Allow to load Image module image derivate into Colorbox [#1278394]

Since many of us, especially users of 'Image' module, will be stuck with D6 for a long while, I'm posting this feature request, even if I can't offer much help in coding it.

What I need seems pretty straight forward: When the user is on an 'Image' module imge node and clicks on the image, a (larger) derivate should open in a Colorbox. That's basically the same feature as the various formatters for Imagefields offer.

Actually there is already a way to open alternative derivates on an image node in a Colorbox: The user "just" has to scroll down to the $links section, choose a derivate name, click on it, and it opens in a Colorbox. Obviously this is totally unintuitive and practically no user understands what he would have to do. User simply click on the image and expect something to happen; if nothing happens, they don't try to understand another crude UI, they just leave.

To me as a non-programmer (famous last words...) this feature seems to be quite easy to implement: Find the image in the node:

<img src="/sites/default/files/images/someimage.preview.jpg" class="image image-preview " width="640" height="442" />

... and wrap a link around it:

<a href="/sites/default/files/images/someimage.jpg" class="image image-_original colorbox"></a>

Since inline image and image derivate are already referenced on the image node, this might even be possible with an elaborate image node template. At least that's how a non-programmer thinks ;)

Maybe a configuration option could allow to choose the derivate to load, but a hardwired default to load the original size would make sense as well.

Thanks!