Webflow is targeted at designers who want maximum control over layout, styling, and behavior - so complex pre-made elements generally don't make the cut.
You build them instead.
A photo gallery is typically built with;
- a CMS collection for your photos, captions, tags, credits...
- a Collection list to display those photos
- laid out using a CSS grid
- often using the lightbox element to display a larger view
Grid layout is popular, and the simplest to implement, but there are other layout options too...
Gallery Layout Options
Those will involve a deeper understanding of how HTML & CSS work, and often the use of a free javascript library to take care of certain implementation details.
Here are some common layout options;
- Grid Layout ( CSS grid ): Images are arranged in a grid of rows and columns. This layout works well when you have a lot of images to display and you want users to be able to see many images at once.
- Masonry Layout: Images are arranged in a grid, but the rows and columns aren't necessarily uniform. Instead, images are arranged like bricks in a wall, filling in gaps as needed. This can create a visually interesting layout, especially when your images are of different sizes or aspect ratios. In Webflow this can be built using column flow CSS or masonry.js.
- Carousel or Slider Layout: In this layout, one image is displayed at a time, and users can navigate through the images by clicking on arrows or using a navigation dot/bar. This layout can be useful when you want to highlight each image individually. Webflow's slider does not have CMS integration so if you want to store your images in the CMS, use Finsweet's CMS Slider.
- Collage Layout: In a collage layout, images are arranged in a more freeform way, similar to a collage. This can create a visually interesting and dynamic layout, but it can also be more complex to implement. Typically this is done manually, or if the CMS is used, you'd use javascript to randomize image placement.
- Justified Layout: Similar to masonry, but all the images in a row are adjusted so they have the same height. This layout is often used by Flickr and Google Photos.
In all of these layouts, smaller images are shown, so if the purpose is to showcase the photos, designers will often use Webflow's Lightbox element to display a larger view on click.
In lightbox mode, the rest of the website is dimmed, allowing the user to focus on the image. Users can then navigate through the gallery while in the lightbox view.
Resources
