Category Image Gallery v2.1.0

AP Category Image Gallery - Release Notes v2.1.0

Release Date: October 11, 2025
Previous Version: 1.8.2

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🎉 Major New Features

🔍 Built-in Lightbox System

• All thumbnail interactions now open in a beautiful, full-screen lightbox
• Never redirects users away from your page - keeps engagement high
• Keyboard navigation support (arrow keys, escape)
• Previous/next navigation for seamless gallery browsing
• Click outside or press Escape to close
• Security enhancement: Direct image URLs are never exposed in browser address bar

📊 Advanced EXIF Metadata Display

• Comprehensive EXIF data extraction and display
• Customizable metadata templates using token system
• Support for camera settings, lens info, GPS coordinates, and more
• Default value syntax: {Token,Default Value} for graceful fallbacks
• Metadata appears as captions in the lightbox

Available metadata tokens:

• {FileName}, {CameraMake}, {CameraModel}, {Camera}
• {LensManufacturer}, {LensModel}, {Lens}
• {FocalLength}, {FNumber}, {ShutterSpeedValue}, {ISOSpeedRatings}
• {DateTimeOriginal}, {GPSLatitude}, {GPSLongitude}, {Copyright}

🏗️ Enhanced Category Hierarchy

• Automatic inclusion of all descendant categories
• Now includes children, grandchildren, and all deeper levels
• More reliable category traversal using get_terms() with child_of parameter
• Perfect for complex category structures

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🔧 Breaking Changes

Attribute Rename

• link_image_to → link_thumbnail_to
• More descriptive and accurate naming
• Migration: Simply replace link_image_to with link_thumbnail_to in your shortcodes
• Functionality remains identical

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✨ Improvements & Enhancements

🖼️ Click Menu Improvements

• "Image" option now always opens lightbox instead of redirecting to image URL
• Maintains consistent user experience
• Works seamlessly with new lightbox system
• Menu styling improved with button support

🎨 UI/UX Enhancements

• Lightbox styling matches modern design standards
• Improved focus management and accessibility
• Better keyboard navigation throughout
• Enhanced visual feedback for interactive elements

🔒 Security Improvements

• No more direct image URL exposure
• All image viewing happens through secure lightbox system
• Users can't access direct image links via right-click or address bar
• Protects your image assets while maintaining great UX

🧱 Layout & Styling

• All galleries now support lightbox regardless of layout type
• Improved CSS organization and maintainability
• Better responsive behavior across devices
• Enhanced focus states for accessibility

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🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed inconsistent lightbox behavior with click menu
• Improved category hierarchy traversal reliability
• Better error handling for missing EXIF data
• Enhanced compatibility with various image formats

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📝 Updated Documentation

• Comprehensive README.md update with new features
• Complete metadata token reference with examples
• New screenshots section showing tiled gallery and lightbox
• Updated examples demonstrating new functionality
• Security benefits clearly documented

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🔄 Migration Guide

For Existing Users:

1. Update attribute name (if used):

   - link_image_to="image"
   + link_thumbnail_to="image"

2. Enjoy automatic improvements:

   • All galleries now have lightbox functionality
   • Category hierarchy automatically enhanced
   • No other changes required

3. Optional enhancements:

   • Add display_meta to show EXIF information
   • Enable click_menu="true" for enhanced interaction

Example Updated Shortcode:

[category_image_gallery 
  category_slug="photography" 
  layout="tiled" 
  click_menu="true" 
  link_thumbnail_to="image"
  display_meta="{FocalLength} | {FNumber} | {ShutterSpeedValue} | {ISOSpeedRatings} -- {Copyright,© Your Name}"]

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🎯 Benefits for Users

📸 For Photographers

• Professional EXIF metadata display
• Secure image presentation
• Enhanced user engagement with lightbox

🌐 For Website Owners

• Users stay on your site longer
• Better SEO through reduced bounce rates
• Professional gallery presentation

👥 For Visitors

• Smooth, intuitive image viewing experience
• Fast navigation between gallery images
• Rich metadata information when available

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🧪 Tested Compatibility

• WordPress: 5.0+ (tested up to 6.3)
• PHP: 7.4+ (tested up to 8.2)
• Browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge (latest versions)
• Themes: Compatible with all standard WordPress themes
• Mobile: Fully responsive on all devices

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🔮 Coming Soon

• Additional layout options
• More metadata tokens
• Performance optimizations
• Advanced filtering capabilities

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🙏 Acknowledgments

Thank you to the WordPress community for feedback and suggestions that made this release possible. Special thanks to photographers and gallery enthusiasts who provided real-world testing scenarios.

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📞 Support

• Documentation: See updated README.md
• Issues: Report on GitHub repository
• Questions: Community support via WordPress forums

Happy Gallery Building! 🎨📸

Category Image Gallery v1.0.0

This is the first public release of the AlwaysPhotographing Category Image Gallery plugin.

It automatically generates WordPress image galleries based on post categories, supporting multiple layouts:

• Tiled (Justified) layout similar to Jetpack’s “Tiled Gallery”
• Collage (Metro) layout with dynamic spanning

✨ Key features

• Category-based automatic image sourcing
• Draft-aware linking (visible but unlinked for non-logged visitors)
• Custom row height, gutters, and panorama detection
• Responsive, lazy-loaded, and SEO-friendly
• Optional click-menu (“View image” / “Read post”)
• MIT Licensed — open-source and extendable

🔧 Minimum Requirements

• WordPress 6.0+
• PHP 7.4 or higher

📦 To install:

1. Download the ZIP from the Releases page.
2. Upload via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Activate and insert the shortcode [category_image_gallery ...].