hey there,

 

i want to achieve this effect, can someone please tell me how?

when i click on the dark grey tab, i want the contents to slide open to reveal the text and image (if possible to also reveal a lightbox thumbnail gallery)

 

looking something like this:

 

anyone? just what the effect is called would be good enough so that i can google it...

It looks like you want a Javascript Accordion mate

 

try here: http://docs.jquery.com/UI/Accordion

 

or google for Javascript Accordion