Do you want to make a beautiful image gallery in WordPress that can show many pictures? You should consider using the space-saving masonry gallery.
A masonry gallery is a gallery that’s similar to a grid gallery, but it arranges images in blocks of different heights. This differs from a grid gallery, where all images are the same size. This best WordPress gallery plugin is great for showing pictures or artwork with different shapes because they don’t need to be cut or changed – they appear as they are. They also put the images close together, like bricks in a wall, so there’s no space on the page. In this article, we’ve compiled a complete guide to help you create your masonry gallery in WordPress.
Introduction to Masonry Gallery
If you’ve been thinking about arranging pictures on your website, you might have seen different layouts like mosaic, carousel, or masonry. Let’s focus on the masonry layout for now. In simple words, when you use a masonry layout, all your pictures fit together without any spaces in between.
Interestingly, each picture can be a different height, and if it is, it won’t change to fit a specific size. This way, the masonry layout uses all the available space, and you won’t have to scroll a lot to see more pictures. This also makes the viewing experience more exciting and enjoyable.
Benefits of Masonry Gallery in WordPress
Masonry layout can be a cool choice for your website as it helps you put more photos on a page without cutting or changing their size. But there’s more to it than that – here’s why a gallery plugin WordPress with this feature is a good idea.
Other layouts can be tricky if you want to show pictures with different shapes, like tall and wide ones. You’d either need to change the pictures or leave gaps between them. Changing them could worsen the pictures, leaving gaps that would waste space. This is where the masonry layout comes in – it’s the best choice.
While it might not work for every website, a masonry layout can make things exciting and catch people’s attention. It also looks good on smaller screens. The number of pictures in each row gets smaller on phones or tablets, where the screen is narrower. This way, the pictures still look good and clear.
Guide to Creating Masonry Gallery in WordPress
If you want to showcase many images on your website, a masonry gallery can be a great choice. It lets you display pictures without gaps, and each picture can have its height. Here’s how to create the FooGallery masonry gallery WordPress, step by step.
Download FooGallery: To get started, choose a FooGallery plan that suits your needs. If you pick a PRO plan, pay and check your email for the download link and license key. Save the downloaded .zip file on your computer.
Add the Plugin: Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Click “Upload Plugin,” then drag and drop the .zip file or browse for it. Once uploaded, click “Activate Now” and enter your license key if you have one (for PRO plans).
Creating a New Masonry Gallery: On your dashboard, go to FooGallery > Galleries > Add Gallery. Choose the masonry gallery layout. Now you can start adding images to your new gallery. Click the “Add Media” icon and upload your images. Select the ones you want to include and click “Add Media” to insert them into the gallery.
Customizing Your Gallery: After populating your gallery, you can customize its settings. Click on “General” to adjust basic gallery settings. You can change the thumbnail width and column count. Masonry layout may shift images, so you can enable “Horizontal Layout” to maintain a left-to-right order.
Appearance: Customize how your gallery looks under the “Appearance” tab. You can adjust the lightbox settings for image viewing. Explore different thumbnail hover effects to add style. Set captions to engage visitors and boost SEO.
Paging and Filtering: Customize how visitors navigate the WordPress masonry gallery using the “Paging” options. Consider enabling advanced filtering for larger galleries to help users find specific images or categories.
Adding Video and EXIF Data: If you have the PRO Expert or PRO Commerce plan, you can add videos from platforms like YouTube. Consider adding EXIF data to your images for extra information.
Advanced Settings: Under the “Advanced” section, you can turn on or off settings like lazy loading and image title attributes. Be cautious with these settings unless you’re familiar with them.
Protection and eCommerce: If you’re on the PRO Commerce plan, you can enable right-click protection and watermarked images. You can also integrate WooCommerce seamlessly with your masonry gallery, making it easier to sell your products.
Creating a masonry gallery using FooGallery can enhance your website’s visual appeal and user experience. Follow these steps to showcase your images dynamically and engagingly.
Wrapping up
Whether you’re displaying photos, artwork, or products, a masonry gallery WordPress plugin is a great way to show your images in a cool and eye-catching manner. You won’t need to stress about the size of the images.
Even though we’ve covered many ways to customize your gallery using FooGallery, don’t forget that the default settings are good for most situations.
