WePOP – Gutenberg Gallery & Video Lightbox
Have you ever had multiple galleries on one page, only to find all the images mixed together in the slideshow?
Most lightbox plugins treat every image on the page as one big group. The only way to separate them is to add shortcodes, manually set attributes, or dig into plugin settings. It works—but it’s a pain.
WePOP solves this automatically.
Place WordPress Gallery blocks as you normally would. WePOP detects each gallery independently and creates separate slideshows for each one—no extra steps required. Switch grouping modes with a single click in the settings screen.
This plugin was built by a web professional with 23 years of hands-on site-building experience. Every feature exists because it was needed in real production work.
The Problem WePOP Solves
Imagine a restaurant site with three galleries on one page: food, interior, and staff photos. With most lightbox plugins, clicking any image opens a slideshow that mixes all three groups together.
Fixing that usually means:
* Adding rel attributes to every image manually
* Writing shortcodes around each gallery
* Installing a separate gallery management plugin
With WePOP, you don’t do any of that. The Gallery block structure you already built is all it needs.
What Makes WePOP Different
Gutenberg-native grouping — no manual work WePOP reads your Gallery blocks as distinct groups. Each gallery gets its own slideshow automatically. One click in the settings switches between three modes: * Gallery Blocks Mode — each Gallery block is its own slideshow (recommended) * All Images Mode — all images on the page grouped together * No Grouping Mode — every image opens individually
MP4 video popups — no YouTube required Host your own product demos, property tours, or company introduction videos. WePOP opens MP4 files directly in an overlay—no uploading to YouTube or Vimeo, no embedding restrictions, no third-party branding. YouTube and Vimeo are also supported when you need them.
Reacts only to media links WePOP only activates on links that point to image or video files. Navigation links, buttons, and logos are completely ignored—no false triggers, no need to manually exclude things.
Captions that don’t cover your photos Alt text captions appear in a dedicated strip below the image, not overlaid on top. On portrait shots and tall images, your photo stays fully visible. In slideshow mode, captions slide in sync with each image.
Per-image disable toggle Need one specific image to open in a new tab instead of a popup? Flip the toggle in the image block sidebar. No code, no class names to remember.
Keyboard and accessibility ready Escape closes any popup. Arrow keys navigate galleries. All controls include proper labels for screen readers. Works well for corporate, government, and accessibility-conscious projects.
Supported Media
- Images: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, webp, svg
- Video services: YouTube, Vimeo
- Direct video files: MP4
Who It’s For
- Photographers and portfolio sites — multiple series on one page, each staying in its own slideshow
- Restaurants and hotels — food, interior, and room galleries that don’t mix
- Businesses — product or service videos hosted on your own server
- Web designers and agencies — a reliable, low-maintenance lightbox that works across client sites without conflicts
Built Without Baggage
No jQuery. No front-end framework. WePOP runs on plain JavaScript, which means it doesn’t conflict with your theme or other plugins, and it won’t slow your site down. Core Web Vitals stay clean.
Documentation & Support
Popup Trigger Rules
WePOP activates only on links that point directly to supported media files or video URLs. Regular links, navigation, and non-media elements are not affected.
Supported media types: * Image files: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, webp, svg * Video services: YouTube, Vimeo * Direct video files: MP4
Where links are detected:
* Default: On posts and static pages, WePOP looks inside the main content area only (<main>, .entry-content, or #content). Header, footer, and sidebars are not included.
* Extended: Enable Front page & blog home in settings to also load on the front page and blog index, and to detect links across the entire page on posts and pages.
* Manual exclusion: Add the wepop-disable class to any link or wrapper element to skip it.
Popup Mode Settings
- Gallery Blocks Mode — Images inside each Gallery block form their own independent slideshow. Images outside gallery blocks open individually. This is the recommended setting for most sites.
- All Images Mode — All qualifying images within the detection scope are grouped into one slideshow.
- No Grouping Mode — Every image opens in its own popup with no navigation.
Language Support
Admin interface is available in: Japanese, English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Simplified), Italian, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil).
Feedback
If WePOP saves you time on a project, a quick rating on WordPress.org goes a long way. It helps other site owners find it and supports continued development. Thank you.