A Simple Gallery And Slideshow: Part 1 – The Gallery

If you are looking for an easy way to embed a gallery and slideshow into a post, here is a simple solution. This gallery was created using the method I will describe below. Note that when you click on any of the images, a slide show will start in something called a lightbox.

One of the great new features in the latest version of WordPress is the ability to easily create picture galleries. Add a lightbox, and you now have a beautiful slideshow.

The lightbox I am using is called ‘Simple Lightbox’. It is a plugin you can easily install and it is written by Archetyped. Big thanks to my friend Marco Zecchin for pointing this plugin out to me last year.

Simple Lightbox is a very simple and customizable lightbox that is easy to add to your WordPress website. Once installed, you will find the setting for it under Dashboard / Appearance / Lightbox.

We’ll cover using and installing it in Part 2. In Part 1, let’s focus on how to create the gallery.

We will assume that you have already created a post (or page) and have uploaded some images into the post’s media library.

So let’s get to it!

Click Add Media.

When the media window opens, select “Uploaded to this post” using the drop-down box.

Now click Create Gallery.

This will open the Create Gallery page. This page ‘should be’ showing the images that you uploaded to this post. If it is showing more, just select “Uploaded to this post” using the drop-down box again.

Now, you can select which images you want to include by clicking on the images. Click again and you can un-select images. In this example I have chosen to show 6 images as you see in the gallery above.

Scroll down and on the right hand side, you will see the Create a new gallery button. Click that!

This will now open the Edit Gallery page. Here, you can order the images. Just drag and drop. You can also add captions under each image if you want.

Look to the right hand side of your screen now and you will find the Gallery Settings. You can choose how many columns you want to show and where they should link. Leave this set as Media File. You can also select Random Order if you want your gallery to show up randomly each time someone visits that post. Once you are happy with your choices, scroll down and click the Insert Gallery button.

You will now see this in your post. For now, save your draft post and do a preview so you can see what your gallery looks like.

Ok. So you did your preview. Suppose you want to make a few changes. Click once on the gallery image (like the one right above this) and you will see 2 icons appear. The red circle deletes your gallery if that’s what you want to do. The icon to the left of it opens the Edit Gallery page. Click that icon now.

Now you can edit your captions if you want, re-order the images, change the number of columns or add new image to the gallery by clicking the Add To Gallery link on the left.

By the way, throughout this post I have had you add images that were uploaded to the post by selecting the “Uploaded to this post” option in the drop-down box. You can add ANY image from any post. Just select “Images” in the drop-down box and you will have access to every picture in your Media Library. Just select the images you want to add, then on your right hand side, you will see an Add To Gallery button (image not shown here).

Once you have clicked that, you will be back to the Edit Gallery page where you can make more changes and then click the Update gallery button on the lower right hand side (image not shown here).

So there it is. I hope that you have found this post useful and easy to follow. I suggest that you create a test post and add a gallery to it. Experiment with number of rows, captions, re-ordering the pics, adding images, deleting images and previewing your changes each time.

In Part 2 , we learn how to get that lightbox happening so your gallery becomes a slideshow like the one at the top of this post. As always, please leave you questions and comments below!