I ran across a useful acrticle on dottony the other day which listed 30 useful Ajax Lightbox and Modal Dialog solutions. I particularly liked ColorBox.

ColorBox supports photos, photo groups, slideshow, ajax, inline, and iframed content. Weighing in at only 9KB of JavaScript it's lightweight and the appearance of ColorBox can be controlled via CSS.

Are you looking for an unobtrusive way to add splash content to your website? In this edition of Code Pick I am going to show you an easy, user friendly, and free way to add content to your site through a splash interface.

Are you aggravated when you visit a site and a splash or popup screen opens just about the time you start reading the page? This can be frustrating to visitors and is the equivalent of someone walking into your store and immediately being confronted by a sales person.

You can have the best of both worlds on your site by using Meerkat, an easy to use script that allows you to add splash content in an unobtrusive way. Meerkat, named for its pop up like behavior, is a jQuery plugin created by Jarod Taylor. It was originally created to serve a specific purpose, however, by adding additional functionality to it, Jarod has found several uses for it and you might too.

Take a peek at the Meerkat Demo

One question I get asked is: "What is the easiest way to take credit cards for my website? "Then after I explain about merchant accounts and fees I see the stunned look in most peoples faces. Why not make it simple?

Well, let me tell you that there are a few other choices that are less expensive and much less confusing.

Today I am going to point you in the direction of Plimus. Plimus touts itself as "a complete E-Business platform that is designed to help you truly take charge of growing your online enterprise." and they just might help you pull it off.

Plimus offers a very simple fee structure and prides themselves in keeping it simple. You simply pay a percentage of your sales and in return you get the whole enchilada of services. Plimus almost instantly allows you to accept credit cards, e-checks, PayPal, purchase orders, local bank transfers, wire transfers, fax orders, phone orders, mail orders, and more. I got tired of typing them all.

On top of that they handle all sales tax collections and payments for you, provide telephone operators to handle payment over the phone, and much more. They are truly in business to support your small business. All the services Plimus provides are too lengthy to go into here. So take a peek at Plimus.

Check them out at www.Plimus.com