If I post an image into a page or a post, and I want a reader to see a larger version of that image, I sure don’t want them to have to leave the page to see that image. FancyZoom is a simple way to add the FancyZoom image overlay script to your blog or website. In short, FancyZoom is a nice, modern way of making popup images without forcing people to leave the page. FancyZoom is super fast, and will usually pleasantly surprise the reader (cause it makes it look like you have your act together).

How It Works

Basically it will use an overlay to show the image directly on the post that the image is linked from and animates it to make it a little more… Fancy.. You put a thumbnail image in your post and link to the full-size image. If a user clicks on the thumbnail, the full-size image zooms in over the current window. When the user clicks on the zoomed picture, it goes away. Want to see it in action? Check out this photo of my hometown – Winston-Salem, NC (via @nosamk)

Downtown Winston-Salem Sunset

Cool Features

So you might be wondering: “Why should I use FancyZoom?” Well, here’s why!

• Focused on the smoothest, most polished zooming animation possible
• Automatically scales images from any image link, with no HTML changes
• Preloads full-size images in the background on link mouseover
• No resource-heavy Javascript libraries — 100% coded from scratch to zoom
• Draws a nice drop shadow under the full-size image to offset it from the page
• Uses Safari 3’s “box-shadow” feature to draw the drop shadow natively, no images required
• Requires only two new lines of code in your HTML
• Tested and works with Safari, Firefox, IE7, and IE6. (Looks better in modern browsers.)

Fancyzoom is easy to install on your website, whether it’s a Wordpress website or not. Just head over to FancyZoom.com and download it. Or check out the Wordpress Plugin version.

I’m glad I installed it on my blog. Do you use another plugin on your site to manage your photos? If so what do you use and why?