Gallery Setup
★Setup:
There are four parts to setting up a gallery:
- Assign dimensions to the different image views.
- Create your Gallery Categories
- Create the Gallery Page
- Add items to the gallery
Set Dimensions
The first step, assigning the dimensions, is done by opening the Settings panel drop-down, and selecting “Media”. Any new gallery item has three views:
- A Thumbnail
- A “Details” View
- A Full-size or “Lightbox” view
The first two dimensions – thumbnail and “details” view – are set through the “Thumbnail size” and “Medium size”, respectively, which can be found at the top of the Media settings page. You do not have to set the full-size view, as it takes on the dimensions of the original image.
Create a Gallery Category
Next, under the Gallery panel drop-down, select “Gallery Categories” and create a new category. You can assign an image to your category by clicking on the “question mark” box next to the item. Use the tool that loads to locate the image on your computer, and then select “Add Thumbnail to Taxonomy”. You will notice that the question mark box is stil empty. This is a quirk in the tool being used by Mighty Gallery. Your image will not be assigned right at first. (Note: This may be remedied in a future release.)
To work around this, navigate away by clicking on the Gallery panel. Then, select “Gallery Categories” again, and click on the question mark box once again. This time, your image will already be in Media Library. Locate it and click on the “Show” link next to it. This will open up the image properties. Click on “Add Thumbnail to Taxonomy” one more time, and your image will now appear next to your Category.
Create a Gallery Page
Open the Pages panel drop-down and select “Add New”. Give the page a meaningful title, such as “Portfolio”, “Gallery” or “Home”. Select a gallery template from the Template drop-down list, found in the “Page Attributes” box. You can also add content to the page, such as an introduction, a description of the page or even a slideshow via the “slideshow” shortcode. When you are finished, press “Publish”.
Create a New Gallery Item
Open the Gallery panel and select “Add New”. Select “Add Featured Image” from the Featured Image box. Use the tool that appears to locate the image that you want to add, from your computer (Note: this should be the largest size that you want users to see.)
Click “Use as Featured Image” to attach the image.
The Featured Image will be used to generate all other image views:
- Thumbnail
- “Details” View
- Full-Size View (Lightbox) – (try to keep the filesize around 80k)
Give your gallery item a title. You can also give it a description and define the mediums used to create the image. When you are finished, press “Publish”.
