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Creating a Gallery in WordPress without Plugins
...or use some really good ones that actually work
In this article, Linda shows how to create a simple gallery within WordPress without plugins...but she also points readers to plugins that really work.
Publishing the Post
If you return to your draft and discover that WP has dismantled your command to align centre, no worries. Just add that code again, and don't go to the Visual side of the post until after you publish. And, you may note that if you return to that post and go to the Visual side rather than the HTML side, WP will once again remove your directive to align the gallery centre. If you can build code that avoids this issue, great. For myself – a person who is a nimwit when it comes to code – I simply avoid entering that post again (yes, I would love to hear from a programmer!).
At this point, while the draft is in HTML side, I add all the bells and whistles that Hybrid News offers for SEO.
I added text to the draft in the HTML mode, and made sure I included the keywords, "snorkeling, diving, Caribbean." I use those keywords in the bottom "Hybrid post settings" as well as to the right in the "Post Tags" area. These keywords help search engines to pick up on what this post is all about. Be sure to pick keywords that are included in your post, as some search engines do not like it if you don't include them in your body copy.
I also choose a category and add a short excerpt to the description in the Hybrid post settings. This "Description" is the same as the "Excerpt" that is included in the default WP settings...which you would see if you scrolled down the page a bit in real life. This excerpt is what is shown on the front page when I publish the post.
Now that I have all this work done, I publish. And, the gallery shows up on the front page, according to the directives I added to this theme earlier:
You can see the new gallery, added to the top of the list in the posts shown on the home page of this site now. You can change the image that shows on the front page, depending upon your theme and choices in that theme's layout, by altering the way you order the images in the gallery options. The best way to show you how to do this is to let you run wild with your own gallery in your theme. Otherwise, we'd be looking at a few years' worth of reading. The options are, basically, as limited as your ability to alter the code within your WordPress environment.
Remember that you can re-use these images from your Media Library as well – as I explained in the previous article, when you upload an image to your WP blog, you've added a 'book' to your library. No need to replicate that effort when the image already is on the 'shelf.'
For a small client with a limited budget, WordPress has offered an option that can help you deal with their galleries easily. But, you may choose to use other options for your portfolio or for a client, such as a bricks-and-mortar gallery. Those options are listed below.
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.