Conceptual question about images

  • mikelbyl

    (@mikelbyl)


    10 years ago

    I’m a long-time WordPress user and have installed and maintained dozens of sites over the years…

    But even after all this time I have a pretty basic conceptual question.

    When I upload images, I upload them to the Media Library.

    Then later in most cases I will include those images in a post. Or, more often, in a gallery that is displayed in a post.

    What I don’t get is – what does that have to do with uploading an image “to” a post? Almost every image I’ve uploaded is uploaded to the Media Library – in no way do I understand it as being uploaded to a post (or a page).

    Specific questions:

    1. Do I lose anything by not uploading images to a particular post or page?

    2. If I display a single image in a post, I notice that it becomes “attached” to that post according to the media library. If I display the same image in another post (not using gallery functions), it is not “attached” to the second post. Is there a meaningful difference between the status of the image in either post?

    3. When I use gallery functions, none of those images is “attached” to a post. This seems inconsistent – if “attaching” is so important that it occupies such a large proportion of the space in Media Library lists – why does it seem to be irrelevant in this case?

    4. Can I safely ignore this whole question completely and continue to upload images to the media library and, once there, do what I want to display them in posts/pages?

    Signed,

    Confused but nevertheless functional…

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    1. Yes, WordPress attaches uploads to posts/pages for a number of functions (and even more extended by plugins). Most noticeable is the library’s tab of images specifically uploaded to a post when inserting media (rather than digging through the whole library), and that the gallery will automatically bring in all images uploaded to the post without you having to manually select them from the library.

    2. Yes, see above.

    3. Yes, see above. If you upload an image to a post, then it’s attached to a post. The gallery then brings in the attached images automatically without needing to manually select photos.

    4. You certainly can, it’s all about easy of use really.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
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