New website gallery storage module to replace PhotoSwipe, written in Lua

Scorpi · November 18, 2025, 9:20pm

Here is the latest source.

I rewrote the modal view to use touch events and CSS transitions instead of scroll events. This fixes scroll issues in some browsers. The JavaScript part scales better with large galleries.

Now there is also a zoom function to show the current image in 1:1 mode. Just click or tap on it to zoom in, click or tap again to zoom out.

The gallery should now be feature complete compared with the current photoswipe implementation. I’ll fix some minor internal issues and create a PR afterwards.

I’d be glad to get feedback for this new version.

Installation:

Unpack the archive, run ./install.sh (Linux/BSD/macOS only) and restart darktable.

If you installed it for the first time, you need to run (or restart) darktable and enable the module in the Lua script manager (bottom left corner in the light table). If you don’t have the Lua script manager enabled yet, follow the instructions at darktable lua documentation - installation

dt_gallery.zip (10.8 KB)

Scorpi · November 26, 2025, 9:27pm

I finally created a pull request to add the export module to the lua-scripts repository. You might use this to get the latest code. I’ll not post any updates in this thread anymore. The preferred place to discuss this feature is now the pull request on Github. Of cause, you can still ask any questions, send feedback or make suggestions here on pixls if you don’t have a Github account.

github.com/darktable-org/lua-scripts

Website gallery replacement

master ← scorpi11:website_gallery

opened 09:09PM - 26 Nov 25 UTC

scorpi11

+1070 -0

This export module should replace the PhotoSwipe copy in darktable. See https…://github.com/darktable-org/darktable/issues/16205 for more details. The module is called "website gallery (new)" and needs to be enabled in the script manager. I implemented all features that are present in the PhotoSwipe gallery: - export of thumbnail versions of each image - a scrollable gallery view of all images using the thumbnail files - a modal view of the selected image and navigation elements to switch to the next/previous image - counter and keyboard navigation in the modal view - a zoom function to switch to a 1:1 representation of the image in modal view - also works locally using file:/// URLs I did not use any external components/libraries, as these often require npm or similar build tools. The website only consists of static files, except for the image data generated during the export process. The website consists of ~500 lines of JavaScript, compared to more than 4000 lines in the PhotoSwipe variant. The Lua script uses exiftool if available to get the image dimensions of the exported image. If exiftool is not available, image dimensions might be off by some pixels. This only affects the frame of the thumbnails in the gallery view, which might show additional empty lines at the borders of the thumbnail image. The website code is designed to be usable on large displays with high resolutions as well as in small browser windows and on smartphone screens. Keyboard navigation uses the space and arrow right keys to switch to the next image, as well as backspace and arrow left to switch to the previous image. The escape key can be used to leave the modal view. On touch screens, swipe left/swipe right gestures can be used to change the images in modal view. This version is intended to provide the necessary technical features. The look and design are a first draft and might be subject to improvements. Translations are currently missing. I have some future plans for additional features: I want to let the user choose one of several optical styles in the GUI that are implemented in separate CSS files. The user could even create his own CSS styles which will be picked up at start. Optical enhancements for the gallery and modal view would be nice. Patches from developers with better skills in web design are welcome. Pinch-to-zoom using touch gestures could be added to the modal view. The export script could add metadata about each image to the gallery which will be shown in modal view and/or in the gallery. Navigation elements in the modal view could be changed to overlays that will only be shown after mouse/touch events.

Scorpi · December 18, 2025, 5:38pm

The PR was merged into the official lua-scripts repository. If you use this, it would be nice if you give it a try and report back.

So far it is only tested on Linux. I tried to make all file operations portable so I’m interested in reports from macOS and Windows users. If you encounter any issues, please run darktable with the -d lua option and provide the output.