Using Images in WordPress

If you want to streamline your images for your WordPress (WP) blog, Linda shows how to do this in this tutorial. You'll learn how to upload images as well as how to size them so they fit in your theme.

Finishing Up with Your Basic Image

Now that you've added an image, you may want to publish or save the draft for later:

The arrow in the image above shows where you can save a draft, and I would suggest saving drafts as you build your post...just as you would save a document when you're writing. If the power goes out, you may lose all your work unless you continue to save drafts as you complete each process.

As you build your post and before you edit, you also want to add tags for SEO and choose appropriate categories (or a singular category) for your post. You also can change the time to delay publication, which is a great tool if you plan to go on vacation and want to work ahead to show that your posts are consistent. I'll go into those options later, once I've concluded the Media portion within WP.

Conclusion

Now you know how to add a basic image to your posts in WP, no matter the theme. But, you may want to add a little style to you images, depending upon the theme you choose to work with. While the WordPress Codex shows how to alter images through the WP "style:css" sheet, I would suggest choosing a theme first, and then altering the theme's CSS file after you create a child theme.

The reasoning behind my suggestion is that WP constantly upgrades their code to avoid hacking and to run more smoothly. If you decide to alter a WP file, you will need to constantly alter that WP file every time you upgrade. But, if you create a child theme, those WP upgrades should not alter anything you've done to that child theme.

Alternately, you can add styles to your post, if you want to go that route. Be sure to read that WordPress Codex page to learn more about this option.

Finally, the larger the image, the better your resolution will be in the long run. I would not use an image any larger than 600x600 at 72 DPI, especially if you're worried that someone might steal that image to use for sale. While you can reproduce images in print at 600x600 72DPI, those images won't be high quality. At the same time, they may be perfect to add to coffee cups.

In most cases, I keep my images at 300x300 72DPI. If someone wants to use it for a coffee cup print, more power to them. In many cases, I use iStock or other images that are recognizable to anyone who uses those sources. In this case, the thief has violated copyright, and, if caught, charges can be pressed without qualms.

If you plan to build a gallery – an issue I will address in future articles – think about Watermarks and how they might protect your images. You can build your own Watermark or use a customized service, depending upon your budget. In all cases, think about protecting your work as you add it to your blog through backups as well as through Watermarks, and you'll be able to sleep at night without worries.

In the next article, I'll show you how to manage your Libraries so you know how to avoid "folder bulge" on your server. In other words, there are ways around uploading images all the time...