So due to the overwhelming pressure to conform and be ‘cool’ like all those other developers, I started using Lightbox2 to make that cool floaty image on top of greyed out content functionality. I must say, it was really really easy to do. I did it for the first time on a site (still in development) for an upcoming firefighter apparel company (click one of the shirts).
Then for another project I got to thinking, gee, it would be really great if I could do this with PDF files and other miscellaneous content, as opposed to just images. Enter ThickBox.
That is all.