Easy Fancybox is now Firelight!
Yes, we’ve changed the name and brand of Easy Fancybox to Firelight Lightbox! Also Easy Fancybox Pro is now Firelight Pro. This post explains why we’ve made the change, how it will affect users (not much!), and what our road map looks like.
Change of Ownership
First, in case you missed the news, Easy Fancybox (now Firelight Lightbox) was taken over by a new team this year. Obviously, the arrival of new team is a big part of the context for this name and brand change. See the news here: Easy Fancybox Has New Ownership!
Why the Name Change?
Easy Fancybox first launched in 2016 – over 8 years ago. It has been the most popular lightbox for WordPress for nearly as long.
But a lot has changed in that time – for WordPress, for lightboxes, and for the web in general. If we want this plugin to continue to popular and relevant, it also needs to change with the times. What does that mean?
No Longer Just Fancybox. As the name ‘Easy Fancybox’ suggests, the plugin has historically been focused on Fancybox. We plan to include some non-Fancybox lightbox options in the free version and Pro version.
In addition, the plugin currently offers three versions of Fancybox that are nearly identical. New users are often confused as to why all three are included. We will probably look to slowly deprecate Fancybox Legacy (from 2008!) and focus more development on one or two of the remaining Fancybox versions. Ideally, we’d just offer one traditional-style Fancybox lightbox and make it great.
Move Toward Modern (And Mobile First) Lightbox Styles. We will be looking to include a very select number of the top, modern lightboxes today. That means fast – and especially flawless on mobile.
The versions of Fancybox that are included the free plugin are from before 2011. Yes, they still look good and work (mostly) great. But that is a really long time ago. They are from a different, less mobile, era of the web.
Appealing to a Wider Userbase. There are two considerations here. First, most new WordPress users do not know what ‘Fancybox’ is. They look for ‘Lightbox’. We’d like the plugin to have enough general appeal to bring bring those new people into our plugin community.
Second, for people who have been around WordPress for a long time, we all have a pre-biased understanding of what ‘Fancybox’ is. We all imagine the traditional ‘fancybox’ style that has been around for 10+ years. We want to respect that style, but also broaden it.
Our new Firelight Pro Lightbox is built around Fancybox 5, but looks totally different from the Fancybox you are used to. Even Fancybox is modernizing with the times.
In short, we want to broaden the brand away from just ‘Fancybox’ or the traditional Fancybox style, and we think a new name and brand is the right way to signal that to the world.
Will you Still Support the Current Fancybox Ligthboxes?
Absolutely. The only caveat is what I mentioned above: we’re not sure the plugin needs 3 different Fancybox versions that are all nearly identical. So we may slowly deprecate Legacy – which is based on version 1 of Fancybox from 2008. It’s the oldest and least commonly used version.
Both Classic Reloaded and V2 are widely used and we plan to support and to develop those indefinitely.
Do I need to worry About Anything Else Breaking?
Nope. It’s probably the opposite. The plugin is being very actively developed, maintained, and supported now. So you should hope an expect any bugs to be crushed quickly. You should also expect a reasonable pace of new features.
As for this change, the brand update is almost cosmetic at this point. In the code:
- it still says ‘Easy Fancybox’ everywhere
- the plugin is still installed in the easy-fancybox directory
- our text domain is still easy-fancybox
- our class, constant, and method names have not changed
- there are no fundamental changes to plugin logic
Any future changes will be made with a near-obsessive concern about backward compatibility.
2024/2025 Roadmap
If you’ve been using Easy Fancybox for a long time, you’ve already noticed an increase in release cadence. The plugin is being very actively developed.
Along with the name change, here are the other priorities on our agenda:
- Seeking community feedback and feature requests. A lot is changing, and this is a good time to influence development. We welcome feature requests via our contact form or on the lightbox support forums.
- Modernize plugin code. We’re slowly working through the code base to refactor, modernize, and ensure compliance with modern coding standards. We’re doing this work with a big focus on backwards compatibility.
- Basic maintenance. We’ll be doing the active maintenance you’d expect for a hugely popular WordPress plugin.
- Bring the plugin into the Block era. Historically, the plugin has limited integration with the block editor. We’ll be looking to change that by adding Lightbox controls to Image and Gallery blocks, and likely a separate Firelight Popup Block for adding custom modals.
- New lightbox styles. We will be adding 2-3 new free lightbox styles. We’re not yet sure what these will be, but one will likely be PhotoSwipe. We’re looking for modern, mobile-friendly, well-supported lightboxes.
- New Features for Pro Lightbox. We recently launched a new Pro Lightbox. This is based on Fancybox 5, but it’s very unlike the traditional Fancybox styles. And we’ve already started to move past the usual features that are part of the underlying script (our new social sharing and deep linking features are a good example). Other plans include commenting on images, a modal or popup block, and integrations with WooCommerce, Kadence, and other plugins.
Again, we welcome your feedback and feature requests.
Thanks!
Thanks for using the Firelight Lightbox, and for being a member of our community!