simple popup plugin is pretty intuitive, but we’ve also written extensive step-by-step tutorials to help you get up and running faster so you can get back to business. With PopupAlly you can easily customize the look and feel of your lightbox popup, starting with the headline text, adding an image, and changing the colors to match your website’s design. Then you decide if you want the popups to appear after a timed delay, or right before someone is about to leave your site. You also decide how often your popup should re-appear if someone closes it, so it doesn’t annoy your visitors! Find Out Why PopupAlly Was Featured In Entrepreneur.com “PopupAlly resulted in a 32% increase in our conversion rate and more than tripled our email database in two months.” -Adam Callinan, Entrepreneur.com At AccessAlly, we understand what it’s like to outgrow your systems. We’ve helped 100,000+ business owners scale on their terms. In fact, AccessAlly provides training to over 2,578,387 end users. We’re proud to have created a combination of a MemberPress alternative and LearnDash alternative that to create both membership sites and online courses that scale. You can get in touch with us through our contact page. If you use one of the following email marketing platforms, then you’ll love AccessAlly’s membership sites integration and added functionality for: ActiveCampaign LMS ConvertKit Membership plugin Drip LMS Infusionsoft LMS Ontraport LMS Download AccessAlly‘s free WordPress popup plugin and increase your optin subscriber rate today!