The best example site I can give about this effect which I’m struggling to articulate is Facebook. When you click a photo, you get a div that floats on the top of everything enlargening the photo and giving extra info. It’s kind of similar to something you’d find in a conventional app – like a sub view kind of thing.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/Ace_of_Spades01/fb_zps2047caf8.png
Is there a framework or other pre-built solution out there or will I have to roll my own.
Shadowbox let’s you do this. It can display HTML and is easy to implement.
http://www.shadowbox-js.com/usage.html