Adding Media to Content

In order to embed media in your page or post content, you must first insert your cursor in the place in the text where you want the media to appear. By placing your cursor within your text, you can embed media inline with your content. You can also place your cursor on a blank line if you want the media to appear by itself.

Tip: It’s a good idea to place your cursor on the left margin of your text, even if you want media to appear on the right. This is because there is a special setting called Alignment that allows you to control whether the image appears on the right or the left side of the text. It even automatically controls how text flows around media embeds.

Once you’ve placed your cursor on the line where you want your media to appear, click on the Add Media button to launch the media uploader interface, then select the Insert Media option from the list of actions in the left side of the media uploader window.

As of WordPress Version 3.9, you may also drag media directly onto the editor to upload them.

You can upload or select the media you want to add to your page or post by choosing from either of the following options in the center of the media uploader window:

• Upload Files: Upload the media you want to use from your computer by dragging it into the upload area.
• Media Library: Select from any previously uploaded media in the media library by clicking on the one you wish to add to your page or post.
  
  Once you have selected or uploaded the media you want to add, you will see a checkbox next to the thumbnail confirming your selection, and you will see the selected media displayed in the Attachment Details pane on the right hand side of the media uploader interface.

The Attachment Details pane displays a small preview or icon as well as important information such as the filename, date uploaded, and dimensions in pixels for image files or length for audio/video files.

Available sizes depend on what sizes were generated for the image at the time it was uploaded based on the sizes in Settings > Media compared to the original image size. The new image will only be generated if it the dimensions are equal to or smaller than the original image size.

For images, there are also action links that allow you to Edit Image, which takes you to the Edit Media page, or to Delete Permanently to remove the image from your site.

Audio and video files have embed options instead of alignment, link, and size options.

Embed or Link:

• Embed Media Player
• Link to Media File
• Link to Attachment Page

The Alignment setting allows you to determine where you would like the image to appear in your content area and how it interacts with any text on the page. You have the following image alignment options to choose from:

• Left: Aligns the image on the left-hand margin, and any text that is on the page wraps (or flows) around the image to the available space on the right.
• Right: Aligns the image on the right-hand margin, and any text that is on the page wraps (or flows) around the image to the available space on the left.
• Center: Aligns the image to the center of the page, with no text displayed around it.
• None: Inserts the image into the page with no alignment.

The Link To settings determines where someone is taken when they click the image. You can specify the following image link settings:

• Attachment Page: Links your inserted image to its WordPress media attachment page.
• Media File: Links your inserted image directly to the original, full-size version of the file.
• Custom URL: Allows you to set a custom link URL for your inserted image to link to when clicked.
• None: This setting will remove the link completely, rendering the image “un-clickable”.

The Size settings determine the size of the image you are adding to your site. By default WordPress creates a range of four image size for you to choose from:

• Thumbnail: Displays a small thumbnail-sized version of your image on the page/post. Note, by default the Thumbnail size is a square, so some cropping of your original image may occur.
• Medium: Displays a medium-sized version of your image on the page/post. This is a good size to use with Left/Right alignments, as it leaves sufficient space for legible text to either side.
• Large: Displays a large-sized version of your image on the page/post. Note: WordPress will determine the width of the content column of your theme, and display the largest possible image for that space.
• Full Size: Displays a full-sized version of your image on the page/post. Note: WordPress will determine the width of the content column of your theme, and display the largest possible image for that space. If your original image is larger than this column width, the full size of the image may not be displayed.

You can visit the Settings > Media section of your WordPress dashboard to customize the image sizes. Note that the sizes and the thumbnail crop are set at the time the image is uploaded. Those generated images then become the size options shown here.

As of WordPress Version 3.9, you can now grab the handles that appear when you click on an image and resize the image by dragging.

• Caption: Brief explanation. This text will be displayed below the image.
• Alternative Text: Text to described the media. Used by screen readers.
• Align: Image placement within the content area.
• Size: Selected sizes based on images sizes generated at upload time.
• Link To: Destination when someone clicks on an image.
• Image Title Attribute: Sets a title for the "img" HTML tag. Used as a tooltip that appears when you hover over the image.
• Image CSS Class: Adds a CSS class to the "img" HTML tag that can then be used to style the image via a custom CSS plugin or a child theme.
• Open link in a new window/tab: Adds target="_blank" to the link HTML.
• Link Rel: Sets the link relationship or link type.
• Link CSS Class: Adds a CSS class to the link HTML that can then be used to style the link via a custom CSS plugin or a child theme.