LMDM Lightbox Image Caption

WordPress ships with a native Lightbox-Effect for image blocks. This plugin adds one tiny additional option to the core image and gallery blocks: Show Caption.

When the toggle is enabled, the native lightbox receives the current image alt text as a data-img-alt attribute on the enlarged lightbox figure. A small frontend CSS then displays that value as a caption overlay inside the lightbox image.

Please note: The caption text is taken from the image alt attribute.

The toggle is only available when the native Lightbox-Effect is active. If the lightbox is disabled or the image is linked somewhere else, the caption option is disabled as well.

Plugin Features

✔ adds a new toggle Show caption to the core Image block
✔ adds the same toggle to the core Gallery block
✔ the toggle can only be enabled when the native Lightbox-Effect is active
✔ ships with German translation files for the editor toggle
✔ uses the image alt attribute as value for data-img-alt
✔ adds the attribute only to the enlarged image figure in the lightbox
✔ supports galleries by passing the gallery setting to the nested image blocks
✔ outputs the value with a lightweight frontend CSS pseudo element
✔ uses no new block and does not replace the existing Image or Gallery blocks

1. Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/lmdm-lightbox-image-caption directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen in WordPress.
3. Open a post or page in the block editor.
4. Add or select an Image or Gallery block.
5. Enable the native Lightbox-Effect first.
6. Enable Show caption in the Lightbox panel.