The best way to look at photos on the Interweb

On March 9 2006 · 2 Comments · In Photography

ScreencapI’ve just discovered this new toy, which I love so much I feel the need to spread the word. It’s a Firefox extension called Greased Lightbox, that makes photos (from Flickr, Google image search, anywhere on the web) look beautiful. What happens is quiet simply that when you click on a thumbnail image which is linked to a larger photo, the larger photo is loaded onto your page on its own, and the background is blanked out. It allows you to see the photo without having to load a new page, and see it presented in a way that does it real justice.

To install this extension takes three steps…

  1. Install the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox – a very useful extension which allows for further installation of extra ‘widgets’ to customise your web browsing.
  2. Restart Firefox. The little Greasemonkey Greasemonkey symbol in the bottom right of your Firefox window should be smiling, which means Greasemonkey is on.
  3. Install the Greased Lightbox user script from shiftingpixel.com – it looks like a load of gobbledygook when it comes up, but click on the button in the top right of your window that says ‘Install’ and it will install Greased Lightbox in a flash.

Next, just go to Flickr or your favourite photo site, and click away. I guarantee pictures look 200% sexier.

While I’m having a geek-out, I may as well mention two Firefox extensions that are well worth having:

  • NoScript blocks JavaScript code used by any web site, which is the root cause of most irritating advertising, as well as potential security risks. Very easy to use, and allows you to ‘whitelist’ web sites so they work properly – if you trust them, that is.
  • IE Tab allows you to view pages in Internet Explorer, but as a Firefox tab. Good for online banking and other services that won’t work in Firefox.

Bleep bleep. Nerdy urges satisfied.


Possibly related posts:
Tagged with:
 
  • http://www.amyallcock.com Amy

    Cool tool – Flickr pictures really do look sexier! I just installed a nifty GreaseMonkey script for coComment that allows you to keep track of all of the comments you make on external sites – blogs, Flickr, etc. It’s handy to have a record of the comments you’ve made and it’s a great way to keep the conversations going.

  • http://www.spikydog.com/ Nathan

    Hi Amy,

    I like the idea of the coComment script and will be giving that a try… it’s certainly tricky if you get into a lot of blog-based conversations to keep up.