What’s New in FolioBlocks 1.4

Per-Image Gallery Overrides

Gallery-wide settings remain the fastest way to configure a gallery, but there are times when individual images need to behave differently from the rest.

With the new Pro per-image overrides, individual Image Blocks can override their gallery’s Gallery Click Settings and Gallery Hover Settings.

This makes entirely new gallery workflows possible:

• Open some images in a Lightbox while linking others to a page or product.
• Use different hover styles and overlay content for individual images.
• Display different metadata on featured images.
• Give selected images unique interactions and behaviors.
• Customize click destinations without creating separate galleries.

When an override is disabled, the image returns to using the gallery-wide settings. This provides detailed control without making galleries difficult to manage.

Sync Image Metadata With the WordPress Media Library

Managing image titles, captions, and alternative text is an important part of building accessible and professional galleries.

In previous versions of FolioBlocks, this information could be edited directly inside Image Blocks without affecting the original media item.

FolioBlocks 1.4 adds a new Pro action that lets Image Blocks sync their title, caption, and alternative text back to the WordPress Media Library.

This makes it much easier to keep image information consistent across your website and reduces the need to update the same information in multiple places.

Whether you manage a large photography portfolio, client galleries, or another image-heavy website, metadata synchronization can save considerable time while helping keep your content accurate and accessible.

Faster Category Assignment for Filterable Galleries

We have streamlined the workflow for assigning filtering categories to images and videos in WordPress 7.0.

When gallery filtering is enabled, category assignment controls now appear in the same Content panel as the image or video information. Because this is the first inspector panel shown when selecting an item, assigning categories across large galleries is now faster and more convenient.

Older WordPress versions retain the existing Settings-panel workflow.

A More Powerful Lightbox Experience

FolioBlocks Lightboxes receive several major improvements in version 1.4.

Light & Dark Appearances

Pro users can now choose between Light and Dark Lightbox appearances for image galleries, Video Galleries, and standalone Image and Video Blocks.

This provides greater control over how media is presented and makes it easier to match the Lightbox experience to the design of your website.

Individual images using per-image overrides can also choose their own Lightbox appearance or continue inheriting the gallery setting.

More Lightbox Content Options

Version 1.4 expands the combinations of information that can be displayed inside of an image Lightbox.

New Pro options include:

• Image Title + Caption
• Image Title + EXIF Data
• Image Caption + EXIF Data
• Image Title + Caption + EXIF Data

These options make it easier for photographers and visual storytellers to provide richer context alongside their images.

Fullscreen Mode

Lightboxes now include an optional Pro fullscreen button.

Visitors can enter fullscreen mode using the button or the F keyboard shortcut, creating a more immersive way to view individual images.

Support for Swipe Gestures & Tap to Hide Content

The Lightboxes also now support swipe gestures on touch devices and include a tap to hide content feature where you can tap and hide everything but the image or video.

Simplified Page-Level Controls

Several controls have moved into a shared FolioBlocks panel within the Page and Post settings.

These controls automatically become available when a supported FolioBlocks block is added to the current page.

Disable Right-Click

Previously, Disable Right-Click was configured separately on each block. This often resulted in users repeatedly enabling the same option across multiple galleries on one page.

In FolioBlocks 1.4, the Pro Disable Right-Click setting can be managed at the page level, providing a cleaner and more consistent workflow.

Lazy Loading

The Pro Lazy Load setting has also moved into the Page and Post settings panel.

Because lazy loading is typically a page-wide performance decision rather than a gallery-specific choice, its new location makes the setting easier to find and manage.

Password-Protected Pages

FolioBlocks 1.4 adds password-protection controls to the shared Page and Post settings panel for Pro users.

You can quickly restrict access to an entire page or post, making it easier to privately share galleries with clients, teams, or selected audiences.

Filmstrip Gallery Improvements

Version 1.4 brings extensive improvements to the Filmstrip Gallery.

Filmstrip Gallery now supports the shared Gallery Click Settings, Gallery Click Styles, and Gallery Hover Settingsused throughout FolioBlocks.

It also gains:

• Per-image click and hover overrides
• Image Lightbox support
• Light and Dark Lightbox appearances
• Lightbox content and EXIF display options
• Improved WooCommerce and custom-link behavior
• Better alignment between displayed images and their overlays
• A smooth handoff between Lightbox and Filmstrip fullscreen modes

These additions make Filmstrip Gallery much more flexible while bringing its editing experience closer to the other FolioBlocks image galleries.

Seamless Carousel Looping

Carousel Gallery now includes an optional Pro Loop Carousel Slides setting.

When enabled, visitors can continuously navigate through images without reaching an endpoint. Looping works with arrow controls, keyboard navigation, swipe gestures, and autoplay, creating a smoother browsing experience for image-heavy galleries.

Responsive Gallery Gaps

Version 1.4 introduces a new Pro Variable Gap control for Carousel Gallery, Justified Gallery, Masonry Gallery, and Modular Gallery.

Previous versions used a fixed spacing system. While this worked well for most galleries, many users wanted more control over how tightly or loosely images were displayed.

The new Variable Gap setting allows you to define the exact spacing between images directly from the block settings with options to set independent values for Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile.

This makes it easy to create different visual styles:

• Tight, compact galleries with minimal spacing
• Traditional gallery layouts with balanced gaps
• Spacious editorial layouts with larger image separation
• Consistent spacing across different gallery types

Because the control is now shared across Carousel, Justified, Masonry, and Modular Gallery, it also creates a more consistent editing experience when working with multiple gallery layouts throughout a website.

Expanded Drop Shadow Controls

Drop Shadows have been completely reworked throughout FolioBlocks 1.4.

Previously, enabling a drop shadow applied a single predefined style. While effective, it offered limited flexibility for different design approaches.

Version 1.4 introduces four distinct Drop Shadow presets across all supported image and video blocks:

• Subtle
• Soft
• Elevated
• Dramatic

These presets allow you to quickly match the visual style of your website without requiring custom CSS.

The updated Drop Shadow controls are available in:

• Grid Gallery
• Carousel Gallery
• Masonry Gallery
• Justified Gallery
• Modular Gallery
• Video Gallery
• Image Block
• Video Block

The presets range from understated shadows designed to gently separate content from the background, all the way to more pronounced effects that create stronger depth and emphasis.

Because the same shadow system is now used throughout FolioBlocks, galleries, images, and videos can maintain a consistent visual appearance across an entire website while still allowing each block to choose the style that best suits its content.

Video Gallery and Video Block Improvements

FolioBlocks 1.4 brings Video Gallery and Video Block closer to the streamlined editing experience used by image galleries and Image Blocks while adding several video-specific improvements.

Redesigned Video Hover Settings

Video hover controls have been reorganized to match the controls used by image galleries.

The Hover Style control lets you choose between Default, Blur, and Color overlays.

The new Overlay Content control determines what appears over each video thumbnail, with options including:

• None
• Play Button
• Video Title
• Video Title + Play Button
• Video Title + Play Button + Filtering Category

Overlay content can appear only when visitors hover over a video or remain visible at all times.

Color Overlay settings have also moved into the Styles panel, making it easier to customize overlay text and background colors from one consistent location. Play-button styling has been improved and now inherits the selected overlay color.

Per-Video Hover Overrides

Pro users can now override Gallery Hover Settings for individual Video Blocks inside a Video Gallery.

This makes it possible to use different hover styles, overlay content, visibility settings, and Color Overlay colors for selected videos while the rest of the gallery continues inheriting its shared settings.

Disabling the override returns the video to the gallery-wide configuration without discarding its saved individual settings.

Improved Video Block Editing

On WordPress 7.0, video thumbnails, URLs, titles, descriptions, and filtering categories now appear inside the Content panel.

This brings frequently edited video information together in one convenient location and makes managing larger Video Galleries faster.

Improved Video Lightboxes

Video Gallery and standalone Video Block Lightboxes now support Pro Light and Dark appearances.

Lightbox controls have also been reorganized and renamed to better match those used by image galleries, creating a more consistent editing experience throughout FolioBlocks.

Updated Tutorial Guides

As a part of this release we have gone ahead and updated the tutorials to reflect the features as they are now available. Check out the tutorials here:

• Carousel Gallery Block
• Grid Gallery Block
• Justified Gallery Block
• Masonry Gallery Block
• Modular Gallery Block
• Video Gallery Block

Final Thoughts

FolioBlocks 1.4 is focused on flexibility, consistency, and faster gallery-building workflows.

Per-image and per-video overrides provide detailed control when individual media items need to behave differently, while improved gallery-wide settings keep the everyday editing experience fast and manageable.

Combined with metadata synchronization, richer Lightboxes, page-level controls, Filmstrip improvements, seamless Carousel looping, and redesigned video controls, version 1.4 represents another major step toward making FolioBlocks the most capable gallery system available for the WordPress Block Editor.

We can’t wait to see what you create with it.

Unlock More With FolioBlocks Pro

Build more distinctive galleries with advanced Lightboxes, per-image controls, filtering, WooCommerce integration, custom hover effects, and powerful workflow tools.

Upgrade to FolioBlocks Pro and take complete control of how your images and videos look, behave, and connect with visitors.