Shadowbox JS
Shadowbox is an online media vieiwing application similar to Lightbox and Thickbox but with more functionality. Supports all types of media.
4.6(9 reviews)
·2.0K+ active installs·Updated 8 years agoAs of April 2026, Shadowbox JS is a WordPress JS plugin with 2.0K+ active installations and a 4.6/5 rating from 9 reviews. It has been downloaded 533K+ times in total. Requires WordPress 3.3+ and PHP false+. Available on WordPress.org since 2008. Last updated 8 years ago — may have compatibility concerns. Download volume is stable this week. Top alternative: Clear Cache for Me.
4.6/59 reviews
2.0K+active installs
533K+total downloads
18 yearssince 2008
Overview
Shadowbox is an online media viewing application that supports all of the web’s most popular media publishing formats. Shadowbox is written entirely in JavaScript and CSS and is highly customizable. Using Shadowbox, website authors can display a wide assortment of media in all major browsers without navigating users away from the linking page.
This plugin uses Shadowbox written by Michael J. I. Jackson.
Javascript libraries supported are: None, YUI, Prototype, jQuery and MooTools. Prototype and jQuery are used from the Javascript libraries included with WordPress, YUI is loaded from Yahoo APIs and Mootools is loaded from Google APIs.
This plugin can also be used as a drop in lightbox replacement, without requiring you to edit posts already using lightbox.
By default this plugin will…
Screenshots
Ratings & Reviews
4.69 reviews
5 ★
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1 ★
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Recent Reviews
Love this and use on all my sites
by Suzi Berman·9 years ago
Love this and use on all my sites
PHP Errors, No Recent Updates, No Support
by Salpetriere·9 years ago
It appears that the plugin author has abandoned supporting this plugin, it hasn’t been updated in four years.
The plugin is now creating php errors with that latest few versions of WordPress.
This was a good plugin, it’s a pity that it’s no longer supported.
Best modal window plugin
by ezejaime·10 years ago
I started to use shadowbox js years ago, first in my plain html and php websites and now with WordPress in its plugin version. I’m sad the creators decided to stop supporting and updating it but I understand why they decided to. This is by far the best lightbox-type plugin I used and I tested almost every single of them. I’m still using now in my clients wordpress websites (4.3) and still works like charm. Thanks!
Cool and beautiful!
by oGuitarrista·12 years ago
Beautifies the sample images!
Best lightbox out of the box
by gosukiwi·12 years ago
No configuration needed, works nicely out of the box! Best plugin for lightbox out there.
Download Trends
Today: 3Yesterday: 7This week: 32Period total: 1K
Compatibility
| WordPress | 3.3+ requiredTested up to 3.4.2 |
| PHP | false+ required |
Version Adoption
v3.0
99.2%
v2.0
0.8%
Top Alternatives to Shadowbox JS
Frequently Asked Questions
Changelog
3.0.3.10.2 (2012-04-20):
- Don’t assume that the uploads dir is wp-content/uploads, use wp_upload_dir to get the correct path. This only affects the meta box that informs users where they can manually place the files.
Contributors
Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Analysis and metrics by PluginSift.