The info panel is a sidebar or bottom drawer inside the Lightbox that displays contextual information about the current item — caption, description, EXIF data, tags, sharing buttons, and more. Each block of content can be individually enabled, disabled, and reordered.
Location Gallery Settings → Interactions → Lightbox Settings → Advanced
Show Info Panel #
| Setting | Show Info Panel |
| Options | Always On Click Never |
| Default | Always |
- Always — The info panel is visible as soon as the Lightbox opens.
- On Click — The panel is hidden by default; an info (ⓘ) button appears in the toolbar to toggle it open.
- Never — The info panel is not rendered at all. Use this for minimal, distraction-free Lightboxes.
All other info panel settings are hidden when this is set to Never.
Info Panel Location #
| Setting | Info Panel Location |
| Options | Right Left Bottom |
| Default | Right |
| Visible when | Show Info Panel is Always or On Click |
Where the panel appears relative to the main item.
- Right / Left — The panel sits beside the item as a vertical sidebar. Good for portrait-oriented items or galleries with longer descriptions.
- Bottom — The panel appears below the item. Better suited to landscape galleries or when maximizing vertical space.
On mobile (when Mobile Layout is set to Mobile Optimized), the panel automatically moves to the bottom regardless of this setting.
Info Panel Blocks #
| Setting | Info Panel Blocks |
| Options (multi-select) | Caption Description File Info EXIF Data Share Buttons Copyright / Credit Tags People Location Rating Download Button Custom Fields |
| Default | Caption Description |
| Visible when | Show Info Panel is Always or On Click |
A drag-to-reorder list of content blocks that appear inside the info panel. Only the blocks you enable are rendered, in the order you set. Drag blocks in the list to reorder them.
| Block | Content |
|---|---|
| Caption | The item’s caption text |
| Description | The item’s longer description, fetched from the server |
| File Info | Filename, file size, dimensions, file type |
| EXIF Data | Camera metadata (see EXIF Fields below) |
| Share Buttons | Social sharing buttons |
| Copyright / Credit | Attribution text from item credit or EXIF copyright |
| Tags | Tag chips associated with the item |
| People | People names tagged on the item |
| Location | Location name associated with the item |
| Rating | Star rating widget |
| Download Button | Button to download the image |
| Custom Fields | Custom metadata fields |
EXIF Fields #
| Setting | EXIF Fields |
| Options (multi-select) | Camera Aperture Shutter Speed ISO Lens Focal Length Date Taken Copyright Orientation Flash White Balance Exposure Mode |
| Visible when | EXIF Data block is included in Info Panel Blocks |
Which EXIF fields to show when the EXIF Data block is enabled. EXIF data is read from the image file on upload, or entered manually per item in the item edit modal.
Credit Source #
| Setting | Credit Source |
| Options | Item Credit EXIF Copyright |
| Default | Item Credit |
| Visible when | Copyright / Credit block is included in Info Panel Blocks |
Controls where the credit text is pulled from.
- Item Credit — Uses the Credit field set manually in the item edit modal.
- EXIF Copyright — Uses the
Copyrightfield from the item’s EXIF metadata.
Info Blocks Style #
| Setting | Info Blocks Style |
| Options | Boxed Divided Plain |
| Default | Boxed |
| Visible when | Show Info Panel is Always or On Click |
How the content blocks are visually separated from each other.
- Boxed — Each block has its own background box — visually distinct, card-like.
- Divided — Blocks separated by a thin divider line, no individual backgrounds.
- Plain — No separators or backgrounds — a minimal, fully custom-styled approach.
When using the Custom theme, Boxed exposes an Info Block Background color control, and Divided exposes a Divider Color control. See Lightbox: Custom Colors.
How the Info Panel Loads Data #
When a visitor opens an item in the Lightbox, the caption is available immediately (it’s rendered in the gallery HTML). All other block content — description, file info, EXIF, tags, people, location, credit — is fetched from the server via the REST API (/fotogrids/v1/lightbox/item/{id}).
While data is loading, skeleton placeholders are shown in place of block content. Results are cached for the session so navigating back to a previously viewed item shows the data instantly.
