Media Library Category Gallery
The Media Library Category Gallery Content Type will generate an image gallery (photo slideshow) using the images contained within a defined folder in the Media Library.
Two examples are shown above.
Prepare the Media Library folder and image files
- Prepare slideshow images according to their size guidelines (below).
- Upload these images to a dedicated Media Library folder, sensibly named - e.g. gallery-prizegiving-2017
Gallery image pixel sizes
Images in the defined Media Library folder for display in the Gallery can be portrait or landscape. They will probably be photos, and saved at a larger file size than most other images in the Media Library. An optimum pixel size for these Gallery images is:
- maximum 1000 pixels width
- maximum 700 pixels height
Images with larger or smaller dimensions can still be used, depending on the context, however this using this rule represents a fair compromise between file size and display quality. Bear in mind that browsers on slower mobile connections will take significantly longer to download and render these images.
Apply both of these rules
So for example these image sizes are best:
- width 1000px, height 600px (landscape)
- width 400px, height 700px (portrait)
- width 700px, height 700px (square)
An image of width 1000px, height 2000px would be too big. As would an image of width 1500px, height 700px.
Gallery image file sizes
If you can't see pixel sizes for your images (depending on how your images are being prepared) as a general rule keep your uploaded images under 500kb in file size. This is the same as half of 1Mb - so if photos uploaded directly from a phone or other camera are several Mb in size, they'll be too large.
Gallery Content Type entry fields
The Title field generates the Gallery Title.
Selecting the Featured Image does two things:
- It defines the Media Library folder which contains the collection of images to be displayed in the slideshow.
- It places this image as a link to form the main click to view gallery block.
Any image in the defined folder can be used. Use the main image version, not any variants such as Width200. The optimum proportions for a Featured Image, to avoid automatic cropping, are 400:225 (400 units wide, 225 high) - however generally any common landscape format will work acceptably.
If Only Or Last Gallery is ticked, this clears the 'floated' alignment of blocks of content which follow it. Tick this for a single Gallery. If placing several Galleries together, use it only for the final Gallery in a group of Content Items.
Autoplay will automatically start the slideshow feature after opening the Gallery.
Gallery display controls
You'll see controls in the generated Gallery which allow users to:
- Start/Pause Slideshow
- show Fullscreen
- show/hide image Thumbnails (any full-size image can be selected here)
- Close gallery
- show Previous/Next image