Uploading Adding Media
The best websites are eye-catching, full of fascinating images and other media. So it’s time to bring your website out of the dark and into the fascinating world of internet Media!
Organizing and Optimizing (SEO) Media Files
To use Media files on your WordPress website, first you have to store them somewhere on your site. WordPress sets up a URL to store your Media files, so there’s no need to worry.
To view your Media files, just click the “Media” button on your Dashboard Toolbar. This will bring you to your “Media Library”. If you haven’t uploaded any Media yet, follow the following steps for adding and Optimizing your Media.
There are two main ways to Upload Media Files to your WordPress site. You can click on the “Add an Image,” “Add Video,” “Add Audio,” or “Add Media” button on the Add/Edit Page or Add/Edit Post screens or you can add the files from your “Media Library” screen.
On the “Media Library” Toolbar, click on the “Add New” button.
WordPress will prompt you to choose the files you wish to upload. Click on the “Select Files” button.
A window will pop up where you can browse your computer for the file you wish to upload. When you find it, highlight it and click on the “Select” button.
WordPress will begin uploading the file from your computer.
When the file is uploaded, the Media file Tag screen will pop up.
Fill in the appropriate fields. (More information in the next section “Organizing and Optimizing (SEO) Media Files”)
If you want to Crop, Flip, Spin, or Scale the Media file, this is where it’s done.
Organizing and Optimizing (SEO) Media Files
You need to remember that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is best way to bring searchers to your site.
What does this have to do with Media Files?
Besides the fact that the more keywords in content and Tags a site has, the higher a site’s ranking will be, most search engines also have an Image or Video search option. This is another useful tool to bring searchers to your site.
So, let’s start optimizing our Media!
All of your Media files are listed on your WordPress Media Library Page.
Find the file you wish to optimize. When you hover over your file’s name, the options: “Edit,” “Trash,” and “View” will appear. Click on the “Edit” button and your browser will take you to the Meta Data screen for your Media.
Here you get to enter your Media File’s “Title,” “Alternate Text,” “Caption,” and “Description.”
Your file’s Title should be something descriptive and full of keywords. For example, if it’s a picture of the Statue of Liberty, your title should be “The Statue of Liberty.”
Your file’s Alternate Text should be something descriptive and full of keyword as well, but it should be different from the title. For the Stature of Liberty your Alternate Text should be something like “Ellis Island Statue in New York City.”
Your file’s Caption should be just that, a caption (full of keywords). For the same example the caption could be something like “A view of Lady Liberty from above.”
Your file’s Description should be something descriptive and full of keywords (go figure!). For the same example you may want to write something like “This is a photo of the Symbol of our great nation and an Icon for all immigrants who passed through Ellis Island looking for a better life in America.”
Check it out! You’ve just optimized your Media! Now watch the searcher flood in!
You can also add media files from your Add/Edit Post or Add/Edit Page screen! WordPress is very consistent and the processes are very similar so this should be easy. Let’s check it out.
The first step is to click on the “Add an Image” icon.
Then you simply follow the instructions on the screen. You have a few options here. The easiest is to upload one from your computer.
To upload an image from your computer click the “From Computer” tab at the top of the “Add an Image” screen.
Then click on the “Select Files” button to browse your computer for the right image file.
When you find the right file, click on the file name. The file should be highlighted. Then, click “Open” and the file will begin to upload.
The image file’s Meta Data info will appear.
Here you get to enter your Media File’s “Title,” “Alternate Text,” “Caption,” and “Description.”
Your file’s Title should be something descriptive and full of keywords. For example, if it’s a picture of the Statue of Liberty, your title should be “The Statue of Liberty.”
Your file’s Alternate Text should be something descriptive and full of keyword as well, but it should be different from the title. For the Stature of Liberty your Alternate Text should be something like “Ellis Island Statue in New York City.”
Your file’s Caption should be just that, a caption (full of keywords). For the same example the caption could be something like “A view of Lady Liberty from above.”
Your file’s Description should be something descriptive and full of keywords (go figure!). For the same example you may want to write something like “This is a photo of the Symbol of our great nation and an Icon for all immigrants who passed through Ellis Island looking for a better life in America.”
To insert an Image into your Page or Post, find the “Insert an Image” icon above the Content area.
Click on the icon and the “Add an Image” screen will pop up.
You can Upload an image from your computer, use an Image’s URL, or select one from your Media Library.
To select one from the Media Library, click on the “Media Library” tab.
Your Media Library will appear on the screen in order from latest upload to earliest upload. If you had uploaded the desired image and it is not on the screen, click on the page forward button until it appears.
To choose an Image, click on “Show” and the Image File’s Meta Data will expand.
If you wish to edit the file, click on the “Edit” button.
From here you can Crop the Image or change the Dimensions. WordPress makes this pretty easy, so just follow the on screen directions and your Image will be perfect.
The last thing to choose is the size. There are 4 options here: Thumbnail, Medium, Large, and Full (if the image is very small to begin with, it’ll probably be fine to just leave it full size). This sizing is important because if the file is too large, it will take longer to load the page. Once you have an approximate size, you can always adjust the size later in the Content Field.
To Insert the file into your Page or Post, click on the “Insert File” button.
If you want to create a Slideshow, that’s easy too!
Click on the “Insert an Image” button again.
This time, instead of using the “From Computer” tab, you’re going to use the “Gallery” tab. The Gallery will have any Images that you loaded for this specific Page/Post.
You can edit the Image files’ Meta Data by clicking on “Show”, or you can just use them as is.
To decide the Order of the Images, you have 3 options. You can type the order # in the “Order” column next to the Image Files, you can select an order from the drop down box in the lower portion of the screen, and you can choose “Ascending” or “Descending” order.
When you’re done, click the “Insert Gallery” button to insert the Slideshow into your Page/Post. Pretty Cool!
The first step is to click on the “Add a Video” icon.
Then you simply follow the instructions on the screen. You have a few options here. The easiest is to upload one from your computer.
To upload a video from your computer click the “From Computer” tab at the top of the “Add a Video” screen.
Then click on the “Select Files” button to browse your computer for the right video file.
When you find the right file, click on the file name. The file should be highlighted. Then, click “Open” and the file will begin to upload.
The video file’s Meta Data info will appear.
Here you get to enter your Media File’s “Title,” “Alternate Text,” “Caption,” and “Description.”
To insert a Video into your Page or Post, find the “Insert a Video” icon above the Content area.
Click on the icon and the “Add a Video” screen will pop up.
You can Upload a video from your computer, use a Video’s URL, or select one from your Media Library.
To select one from the Media Library, click on the “Media Library” tab.
Your Media Library will appear on the screen in order from latest upload to earliest upload. If you had uploaded the desired video and it is not on the screen, click on the page forward button until it appears.
To choose a Video, click on “Show” and the Video File’s Meta Data will expand.
When you are finished adding the Meta Data, be sure to click “File URL”. This will create a link to bring the user to the Video ‘s URL, where the user can view the Video. If you want to have the Video embedded within the text, you will have to use the Apture plugin.
The Upload procedures are the same as for the above media.
First click the “Add Audio” button.
To upload a audio file from your computer click the “From Computer” tab at the top of the “Add Audio” screen.
Then click on the “Select Files” button to browse your computer for the right audio file.
When you find the right file, click on the file name. The file should be highlighted. Then, click “Open” and the file will begin to upload.
The audio file’s Meta Data info will appear.
Here you get to enter your Audio File’s “Title,” “Alternate Text,” “Caption,” and “Description.”
To insert an Audio file into your Page or Post, find the “Insert a Audio file” icon above the Content area.
Click on the icon and the “Add Audio” screen will pop up.
You can Upload an audio file from your computer, use a Audio file’s URL, or select one from your Audio Library.
To select one from the Media Library, click on the “Media Library” tab.
Your Media Library will appear on the screen in order from latest upload to earliest upload. If you had uploaded the desired audio file and it is not on the screen, click on the page forward button until it appears.
To choose an Audio file, click on “Show” and the Audio File’s Meta Data will expand.
When you are finished adding the Meta Data, be sure to click “File URL”. This will create a link to bring the user to the Audio file ‘s URL, where the user can download the Audio File. (If you want to have the Audio embedded within the text, you will have to use the Apture plugin.)
This button allows you to add any media that is recognized by WordPress. This could be a PDF, PowerPoint, word processor document, or an Image, Video, or Audio file. When a file is anything other than a Video or an Image, the file will in the form of a link to a download, where the user can download the Media file directly to his/her own computer (BE SURE THAT THE “FILE URL” IS SELECTED!).
The Upload procedures are the same as for the above media.
First click the “Add Media” button.
To upload a media file from your computer click the “From Computer” tab at the top of the “Add a Media file” screen.
Then click on the “Select Files” button to browse your computer for the right media file.
When you find the right file, click on the file name. The file should be highlighted. Then, click “Open” and the file will begin to upload.
The media file’s Meta Data info will appear.
Here you get to enter your Media File’s “Title,” “Alternate Text,” “Caption,” and “Description.”
To insert a Media file into your Page or Post, find the “Insert a Media file” icon above the Content area.
Click on the icon and the “Add a Media file” screen will pop up.
You can Upload a media file from your computer, use a Media file’s URL, or select one from your Media Library.
To select one from the Media Library, click on the “Media Library” tab.
Your Media Library will appear on the screen in order from latest upload to earliest upload. If you had uploaded the desired media file and it is not on the screen, click on the page forward button until it appears.
To choose a Media file, click on “Show” and the Media File’s Meta Data will expand.
When you are finished adding the Meta Data, be sure to click “File URL”. This will create a link to bring the user to the Media file ‘s URL, where the user can view the Video or Image, or download the other type Media Files. (If you want to have the Video embedded within the text, you will have to use the Apture plugin.)
Because WordPress is an Open-Source platform, webmasters are able to manipulate code in order to achieve nearly anything they can imagine. Click here to go to our Plugin page to learn more about WordPress Plugins.
What do Plugins have to do with Media Files?
What better way to manipulate code then to make a website more pleasing to the eye! Even better, make it interactive!
The Apture and NexGen Gallery plugins are WebDevStudios.com’s most included Media Plugins. So click on the respective link to be whisked away to a world of Media Adventure!
Apture allows you to link and incorporate multimedia into a dynamic layer above your Pages. These qualities can make your Post/Page more interactive, informative, and strikingly Eye-Catching! You can add links to videos, images, reference articles from places like Wikipedia, maps, audio, entire documents and more.
NexGen Gallery allows you to host your own photo galleries on your own website and display them in various formats, including a sideshow, picture gallery, and in a browser mode.
If you can dream it, we can build it! Please contact us today to discuss your ideas and how WebDevStudios can help you today!WDS prepares for WordCamp Mid-Atlantic!
This weekend Brad, Brian and Chris are attending WordCamp Mid-Atlantic 2010 at Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus in Baltimore, MD. WordCamp is a conference designed for the WordPress community to come together and learn from each other. The WordCamp Mid-Atlantic event is held annually in the Baltimore/Washington region and attracts bloggers, designers, plugin developers and more.
If you are attending WordCamp Mid-Atlantic (or the afterparty), look out for the WDS boys and be sure not to miss Brad’s presentation on Securing WordPress at 12:00 pm.
WebDevStudios is also proud to be sponsoring this great event! Additional details can be found at http://wordcampmidatlantic.com/.
