Lightbox issues on touch devices: Webflow still haven't fixed it?

Community resources Bugs
1

Hello.

I want to start out by saying that Webflow is awesome, I love working in it, I recommend it to anyone I come near, and I am generally a happy customer. So keep that in mind, because this will sound a little sour:

Are there currently any news on when the lightbox will be fixed, so that it works properly on touch devices?

There are numerous threads on this issue, dating back at least a year+, and people in the community are starting to create their own workarounds (example here, they work for some, but not for all). But, honestly, is this good enough? We are paying for this product, and we only have this one, single gallery option (I’m disregarding the slider in this instance, because it doesn’t provide thumbs or compatibility with multi image fields, which in itself is an issue for another thread.)

This means, that all of us that have clients that require several CMS pages with different/changing numbers of images on each of the pages, will have to tolerate that the mobile/tablet experience is completely broken: Images are not shown in full width on some devices, images are placed weirdly in top right corner on other, everything behaves oddly when going from portrait to landscape, the whole module completely breaks when zooming to pinch, the rows of thumbs are unresponsive or behaves strangely, jumping crazily around, the site in the background scrolls whilst in lightbox mode.

From my client’s POV this is unprofessional and inadequate. I have to side with them, but the blame lands on me, while both they and I keep paying for our Webflow every month. For this specific site we are talking nearly 70% of all visits coming from mobile, which I don’t think is uncommon at all. An unpleasant user experience like this might be a dealbreaker for some, that are considering buying the product(s) sold.

I would love to get an update on when we can expect this to be fixed, so I will have something to tell my clients.

Kind regards,
Jacob

Here is my site Read-Only: LINK
(how to share your site Read-Only link)

5 Likes
Lightbox on iOS
2

I fully share your opinion. We pay for this service, but it does not work as it should. It is strange that they were silent about this for so long and did nothing. We are waiting for a response from the service staff.

1 Like
3

Hello everyone,

I’m sorry to hear you are encountering issues with Lightboxes on mobile devices. I’d like to take some time to get to the bottom of it on Monday, so if you could please provide me with as much detail as possible on what devices, OS, browsers, behaviors, and etc you are encountering issues that will help me diagnose it more expediently. I’ll search through the forums and related support cases in the meantime and see if I can find some sort of trend.

Thanks,

Josh
Software Quality Engineering Manager
Webflow

4

Hi Josh, thank you. That it very much appreciated.

I tested on iPhone 8, iPhone SE, iPhone XS and iPad 5gen, both Safari & Chrome.
Different versions of iOS, but mostly iOS12.

When in fullscreen mode:

The row of thumbnails act weird.
If you swipe towards the right to see thumbs and tap one to navigate to an image, the row sometimes rewinds to initial position or to an entirely new one.
Happens on all devices I tested on.

Lightbox positions the image strangely.
Sometimes top left, sometimes top right, sometimes cropped by the viewport. It almost aways happens when going from portrait to landscape and back again, but it also happened in tests where I just opened the website on a fresh tab without rotating my device(s).
Happens on both iPhone XS, iPhone SE, iPhone 8.

When going to landscape and pinching to zoom, the Lightbox breaks.
When going back to Portrait, the thumbnails scale down, so that they are tiny and almost impossible to see.
Happens on iPhone SE, iPhone XS.

The images of the Lightbox are not full width, but positioned at the center of the black area.
Happens on iPad, iPhone 8, iPhone SE.

The website scrolls behind the Lightbox when you interact with it.
This results in a different, unexpected position when close the Lightbox by hitting the X.
Happens on all devices I tested on.

Thumbnails (not in fullscreen mode):

The thumbnails are super sensitive.
Just doing a scrolling gesture past them will activate them / open the Lightbox, which does not feel deliberate.
Happens on all devices I tested on.

Looking forward to an update from you.
Have a great day.
J.

1 Like
5

Hey Josh.
Just checking in to see if you saw my reply, and if there are any news on when this could be expected to be resolved?

Best regards,
J.

6

Hey,

Sorry for the delay. I’ve had issues tracking down the root cause, but I’m still actively looking into it. Stay tuned for an update soon! Thanks for all of this great info, it really helps!

7

In addition: Open a lightbox on an iOS device in landscape more. Then turn the device to portrait mode and back again to landscape mode: The lightbox doesn’t resize and centre on the srceen.

9

Hi, @jacoblindblad!

Ben here with the Webflow Customer Support Team!

I’m jumping in here for my teammate, Josh. Thanks so much for pointing these issues out. As you mentioned, some of these are known issues, and I have pinged the team to see if we can get an update on them.

I will say that a couple of things you mentioned do not have open issues (pinch and zoom, scrolling issues). I am going to begin testing on them and work to reproduce those and get them sent over to the team, as well.

I’m super thankful to you for reporting this and bringing it to our attention again. I completely understand how this can be frustrating, and I want to work with you to resolve this the best I can! :D :webflow_heart: I don’t think this sounds sour at all! Ultimately, it’s customers just like you who take the time to provide constructive feedback that helps to make Webflow a better product.

As soon as I have more information, I’ll post back here.

1 Like
10

Hey @rileyrichter.

So, what’s new? It’s been 45 days since we last heard something from you.
Has this issue been put on a roadmap somewhere?

My client is currently holding an Instagram campaign back because of the poor performance of the Lightbox. I would love to get back to them with something and ensure them that they didn’t make a mistake by going with me (and Webflow).

Anything?

3 Likes
12

Hi @rileyrichter @josh any news on this?
I am patiently anticipating any response from you guys.

This issue is very much still a subject for my clients. It would be great to come back to them with something, anything.

Thanks,
J.

1 Like
13

@rileyrichter @josh did you see my message from early January (see above?)

14

@rileyrichter @josh hey guys :slight_smile: Just checking in again. Wondering if you’re perhaps trying to kill this one with silence? Or perhaps you stopped working at Webflow, which would then just mean I’m talking to myself on an internet forum.

15

@jacoblindblad - Maybe it is something you said? :wink:

If you need to solve this problem now I recommend Fancybox 3. Works great and is easy to implement. Commercial license required. Premium JavaScript UI Component Library

16

Hopefully not :grinning: Been trying to stay polite & humble.

Thank you for this, looks great! I’m very much of a noob when it comes to stitching Webflow sites together and even more when it comes to connecting them with other services: Will it be possible for me to connect Fancybox 3 to Webflow CMS fields? Especially multiimage fields?

Have a great day!

17

Here is a read only project with multi-image field on a template page using Fancybox3.

Here is the demo

18

That looks GREAT! Thank you for sharing!

19

Hey again @rileyrichter & @josh. Just bumping this, so it doesn’t auto archive.
Would be good with some news from you at some point, you’ve been silent for coming up on 6 months.

All the best,
J.

20

Following the topic, having the same issues…

1 Like
21

Having the same issues. @jacoblindblad Did you manage to integrate fancybox into your Webflow project?

22

Hey! No, not yet. I have it on my to-do list, but am swamped at the moment. Will revert with an update when I get a chance to sit down and dig into it :slight_smile: