A gallery in WordPress is a collection of photographs, illustrations, product images, or videos displayed in a variety of rows and columns.
WordPress comes with a built-in feature allowing users to create beautiful galleries without any technical knowledge.
You can also add more layouts and customizations using gallery specific themes and plugins.
The Default WordPress Gallery
With WordPress, you have the option to add single images, set a featured image, or build a complete image gallery. Utilizing the built-in WordPress gallery is straightforward.
Our comprehensive guide provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to create an image gallery using photos from your WordPress media library, all without the need for any additional plugins. While this feature is user-friendly, it offers limited functionality and customization options.
The WordPress gallery will automatically arrange images, but they can be easily reordered using the drag-and-drop feature.
Depending on the theme, there are several alignment options such as align left, center, align right, wide width, and full width. The basic thumbnail layout gives users the option to have their images displayed in up to 8 columns.
Who Should Use A Gallery?
Don’t assume that only photographers benefit from showcasing high-quality photo galleries. There are numerous compelling reasons for individuals and businesses of all kinds to utilize them.
For instance, galleries can be perfect for those wishing to share vacation snapshots, memorable events, or family reunions on a personal blog. Hobbyists can create stunning visual collections to highlight their recent projects or award-winning works.
For solopreneurs and online shop owners, galleries provide an attractive and easily shareable way to feature their products. Businesses can craft slideshows that showcase their expertise, products, team members, and company events, giving visitors a glimpse of their more personable side.
While WordPress simplifies adding single images to blog posts and pages, incorporating multiple images can clutter the layout, requiring visitors to scroll excessively. In contrast, using a gallery optimizes space, allowing for quick and easy image browsing.
Moreover, galleries present photos in visually appealing arrangements, which enhances visitor engagement, lowers bounce rates, and boosts Google rankings.
Why Use a Gallery Plugin
Although WordPress includes a built-in gallery feature, opting for a WordPress Gallery plugin is advisable. The default gallery is quite basic and misses several key functionalities, such as:
– Layouts that vary based on the active WordPress theme
– Images that are not clickable, meaning they won’t open in a new page
– Inability to organize galleries by tags or top content
– No option to save galleries, requiring recreation for future use
While using a gallery plugin isn’t mandatory, it is the best way to showcase your images effectively. A reliable plugin can address these issues and offer additional features for enhanced functionality.
How To Choose a Gallery Plugin
The two main things to look for in a WordPress gallery plugin are:
- Ease of use
- Speed
Some gallery plugins are difficult to configure, buggy, lack important features and slow WordPress sites to a crawl. This means frustrating configuration issues and lackluster visitor experience.
Look for a gallery plugin that includes important features like:
- Drag-and-drop builder
- Reusable templates
- Mobile responsiveness
- Integration with eCommerce
- Social media integration
- Customizable slideshows
- Supports video galleries
- Password protection
Having features like these will keep images looking great and performing well into the future.
We recommend using Envira Gallery because it’s the best WordPress gallery plugin, and it comes with many powerful features.
There’s also a free version of Envira Gallery that you can use to get started.
Be sure to check out the links below for more information about galleries and plugins.
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