Awesome WordPress Gallery (How to Create It in 3 Steps)?

Image galleries can now be found everywhere on the web. In fact, most of the sites you visit probably contain at least one gallery, and for good reason. Fortunately, your own WordPress gallery is easier to create than you might imagine. In fact, you are likely to spend more time choosing images than combining them.

In this article we will tell you what the WordPress gallery is and teach you how to create galleries in three stages:

1. Upload the images you want to include in your WordPress gallery.
2. Add images to your gallery.
3. Post the gallery anywhere on your site.

In addition, we will also introduce you seven of our favorite WordPress gallery plugins so you can take advantage of features that the platform does not offer by default. Let’s get started and very soon there will be a new WordPress gallery on your site!

Step 1: Upload the Images You Want to Include in Your WordPress Gallery

The first thing you need to set up your WordPress gallery is a few images. In this guide, we are going to use puppy photos to liven up the process.

First go to your WordPress dashboard and go to the Media File tab> Library. When you find yourself there, click on the Add New button at the top of the screen:

 

Then click the Select Files button to open your local file manager:

To speed up the process, we recommend downloading all the images that you want to place in your gallery at the same time. To do this, we created a folder called “dogs” on our computer:

When you select several images to upload at the same time, WordPress will show you the progress of each of them individually:

Give the platform a few minutes to work until all of your downloads are complete. The time it takes will depend on the speed of your Internet and the size (and number) of images you upload.

If you find that the download process takes too much time, you can cancel it and optimize the gallery images before posting them on your website. Keep in mind that high-resolution graphics tend to look better, but often they are too “heavy.” In most cases, you should be able to compress the images a bit without affecting their quality. This process is called “image optimization”.

There are many WordPress plugins that you can use to automatically optimize your images. You can also use simple browser-based services such as TinyPNG:

In any case, you will be ready to proceed to the next step as soon as all your images are ready.

Step 2: Add Images to Your WordPress Gallery

Now that all your images are ready, find the page on which you want to place the gallery and open it using the WordPress editor (or just create a new page).

Adding a gallery to a page is very simple. All you need to do is find the cursor in the place where you want to place the gallery in the editor, and then click the Add media file button at the top:

A new screen will appear with options for placing images from the library, setting up a gallery, or creating a multimedia playlist. Select the Create Gallery option and select the File Library tab to the right of it:

Then click on all the images you want to include in your gallery. Having selected all of them, click the Create new gallery button in the lower right corner of the screen, and you’re done! Let’s move on to the last step, where we show you how to place your gallery.

Step 3: Add a WordPress Gallery to Your Site

At this point, you should see a screen that says Edit Gallery, which shows all the images you added in the second step. On this screen you can choose how many columns your gallery will include, the size of its thumbnails and the order of images:

You can also add separate captions to each image and decide if they should link to something. By default, WordPress will bring visitors to the file attachment page when they click on each image, which will look like this:

When you’re done, click the Insert Gallery button and your WordPress gallery will appear in the editor:

The bad news is that WordPress does not allow you to reuse the same galleries that you created on other pages. If you want to copy the gallery, you have to repeat the process, choosing the same images and settings. However, this will not take you much time, since the images are already on your site.

Besides adding images to your posts and pages, you can also use the WordPress Gallery widget to place it on the sidebar or footer. To do this, go to the Appearance> Widgets tab and find the Gallery widget:

Now drag this widget to the sidebar or footer and place it where you want it to appear. Then the widget will ask you which images you want to include in your gallery:

Please note that you can also add captions to this widget and give a name to your gallery:

When you’re done, click the Save button, and you can see a gallery on your website:

As you can see, the WordPress gallery couldn’t be easier!

However, the gallery types you can create by default do not have enough features. If you want your WordPress gallery to be more functional, you need to refer to the plugins, which we will talk about later.

7 best plugins to showcase your images on the site

There is nothing wrong with the functionality of the WordPress Gallery. However, with the right plugins, you can access many interesting new features. Let’s introduce you some of the best plugins!

 

Photo Gallery by 10

 

Photo Gallery by 10web completely updates the WordPress gallery system. It provides you with several gallery layouts you can use, including slide shows, compact albums, and more. You can also use this plugin to implement lightbox effects that opens a full-sized image when someone clicks on it.

In addition, this plugin allows you to include images and videos in the same gallery. You also get access to several widget options instead of the default one offered by WordPress. All in all, this plugin is the best way if you want to access a lot of gallery related features.

Key Features:

• Customize your WordPress gallery with unique layouts
• Mix images and videos in one gallery
• Access Lightbox Effects for Your WordPress Gallery
• Use several types of widgets to add galleries.

Price: The base plugin is free, while there are several premium levels offering more effects, themes, widgets, and other features.

 

Gallery by Robo

 

Gallery by Robo is a fantastic plugin if you want to have a high level of control over the style and behavior of your galleries. As in the previous plugin, this one allows you to choose one of several gallery layouts for your site. However, it also allows you to add slideshows and hover effects, adjust font settings, and even include borders around images.

Along with these style options, Gallery by Robo also automatically resizes your images upon upload. This option saves space, since most sites do not need giant images. Finally, this plugin provides the mobility of all your galleries.

In general, a high degree of customization makes Gallery by Robo the best choice if you want to customize every aspect of the gallery of your site.

Key Features:

• Choose from multiple layouts for your WordPress gallery
• Add various types of effects to your images.
• Automatically resize images on upload
• Set up lazy loading for galleries with lots of items
• Create mobile galleries with no extra work on your part

Price: You can create up to three galleries with a free version or pay $ 30 for an unlimited premium license.

 

 

GridKit Portfolio Gallery

 

Although this plugin includes the word “portfolio”, you can use it to create any type of WordPress gallery you want. Along with images, GridKit Portfolio Gallery also supports multi-source videos and WooCommerce products. In addition, it includes the ability to exchange information on social networks so that visitors can show your work to their friends and acquaintances.

Like other plugins that we have seen so far, this one allows you to create galleries that are convenient for mobile devices. This is also a fantastic option if you want to showcase customer logos, create sections for team members, and more. In general, if you are looking for a plugin that is very flexible regarding the type of galleries and can help you customize them, then this option is a smart choice.

Key Features:

• Set up a gallery with images and videos
• Showcase WooCommerce Products with the Gallery
• Create sections for team members
• Choose from several types of layouts for your galleries

Price: GridKit is a free plugin, although you can get many additional features with one of its professional licenses.

 

Responsive Lightbox & Gallery

 

So far, all tested plugins are making big changes to the WordPress gallery system. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery, on the other hand, is pretty simple. This allows you to create responsive galleries by default, and also includes lightbox functionality.

You can customize the behavior of your lightboxes, choose one of the three main gallery layouts, and even use widgets to place your images in the place you need. This is one of the most intuitive WordPress gallery plugins we tested, and it is a useful tool if you are looking for something simple.

Key Features:

• Create simple, mobile-friendly galleries
• Choose one of three layouts for your images.
• Adjust the lightbox settings of your galleries

Price: This plugin is free from the WordPress plugin catalog. You can also purchase extensions for it on the developer’s website.

 

 

YouTube Gallery

 

There are many plugins that allow you to add videos to your WordPress galleries. However, few of them focus mainly on video galleries, which is why we like this plugin so much.

With Video Gallery – YouTube Gallery, you can create responsive video collections. You can connect with several video platforms, including YouTube and Vimeo, add effects to thumbnails, include lightboxes and much more. In addition, you can place your video galleries anywhere on your site using a simple shortcode system.

Key Features:

• Extract videos from YouTube, Vimeo or your site’s files
• Post your video galleries manually or using shortcodes
• Choose from several themes and layouts for your galleries

Price: This plugin is a completely free option.

 

 

Photo Gallery

 

Although this plugin does not have the most original name, Photo Gallery is still one of our best choices. It includes a universal approach to WordPress galleries and includes almost all the features that we saw in other plugins.

For example, this tool allows you to add hover effects and transition to gallery images. It also supports image categorization and gallery navigation, making it easy to browse large libraries. In addition, Photo Gallery has the ability to add videos to your galleries, upload images lazily, and even use social sharing features.

In general, if you are interested in micro-monitoring the appearance and behavior of your site, this plugin should help in full. With it, you can customize every aspect of your gallery.

Key Features:

• Add some hover and transition effects to your galleries.
• Categorize your images and enable navigation in your WordPress gallery.
• Add videos and social media buttons to your WordPress galleries.
• Enable delayed download

Price: with the free version of this plugin, you can create up to two galleries and place them in posts or pages. Premium levels allow you to create an unlimited number of galleries and place them in several places, and also offer several convenient add-ons.

 

Envira gallery

 

Finally, the Envira Gallery plugin is one of the most user-friendly ways we have ever seen. For example, it includes a gallery creation wizard that makes gallery creation enjoyable.

The goal of Envira Gallery is to give you the ability to create multiple galleries and easily customize them. For this, the plugin includes several WordPress gallery templates, a slide show function and social sharing features. If you are looking for an elegant WordPress gallery plugin that is also easy to use, Envira Gallery should be one of your first options.

Key Features:

• Create WordPress Galleries Using the Built-in Wizard
• Choose from several gallery templates
• Customize Image Slideshow
• Add social sharing features to your galleries
• Extend plugin functionality with add-ons

Price: you can choose a free basic version of the plugin or purchase a professional version for additional features, support and even the ability to include your own CSS.

Conclusion

WordPress Gallery is a simple but useful element. The process of setting up the WordPress gallery is simple, although you can spend a little time choosing the images to include. When your WordPress gallery is ready, you just need to post it on your site. Of course, you can also use the dedicated gallery plugin for WordPress to get more customization options.

Do you have experience and know how to create a WordPress gallery? Tell us about it in the comments section!