The WordPress Gallery
Contents |
Overview
Image galleries are a great way to share groups of pictures on your WordPress site. The Create Gallery feature of the WordPress media uploader allows you to add a simple image gallery to pages or posts on your site.
Note: Before adding a gallery, you should be comfortable using the Add media feature and the media uploader to add images to your media library and place them into posts.
Here’s how to add an image gallery step-by-step, using the media uploader:
Step 1 – Place your cursor
A gallery can go anywhere on a page or post - by itself on a blank page, or above, below, or in the midst of text. Start by placing your cursor where you want the gallery to appear - if it's in between blocks of text, like in the photo example below, consider adding a return and placing your cursor on a new line so there's space above and below.
Step 2 – Click the Add Media button
Once you've placed your cursor where you want your image gallery to appear, click on the Add Media button (located right above the editing window) to launch the media uploader interface. In the resulting popup window, select the 'Create a Gallery' option from the list of actions on the left.
Step 3 – Add and/or Select the Images You Want to Include
You can add or select the images you want to include in your image gallery by choosing from either of the following options in the center of the media uploader window:
- Upload Images: Upload the images you want to use from your computer by dragging them into the upload area. You can add more than one image, and they will be automatically grouped together as an image gallery.
- Media Library: Select from previously uploaded images in the media library by clicking on the ones you wish to add to the gallery. You will see a checkbox next to your selections.
Note: You can create an image gallery using any combination of new images and previously uploaded images simply by switching back and forth between the Upload Files and Media Library tabs.
As you upload and/or select images, you will see your selection confirmed on the Insert Media screen by check boxes at the top corner of each thumbnail. Also, a row of thumbnails appears at the bottom of the window to help you keep track of all the images you’ve selected. When you are happy with your selection, click the Create a new gallery button.
Step 4 – Edit Your Gallery
On the Edit Gallery page, you can do the following things before inserting the gallery you have created into your page or post:
- Rearrange your images: Drag and Drop image thumbnails to rearrange the order of images in your gallery.
- Reverse Order: Reverses the order of the images in your gallery.
- Add image descriptions: Add descriptions to your images (optional) which appear as image captions below each thumbnail in the gallery.
- Remove images: Hover over a thumbnail and click on the “X” to remove any of the images you previously selected.
- Add more images: Click on the “Upload Images” or “Image Gallery” links in the left hand sidebar to add more images to your gallery.
- Cancel Gallery: Click on the “Cancel Gallery” link from the actions on the left to exit the Edit Gallery page and cancel your image gallery.
Before inserting your gallery, you also have several Gallery Settings available in a pane on the right to control the following:
- Links To: Controls whether the gallery thumbnails (on the published page/post) link to the image attachment page or directly to the source image file itself.
- 'Columns: Set the number of columns you would like to have in your gallery. 3 Columns is the default settings, which is ideal for most sites.
- Random Order: Enables your gallery to display your image thumbnails in a random order each time they are viewed on the site.
Editing Existing Galleries
Within the visual editor, WordPress galleries are represented as a blue box with a camera icon in your text editor window. When viewed on the actual page or post, the gallery is displayed as a series of thumbnail images, which can be clicked to view the full image.
At any time, you can edit the images or settings of your gallery by clicking on the Edit Gallery button in the upper left hand corner. You can remove the image gallery at any time by clicking on the Remove Gallery button.
