How To Create An Image Gallery In WordPress

Method 1. Create An Image Gallery Without Using A Plugin

Yes, you read it right you can make an image gallery by using the built-in features of WordPress.

However, this feature is very basic and does not have many options, but it gets the job done.

To do that, first, you need to open the text editor of your post or page where you want to add the image gallery.

Click on the ‘+’ option followed by the gallery icon as shown below.

Once you click on that, you will be asked to upload or go to the media library to create a gallery.

Either you can upload the images directly from your computer.

or

you can select photos you have previously uploaded to the media library.

After uploading and selecting your images click on the ‘ Create a new gallery ‘ option present at the bottom of the page.

On the next page, you will get an option to add captions to the images.

If you wish you can add the caption and then click on the ‘Insert gallery’ button.

Then edit screen will open with the gallery block setting panel.

Here you can choose the number of columns for each row, and choose where to link the gallery images.

Once you are satisfied with your settings, click on the publish button and visit your website to see your image gallery in action.

That’s all.

Wasn’t that simple, sophisticated and easy?

Of course, it is, if you want to make a simple image gallery you can go with this method.

However, the gallery’s appearance depends on your theme and is not fully mobile-responsive.

If you want to add more professional-looking image galleries to your site, then you should consider this next method.

Method 2. Create An Image Gallery Using Plugins

There are thousands of plugins available to set up and optimize a gallery in WordPress.

In this tutorial method, we will be using g Envira Gallery plugins.

It is one of the most popular and reliable WordPress gallery plugins through which you can make a beautiful and responsive image gallery.

You can either install the free version of this plugin or go with the premium plan.

You must check our in-depth guide on image sliders if you are willing to add an image/video slider to your WordPress website.

Coming back to the topic.

If you are a professional and own a professional gallery website then you must consider buying the premium plan of the Envira plugin.

Once you install and activate the plugin, you will see a new option of ‘Envira Gallery’ on the left side of your WordPress dashboard.

Click on ‘Envira Gallery’ followed by ‘Settings’ to enter your license key.

You can get the license key from your Envira Gallery account.

After verifying your license key, create your first gallery by clicking on the ‘ Add new ’ option.

Here you can provide a title for your gallery and then you can choose the images from your media library or you can directly upload it from your computer.

Once you upload your images, they will appear in the images section.

Here you can add the caption, title, and alt text to each image.

In order to change your gallery settings like:

• The number of columns
• Title and caption positioning
• Margins
• Heights
• Thumbnail sizes
• Image dimensions

You need to click on the ‘Config’ tab to make the necessary changes.

After that click on the ‘Lightbox’ tab.

The lightbox popup allows users to enlarge images and browse them without ever leaving the page.

The default settings will work efficiently, but you can review the options and change them as per your desire. Like themes and Image sizes.

That’s all you are ready to publish the newly created image gallery by clicking on the ‘Publish’ button present at the top right corner of the page.

Upon clicking on the publish button, you will get a shortcode that you can use wherever you want to display the gallery in your post.

However, you will also get the shortcode of Envira Gallery on your post/ page editor page.

Click on the Add New Block icon and select the Envira Gallery block.

Clicking on it will bring up a popup where you can select the gallery you just created. Search the gallery by its name or find it by clicking on the dropdown arrow icon.

Click on the gallery you want to display and then click on the ‘insert’ button.

You can now save and publish your post.

After that visit your website to see it in action.

When you click on any image, it will open the image in the lightbox popup and you can browse images by pressing the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.

Your gallery will look equally great on mobile as well.

Users will be able to tap on an image to enlarge it and swipe to view the next or previous images.

That’s it.

I hope this article helped you in creating your brand-new image gallery.

You might wanna see our guide on how to fix common issues with images in WordPress.

But before that let’s have a look at the best gallery plugin for WordPress websites.