Gallery image captions : do not display on hover and SEO

[Paul_S1]

Hi,

In a gallery, when I switch off (grey) "Display Caption On Hover", the caption still shows on my website when I leave my mouse over it. Why is that ?

As there is no Alt text for images in a gallery (what a shame), does the caption play any role in SEO ?

Is it what is called "image title text" ? Because it is not a real caption, such as the caption in the single image element, that shows under the image as a normal text.

Thank you !

[Adam7]

After turn off the option, did you re-publish your site @Paul_S?  I believe the title is added to the link you click to view the lightbox of the gallery image.

[Paul_S1]

Yes I did republish (I have just tried again).

But I have figured out how the caption settings work :

- If you turn ON "Display Caption On Hover" AND choose partial or full thumnail, the caption shows on top of the image (with a coloured filter) only when you put the mouse over it.

- If you turn OFF "Display Caption On Hover" AND choose partial or full thumnail, the caption always shows on top of the image.

- If you choose lightbox only, the caption never shows on top of the image (no matter if "Display Caption On Hover" is ON or OFF).

- The caption always shows below the lightbox image.

BUT my problem is that when you hover over the image, the caption always shows in a pop-up rectangle, whatever the previous settings (at least with Firefox and Opera).

Which means it shows if "Display Caption On Hover" if OFF, and it shows a second time if "Display Caption On Hover" if ON !

It is bad because :

- it hides part of the image,

- it hides part of the proper caption (if "Display Caption On Hover" if ON),

- it does not add any information, as the caption is already displayed (on the thumbnail and/or below the lighbox),

- it shows the html that I use to edit the caption (bold, small, etc).

Is there a way to stop this please ?

By the way, it does not happen with the single image elements...

Thank you !

[Paul_S1]

I checked, and it does the same with Chrome, but not Internet Explorer.

I think it is because the caption is recorded as the image so-called "title attribute".

[Carine]

I have it happen in Internet Explorer too!

[Adam7]

Thanks for testing, @Paul_S. I'll take this to our engineers so they can investigate.

Have you tried any of the third party solutions in our App Center?

https://www.weebly.com/app-center/search/gallery

[Adam7]

I did a little more testing, and I can't get what you described to happen in FireFox (captions showing on second mouseover even though it's set to light-box only).

What site are you seeing this on?

[Paul_S1]

Check on http://test-site-paul.weebly.com/

3 sets of photos :

- 1st are single images.

- 2nd is a gallery set to thumbnail full, hover off.

- 3rd is a gallery set to lighbox only, hover on.

[Adam7]

Ok, so it seems like the only one doing something strange is the second example, where captions are set to full, but hover is turned off.  It's showing the captions like it's supposed to, but it shouldn't be using the hover effect (this was in Safari, Chrome, and FireFox on macOS Sierra).

[Paul_S1]

Anything we can do about it ?

[Adam7]

I've got a ticket open with our engineers about it, but haven't heard back yet.  The styling of the hover is different for each theme, so if you switch to another the hover effect wouldn't be as dramatic as the blue overlay you're seeing right now.

[ChrisHurrell]

Is there any follow-up on this? It is clearly a fault in urgent need of correction, and contrary to previous suggestion in this thread, appears regardless of the gallery settings. Setting the caption to appear on hover, merely causes the intented hover caption to appear, and then this fault as well. 

Exacerbating the issue for us, It reads captions merely as text not as code, creating particular problems for us as we are using html formatted and linked captions here:

http://www.linhaygallery.com.au/about-hellen.html

Also, again contrary to previous suggestion, the question of image styling per theme has nothing to do with it. here is a dummy gallery in one of weebly's standard themes http://tanartstest.weebly.com/

Please escalate this issue with Weebly's Engineers. 

Thanks

Chris

[Adam7]

I have a ticket open with our engineers about this but I haven't had an update yet. As far as using HTML code for the caption, I'm fairly sure that it's not rendering as code by design.

There are some third party galleries in our App Center which are worth checking out - these might work better for you than our element for how you want it to work:

https://www.weebly.com/app-center/search/gallery

[danielholeman]

The Weebly Gallery uses a (modified?) version of FancyBox.

If you turn DISPLAY ON HOVER - Off, the "Caption" still displays on hover without clicking the image even though it is set to "LightBox Only"

According to my research, this is because the Weebly version of FancyBox adds the "caption" to the underlying HTML code as the "Title" attribute and not as the "Caption" attribute as is done in the default version of FancyBox! Web Browsers diplay HTML Title attributes as floating ToolTips by default - so this is the root of the problem!

Here are soultions to actually block the display of "captions" on mouseOver:

1. Weebly needs to put the "captions" into the code as the REAL "caption" HTML attribute and not as a "Title". Then add this code when the "Display on Hover" is switched to OFF: From: http://jsfiddle.net/vkDcG/
   

   $(".fancybox")
       .attr('rel', 'gallery')
       .fancybox({
           beforeLoad: function() {
               this.title = $(this.element).attr('caption');
           }
       });

2. Weebly can use "data-fancybox-title" HTML attribute to store the captions instead of "Title" and add this code: From: http://jsfiddle.net/PebW3/ or this version http://jsfiddle.net/picssel/1wn1f88b/
   

   $(".fancybox").fancybox();

   When someone turns "Display on Hover" OFF.

Contraty to other posters, I have no problem with HTML rendering as elements and not as code under the LighBoxed image as a caption - and THAT IS GREAT! and very necessary - So, whatever method is used to "fix" this should NOT stop the rendering of HTML in Captions or else you will be breaking one thing to fix another! See here http://awakenvisions-com.weebly.com/main-gallery.html and hover (see un-rendered code) then click (see rendered button element).

Please fix this and stop sending your users to 3rd parties... (unless your roadmap is to have Weebly provide a super-generic buggy user-experience and monetive 3rd party apps as a new revenue stream???)

Thank You for Your Assistance,

Daniel

[cducadesign]

Hello, I am experiencing the same problem. What do I need to do to get captions working ... was hoping inserting titles wjould help but they all end up at the end of the page which is worse than no titles.

Cducadesign

[Bernadette3]

I think the original post was theme-related, but can you post a link to your site? 

[Carine]

I have exactly the same problem...I do not need double captions, but I like the caption that is overlayed in a translucent shade...I do not like the white pop-up box that displays the exact same text...has this problem not been fixed? Is been there since 10/2016?

[Bernadette3]

Hi @Carine Can you post a link to the page so we can take a look at your gallery?

[nunisorridente]

I've been trying to add captions on hover like it's shown here (the second option style):

https://www.weebly.com/blog/liven-up-your-galleries-with-thumbnail-captions

But my "Captions" box dunno have any option, it's a black space.

Does someone know how to do it?

[Adam7]

Which of your sites are you having trouble with, @nunisorridente? Did you enter any text for your caption?

[nunisorridente]

Hi @Adam,  this is my website http://engfgt.weebly.com/graphic-design.html

I'm trying to add the captions on hover like it's shown on the official blog, but my "captions" box from the gallery doesn't have any options...

Am I doing something wrong?