Hello all,
I was assigned with the refactoring of XWiki lightbox (
http://jira.xwiki.org/jira/browse/XWIKI-1689)
As I said in a previous post
(
http://xwiki.markmail.org/search/?q=lightbox#query:lightbox+page:1+mid:gtqk…),
there are 2 options:
1. *Clean up the existing code*
PROS CONS
The current lightbox is already integrated in users & groups management
and...it works so far. The code is messy. There is still a lot of js +
css +velocity + html in the same place. The css has some weird hacks for
ie and mostly don't work as they should.
Honestly, I don't see other big PROS here.... Very limited in terms of
features. It doesn't support skins (the css only allows different colors
or rounded / square corners). And, IMO it looks ugly.
It is difficult to use. To use it for users & groups management I had
to modify the code and add some hacks I'm not very happy with.
It is not at all extensible (or very hard) and this would take a lot
of time.
So, I think the lightbox was good so far but it's time for something
better. This leads me to the second choice.
2. *Integrate an existing lightbox*
There are pleny lightboxes out there, but among the ones that are
based on prototype (and scriptaculous, for the effects) the best I've
seen are:
· Prototype Window:
http://prototype-window.xilinus.com/index.html
· ModalBox:
http://www.wildbit.com/labs/modalbox/
· LightWindow:
http://www.stickmanlabs.com/lightwindow/#demos
*Prototype Window* *ModalBox* *LightWindow*
Small (62 k) Very small (22k) Small (63k)
Resizable Resizable Resizable
Movable Fixed Fixed
Fully skinnable (separate images + css) Customizable through css. Not
easy to theme.
Supports modal windows. Same. Same
Supports all visual Effects of Scriptaculous Supports SlideDown and
SlideUp transitions. Customizable transition handlers (?).
Supports offline + Ajax content. Same. Same.
Has pre-build confirm, altert and info dialogs. Doesn't have. Doesn't
have.
Supports multi-modal windows. Doesn't. Doesn't.
Support to save in cookies the windows status (location -- since is
movable, open, close, hidden etc.) Doesn't. Doesn't.
Has a tooltip add-on. Doesn't. Doesn't.
Doesn't have a photo slideshow included. Doesn't have a photo slideshow
integrated. Has a photo slideshow integrated. Also supports
multi-galleries.
Doesn't support media files. ? Supports all known / used media files.
Works on Safari, Camino, Firefox and IE6. Works on IE6, IE7, Firefox
1.0, 1.5, 2.0, Safari, Camino, Opera 8 and 9. Works on Windows
Firefox/IE6/IE7/Safari3/Opera & Mac Firefox/Safari/Opera/Netscape.
Has a svn, a forum to post bugs / requests for features. Releases are
often. Is a Google project, with frequent releases and bug tracking.
Has a forum (was down when I checked it).
MIT licence MIT licence MIT licence.
XWiki possible usage of lightbox:
- Users & Groups management
- Photo gallery
- Blog posts
- Ajax forms
- Embedded media files or swf animations
- ....
So, based on my brief summary of these 3 lightboxes, I would like to
receive ideas, proposals... since is my second post about the subject
and I think is a nice feature to have.
Thanks,
Evelina