WordPress Image Control: Difference between revisions

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In this article Plugins are denoted with '''Bold Typeface'''. Those that have been tested and have been found to be useful are in '''''Bold Italic Typeface'''''.

== Built in Functionality ==

==Built in Functionality and Plugins==

Media is considered an Attachment to a Post or a Page (from the database perspective both Posts and Pages are given Post IDs). The odd thing is that it doesn't have to be "attached" to a Post or Page. It can be "unattached". Its "attached" or "unattached" status is determined by how the image is uploaded to WordPress. If the image is uploaded to a WordPress site via the Media Tab, it is considered "unattached". If an image is uploaded to a WordPress site from within a Post or Page (IE, it's added into what is being written or set as a featured image) it is then "attached" to that Post or Page. If the view of media within the Media Tab is set to list, the "attachment status" can be changed by associating it with a Post or Page or detaching it. Plugins like Timeline Express have Posts that are referred to as "Announcements" (again, from the database perspective, they're considered Posts) and are handled in a similar manner to Posts and Pages.

Media is considered an Attachment to a Post or a Page (from the database perspective both Posts and Pages are given Post IDs).

=== An Image as Viewed from a User's Perspective ===

The odd thing is that it doesn't have to be "attached" to a Post or Page. It can be "unattached". Its "attached" or "unattached" status is determined by how the image is uploaded to WordPress. If the image is uploaded to a WordPress site via the Media Tab, it is considered "unattached". If an image is uploaded to a WordPress site from within a Post or Page (IE, it's added into what is being written or set as a featured image) it is then "attached" to that Post or Page. If the view of media within the Media Tab is set to list, the "attachment status" can be changed by associating it with a Post or Page or detaching it. Plugins like Timeline Express have Posts that are referred to as "Announcements" (again, from the database perspective, they're considered Posts) and are handled in a similar manner to Posts and Pages. Additionally, there is no "bulk method" to attach or detach an image via the Media Tab. It all has to be done individually.

===An Image as Viewed from a User's Perspective===

Media is also a bit of an oddity from the view's perspective as it is by default (but can be changed via Plugins like '''Attachment Pages Redirect''') available in a myriad of ways;

Images can be viewed on a Post or Page.*

* Images can be viewed on a Post or Page.*

They can also be viewed via a Permalink. The permalink page is the image as it appears on its "Attachment Page", which includes additional information like the Title, Caption, and Description (only used in this capacity and no other location).*

And they can also be viewed via a direct URL (IE, the actual physical path to the image file). The direct URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is just the image, nothing else.

* They can also be viewed via a Permalink. The permalink page is the image as it appears on its "Attachment Page", which includes additional information like the Title, Caption, and Description (only used in this capacity and no other location).*

* And they can also be viewed via a direct URL (IE, the actual physical path to the image file). The direct URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is just the image, nothing else.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The ALT / Alternative information is included in the HTML, but is not displayed in a web page.

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On an obscure note, the permalink page also displays additional information such as "previous image" and "next image" (and a Post Comment section too). The image also has the "previous / next image" functionality if the image itself is clicked. This allows a viewer to "scroll" through all the images of a Post or Page.

=== An Image from the Administrator's Perspective ===

The size of the image as it is displayed on its permalink page is generally determined and set by a theme.

===An Image from the Administrator's Perspective===

When editing an Attachment Page, there are a myriad of items to configure

Title ~~(seen~~ in the permalink page and in the Head section of HTML in the <TITLE> Element, but nowhere in the actual Post or Page or ~~its~~ HTML)

* Title: Seen in the attachment's permalink page and in the Head section of HTML in the <TITLE> Element, but nowhere in the actual Post or Page or the HTML of a Post or Page

* Permalink*

* File URL: A set path and file name unless using a Plugin like '''''Phoenix Media Rename''''' that allows a physical file name to be changed (and updated in the WordPress database)). This is included in the HTML as an HREF Attribute.

* Categories: Categories are typically visible to users near the Title of a Post or Page. The Category is also included as an item in the Class Attribute of an HTML Article Element, but only in the attribute's permalink page, not in the Post or Page's HTML.

* Caption: Seen in the attachment's permalink only, not used separately in HTML for the Post or Page

* ALT / Alternative Text: Used only in the HTML of the Post, Page, or the attachment's permalink page. It is not visible from normal browser view, although there are probably Plugins can display this information.

* Description: This field allows for limited formatting of text in addition to the Caption and only appears in the attachment's permalink page. It's just speculation, but based on how it appears in the Media Tab, it really seems like this is something leftover from the original B2Evolution (WordPress's origin)

Permalink*

<nowiki>*</nowiki> If using an advanced Permalink Manager, several Permalinks might be present (Current URI, Native Slug, etc.)

~~File URL (which is a set path and file name unless using a Plugin like '''''Phoenix Media Rename''''' that allows a physical file name to be changed (and updated in the WordPress database))~~

=== Plugins ===

Plugins can add additional functionality.

~~<nowiki>~~*</~~nowiki> If using~~ an ~~advanced Permalink Manager~~, ~~several Permalinks might~~ be ~~present~~ (~~Current URI~~, ~~Native Slug~~, ~~etc~~.)

* '''''Phoenix Media Rename''''': A simple Plugin that adds the ability to change an image's physical file name. It even automatically replaces spaces with dashes ( - ). It also allows for "bulk renaming", but only for manual modifications to the name (IE, it can't add "My Web Site" to the beginning of every file name).

* '''''WP Media Folder''''': Creates a folder and file structure for media, so very handy for organizing a lot of media. Unfortunately it breaks some features of other Media Plugins like '''Enhanced Media Library''' (and vice versa), but the fix is easy: Temporarily disable when other Plugin features are needed. Some other alternatives are listed here: https://colorlib.com/wp/wordpress-media-library-management-plugins/ '''File Bird Light''', among others is an alternative. It adds two fields to the Word Press Media Attachment Editor ("Image Gallery link to" and "Link Target"), both of these fields have no effect on builtin WP functionality, only with the plugin. The _wpmf_gallery_custom_image_link is the field it adds to the PostMeta Table.

* '''Simple CSS''': This seems to be the only Plugin available that displays a CSS Field in an Image's "admin page" on the Media Tab. Sadly though, it does nothing at all (IE, enter in your CSS, click Update, and watch it disappear), at least on an Image page)

=== Other Thoughts ===

* Themes can add addition SRCSET information for "responsive" websites for mobile devices.

* Creating custom CSS for Image Classes at the Theme level doesn't work (even if one defines custom CSS for the Class Attribute associated with an Image Element)

* Depending on the theme, additional information is added via META Tags in the Head Section of HTML.

** The OG (Open Graph) META Property labled as "OG:Description" gets information from the Caption.

Each attachment

This is an important consideration

==Items to Consider==

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 In this article Plugins are denoted with '''Bold Typeface'''.  Those that have been tested and have been found to be useful are in '''''Bold Italic Typeface'''''.
-== Built in Functionality ==
+==Built in Functionality and Plugins==
-Media is considered an Attachment to a Post or a Page (from the database perspective both Posts and Pages are given Post IDs).  The odd thing is that it doesn't have to be "attached" to a Post or Page.  It can be "unattached".  Its "attached" or "unattached" status is determined by how the image is uploaded to WordPress.  If the image is uploaded to a WordPress site via the Media Tab, it is considered "unattached".  If an image is uploaded to a WordPress site from within a Post or Page (IE, it's added into what is being written or set as a featured image) it is then "attached" to that Post or Page.  If the view of media within the Media Tab is set to list, the "attachment status" can be changed by associating it with a Post or Page or detaching it.  Plugins like Timeline Express have Posts that are referred to as "Announcements" (again, from the database perspective, they're considered Posts) and are handled in a similar manner to Posts and Pages.
+Media is considered an Attachment to a Post or a Page (from the database perspective both Posts and Pages are given Post IDs).
-=== An Image as Viewed from a User's Perspective ===
+The odd thing is that it doesn't have to be "attached" to a Post or Page.  It can be "unattached".  Its "attached" or "unattached" status is determined by how the image is uploaded to WordPress.  If the image is uploaded to a WordPress site via the Media Tab, it is considered "unattached".  If an image is uploaded to a WordPress site from within a Post or Page (IE, it's added into what is being written or set as a featured image) it is then "attached" to that Post or Page.  If the view of media within the Media Tab is set to list, the "attachment status" can be changed by associating it with a Post or Page or detaching it.  Plugins like Timeline Express have Posts that are referred to as "Announcements" (again, from the database perspective, they're considered Posts) and are handled in a similar manner to Posts and Pages.  Additionally, there is no "bulk method" to attach or detach an image via the Media Tab.  It all has to be done individually.
+===An Image as Viewed from a User's Perspective===
 Media is also a bit of an oddity from the view's perspective as it is by default (but can be changed via Plugins like '''Attachment Pages Redirect''') available in a myriad of ways;
-Images can be viewed on a Post or Page.*
+* Images can be viewed on a Post or Page.*
-They can also be viewed via a Permalink.  The permalink page is the image as it appears on its "Attachment Page", which includes additional information like the Title, Caption, and Description (only used in this capacity and no other location).*
-And they can also be viewed via a direct URL (IE, the actual physical path to the image file).  The direct URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is just the image, nothing else.
+* They can also be viewed via a Permalink.  The permalink page is the image as it appears on its "Attachment Page", which includes additional information like the Title, Caption, and Description (only used in this capacity and no other location).*
+* And they can also be viewed via a direct URL (IE, the actual physical path to the image file).  The direct URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is just the image, nothing else.
 <nowiki>*</nowiki> The ALT / Alternative information is included in the HTML, but is not displayed in a web page.
@@ Line 19: / Line 20: @@
 On an obscure note, the permalink page also displays additional information such as "previous image" and "next image" (and a Post Comment section too).  The image also has the "previous / next image" functionality if the image itself is clicked.  This allows a viewer to "scroll" through all the images of a Post or Page.
-=== An Image from the Administrator's Perspective ===
+The size of the image as it is displayed on its permalink page is generally determined and set by a theme.
+===An Image from the Administrator's Perspective===
 When editing an Attachment Page, there are a myriad of items to configure
-Title (seen in the permalink page and in the Head section of HTML in the <TITLE> Element, but nowhere in the actual Post or Page or its HTML)
+* Title: Seen in the attachment's permalink page and in the Head section of HTML in the <TITLE> Element, but nowhere in the actual Post or Page or the HTML of a Post or Page
+* Permalink*
+* File URL: A set path and file name unless using a Plugin like '''''Phoenix Media Rename''''' that allows a physical file name to be changed (and updated in the WordPress database)).  This is included in the HTML as an HREF Attribute.
+* Categories: Categories are typically visible to users near the Title of a Post or Page.  The Category is also included as an item in the Class Attribute of an HTML Article Element, but only in the attribute's permalink page, not in the Post or Page's HTML.
+* Caption: Seen in the attachment's permalink only, not used separately in HTML for the Post or Page
+* ALT / Alternative Text: Used only in the HTML of the Post, Page, or the attachment's permalink page.  It is not visible from normal browser view, although there are probably Plugins can display this information.
+* Description: This field allows for limited formatting of text in addition to the Caption and only appears in the attachment's permalink page.  It's just speculation, but based on how it appears in the Media Tab, it really seems like this is something leftover from the original B2Evolution (WordPress's origin)
-Permalink*
+<nowiki>*</nowiki> If using an advanced Permalink Manager, several Permalinks might be present (Current URI, Native Slug, etc.)
-File URL (which is a set path and file name unless using a Plugin like '''''Phoenix Media Rename''''' that allows a physical file name to be changed (and updated in the WordPress database))
+=== Plugins ===
+Plugins can add additional functionality.
-<nowiki>*</nowiki> If using an advanced Permalink Manager, several Permalinks might be present (Current URI, Native Slug, etc.)
+* '''''Phoenix Media Rename''''': A simple Plugin that adds the ability to change an image's physical file name.  It even automatically replaces spaces with dashes ( - ).  It also allows for "bulk renaming", but only for manual modifications to the name (IE, it can't add "My Web Site" to the beginning of every file name).
+* '''''WP Media Folder''''': Creates a folder and file structure for media, so very handy for organizing a lot of media.  Unfortunately it breaks some features of other Media Plugins like '''Enhanced Media Library''' (and vice versa), but the fix is easy: Temporarily disable when other Plugin features are needed.  Some other alternatives are listed here: https://colorlib.com/wp/wordpress-media-library-management-plugins/  '''File Bird Light''', among others is an alternative.  It adds two fields to the Word Press Media Attachment Editor ("Image Gallery link to" and "Link Target"), both of these fields have no effect on builtin WP functionality, only with the plugin.  The _wpmf_gallery_custom_image_link is the field it adds to the PostMeta Table.
+* '''Simple CSS''': This seems to be the only Plugin available that displays a CSS Field in an Image's "admin page" on the Media Tab.  Sadly though, it does nothing at all (IE, enter in your CSS, click Update, and watch it disappear), at least on an Image page)
+=== Other Thoughts ===
+* Themes can add addition SRCSET information for "responsive" websites for mobile devices.
+* Creating custom CSS for Image Classes at the Theme level doesn't work (even if one defines custom CSS for the Class Attribute associated with an Image Element)
+* Depending on the theme, additional information is added via META Tags in the Head Section of HTML.
+** The OG (Open Graph) META Property labled as "OG:Description" gets information from the Caption.
 Each attachment
 This is an important consideration
 ==Items to Consider==