How to launch jQuery Fancybox on page load?

Fancybox currently does not directly support a way to automatically launch. The work around I was able to get working is creating a hidden anchor tag and triggering it's click event. Make sure your call to trigger the click event is included after the jQuery and Fancybox JS files are included. The code I used is as follows:

This sample script is embedded directly in the HTML, but it could also be included in a JS file.

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $("#hidden_link").fancybox().trigger('click');
    });
</script>

I got this to work by calling this function in document ready:

$(document).ready(function () {
        $.fancybox({
            'width': '40%',
            'height': '40%',
            'autoScale': true,
            'transitionIn': 'fade',
            'transitionOut': 'fade',
            'type': 'iframe',
            'href': 'http://www.example.com'
        });
});

Its simple:

Make your element hidden first like this:

<div id="hidden" style="display:none;">
    Hi this is hidden
</div>

Then call your javascript:

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $.fancybox("#hidden");
    });
</script>

Check out the image below:

Another example:

<div id="example2" style="display:none;">
        <img src="http://theinstitute.ieee.org/img/07tiProductsandServicesiStockphoto-1311258460873.jpg" />
    </div>

 <script type="text/javascript">
        $(document).ready(function() {
            $.fancybox("#example2");
        });
    </script>

Window.load (as opposed to document.ready()) appears to the be the trick used in the JSFiddler onload demos of Fancybox 2.0:

$(window).load(function()
{
    $.fancybox("test");
});

Bare in mind you may be using document.ready() elsewhere, and IE9 gets upset with the load order of the two. This leaves you with two options: change everything to window.load or use a setTimer().