We have already discussed the importance of graphics and visuals in engaging the audience in our previous article. We hope that all the basics of Inserting and Editing Image in WordPress were clear in the last article. These basics are necessary in order to get the right influence in the form of optimum quality images for your blog. Now, we move on to the second phase which includes more advanced features that are related to the addition of information on the image rather than just adjustment of images. Let us begin.
Turning an image into a link
Image links are perfect for turning images into custom buttons like ‘Buy’, or ‘Order’. This way you can customize the image as you like and turn it into an active link. Users can click on the same image to be redirected to a different page.
Now, once an image is added to a blog and edited, follow these steps to turn it into a link.
- Click on the image.
- A mini-menu will pop up.
- Click on the ‘edit’ button
- Image Details screen will appear.
- Click the ‘Link To’ dropdown
- Select ‘Custom URL’ and type the URL you want the image to link to.
A link can actually be added to an image faster than this. You can simply select the image and copy the required URL and paste it through keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+V on a PC and Command+V on a Mac) on the selected picture.
Adding alt text to an image
Alt text is the text you add to an image to describe it. It is added so that search engines and screen readers can easily understand images. Alt text is important for description and affects SEO. This results in an improvement of overall rankings for your blog majorly. It is very easy to add alt text to any image on your blog.
Now, once an image is added to a blog and edited, follow these steps to add alt text to that image.
- Click on the image.
- A mini-menu will pop up.
- Select the ‘edit’ option.
- The Image Details section will load.
- On this page, under Alternative Text field, fill in the text related to that image.
- Press ‘Update’ on the bottom of the screen.
Remember that alt text is not a caption. It will appear on the computer as text only if the image fails to load. Adding alt text to your image when you’re editing it is one of the best practices to follow while editing images for your blog.
Editing an Image in WordPress
We would recommend you to edit all the images before uploading them on your blog. Although, if there’s a need to provide last minute changes in your image, WordPress allows you to edit your images within WordPress. It provides different functionalities like resizing down, rotating, flipping and even cropping the image.
Once the image has been uploaded, before editing anything, follow these steps to edit an image in WordPress itself.
- Click on the image.
- A mini-menu will pop up.
- Select the ‘edit’ option.
- The Image Details section will load.
- Click on the ‘Edit Original’ button.
- Scale size option that appears is used for scaling the image down.
- Image Crop is used by clicking on the image and dragging it to select the required part.
- Click on ‘Save’ at the bottom once all changes are made.
- Click on ‘Update’ on the new screen.
WordPress editor allows you to rotate the image, flip it from top to bottom or left to right, using simple buttons placed on top of the image. Also, if something wrong happens, your original image can be restored using “Restore Original Image”. However, it should be kept in mind that it should be used only for minor adjustments.
Decreasing the image file sizes
This may look futile but decreasing the image file sizes works miraculously for your site. This happens because if the image file is heavy, it will take longer to load on your blog page. This directly affects the working of your site. Most of the times sites that slowly lose viewers and loyal clients. Hence, you should keep the size of all your files as low as possible.
There are many ways to decrease the image file size. If you want to improve the loading speed of your site, follow these steps.
- Use .jpg images where possible as they’re compressed and lighter than most file types.
- Resize the image before uploading it to WordPress using a separate software like Optimizilla and Trimage.
- Use the WP plugin ‘Smush’.
Hope you know that transparent or partially transparent images cannot be saved in .jpg format. Hence, check the formats of all the files you upload and compress them according to your requirements.
Optimizing images for retina screens
Apple has launched products under the brand name Retina display. These are different from the lot as they have the highest pixel-per-inch density than any regular screen in the market currently. In simple words, Retina display has about 4 times more pixels than other screens. This implies that if you want an 800 x 600 pixels image for a post, you will have to upload a 1600 x 1200 pixels alternative image to render it perfectly on the high-density retina screen.
Hence, upload the images in the best quality whenever you do. Most themes automatically resize and display the images depending on the device, so a heavier file definitely helps.
If your theme does not automatically adjust images, you can install the WP Retina 2x plugin. It generates image files for High-DPI devices and displays them to your viewers accordingly.
Wrapping Up!
With these practices, tips and know-how, we feel that you are now almost ready to edit and insert a few diligent images on your WordPress blog on your own. If you are new to WordPress, you must begin with the basics first. Move to the advanced steps only after you are confident with the basics. However, if you are a WordPress master, then we are hopeful that you got some tricks that will help you in the future.
