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When creating a captivating WordPress post, the featured image plays a crucial role in catching the eye of potential readers. Selecting the right size of WordPress featured image is essential for making a solid first impression and maximizing the impact of your content. In this guide, we’ll delve into the importance of choosing the proper image size for WordPress featured images and how it can significantly influence the success of your WordPress posts. So, let’s explore how to change WordPress featured image size to elevate your WordPress posts to new heights!
The featured image is a visual representation of your post or page content. It is the first thing people see after the title and is visible when a post or page is selected from a directory or search engine. This makes it crucial for driving traffic to your site.
Sometimes referred to as the header image, it is utilized by WordPress to create thumbnails, so its name can vary. The featured image will be displayed outside its original post or page in various locations. For example, it may appear on your homepage if you showcase the newest or most popular posts and your website’s search results after customers use the search bar in WordPress.
The placement of a featured image on your website depends on your theme. Usually, you can expect to find your image in these three main places:
It’s also possible to spot featured images in other areas of your site, such as image galleries, background images, or image sliders on your homepage. Here’s a simple example of featured images on a homepage of a website built using WordPress.
It’s important to note that the possibility to change the size of a featured image in WordPress depends on the theme you select. Each theme supports different image sizing options, and referring to the theme documentation is necessary to determine the best options.
In WordPress, a thumbnail image is a smaller-sized version of an original image used to represent the larger image across the website, particularly in image galleries, post listings, and other relevant sections. When an image is uploaded to WordPress, the system automatically generates various image sizes, including a thumbnail size, which can be configured in the WordPress settings.
The primary purpose of thumbnails is to enhance website performance by initially loading smaller images, thereby enabling faster page loads. Furthermore, themes commonly utilize thumbnails to ensure consistent layouts for posts and pages. WordPress themes and plugins offer customization options for displaying thumbnails, allowing users to define the size and cropping settings for thumbnails in the media settings of their WordPress dashboard. Ultimately, thumbnails improve a WordPress website’s visual appeal and user experience.
WordPress thumbnails and featured images typically have a default size of 150 x 150 pixels.
While this size may suit some users, it’s important to note that, like all other image resolutions, it may not be suitable for all design needs. Fortunately, you can adjust the thumbnail size by navigating to Settings > Media > Image sizes > Thumbnail size and modifying the width and height to better fit your requirements.
When you add an image to your WordPress site, it automatically creates three different versions of the original image. These include the thumbnail size (150×150 pixels), medium size (300×300 pixels), and large size (1024×1024 pixels).
The reason for creating these different versions is to optimize the image display based on where it is being used. For example, let’s take an image with dimensions of 1200px by 630px. The original file size is 86KB. However, when we create a smaller version of the same image, such as 150px by 150px, the file size reduces to 10KB.
This resizing is beneficial because using the original large image for thumbnail display would slow the page load speed and increase bandwidth usage, especially on mobile devices with smaller screens.
While WordPress automatically resizing images is helpful, it may not be suitable in some instances. For example, certain WordPress themes may require images of specific dimensions, and default resizing may not meet those requirements.
In such cases, manual resizing of the images is necessary. If you need to resize images yourself, WordPress enables this flexibility.
Adding a featured image in WordPress is straightforward. Follow these steps:
The featured image WordPress size can vary in modern WordPress themes, and adjusting them often requires different approaches. Below, we’ll explore how to change the featured image size for WordPress featured image in three popular themes: Astra, Divi, and Elementor.
To modify the WordPress featured image size in the Astra theme, follow these steps:
To change the WordPress featured image size in the Divi theme, use the following steps:
To modify the WordPress featured image size when using Elementor, follow these instructions:
This method lets you directly control the featured image size within the Elementor editor.
Before we begin, it’s important to emphasize that your theme determines the ideal featured image size in WordPress. Each theme has its specifications, so it’s crucial to choose sizes according to those recommendations.
Failing to adhere to your theme’s guidelines may lead to low-quality images that appear blurry or get cropped.
Consider setting the relevant image and size to the page’s content.
There’s an option to edit any image in your media library. You can locate this when selecting the image.
To adjust the featured image size in WordPress, simply edit the image. You’ll find basic photo editing options such as cropping, rotating the image right or left, and flipping it horizontally or vertically. Most importantly, you can scale the image.
To change the featured image size in WordPress, just adjust the dimensions (in pixels) and click the “Scale” button.
However, this method may only be effective in certain situations. Scaling the image can significantly reduce its quality and result in blurry images. The outcome depends on the image’s original dimensions and the scale applied.
Due to these limitations, many developers prefer to bypass these options in WordPress and opt for actual photo editing software like Photoshop, which is the next method.
To modify the default image sizes in WordPress, go to Settings > Media.
Adjust the image sizes in the Max Width and Max Height fields.
After making the changes, save your settings.
Subsequently, any new image added to your WordPress site will be resized according to your specified dimensions.
The featured image will be displayed the same size as the original image, depending on the theme. One of the easiest ways to adjust its size is to use software such as Photoshop and make manual adjustments. Stock images can be cropped in Photoshop to achieve the desired size without compromising quality.
Generally, most blogs use Photoshop as it is widely available for photo editing, and numerous tutorials are available to assist beginners.
Another advantage is that you can keep the original image stored on your computer.
Throughout a website’s lifespan, you will likely need to make various changes to your images, such as adjusting the size, adding a border, changing a specific graphic element, or modifying the font.
Having the original image available allows you to make edits and re-upload it, saving you the effort of searching for the same stock image again or creating a new one from scratch.
In essence, ensure the image is properly sized before uploading it so you can simply place it and be done.
There’s another, more complex approach that involves using PHP to code the featured image size. Specifically, you would add some code to your theme’s functions.php file.
Before proceeding, we highly recommend creating a backup. Regardless of your actions, it’s essential to make one.
A backup is an invaluable tool for developers because you essentially have a safety net, no matter what mistake occurs. And sometimes, it’s not even your mistake that necessitates a backup.
In any case, you need to locate your theme’s functions.php file and paste the following line of code into it:
<!--?php set_post_thumbnail_size( $width, $height, $crop );
?-->
This code isn’t ready for use as you need to make a small change to it. The $width should be replaced with the width of your image in pixels and the $height with the image’s height in pixels.
Finally, the $crop option will crop the image to the specified width and height. If you want to enable this, enter True. Alternatively, you can leave it blank or enter False.
Therefore, for a 100 x 100 image without cropping, the code will look like this:
<!--?php set_post_thumbnail_size(100, 100, False );
?-->
And that’s it. Save the changes, and any images you upload to your website after making this change will adhere to these rules.
Note: Since this code is in your theme’s functions.php file, you must add it again if you change themes. Some themes may not support this function, so consult your theme documentation.
Optimizing WordPress featured images goes beyond aesthetics; it’s a strategic effort to boost visibility and attract organic traffic. Technical details and visual appeal significantly affect how search engines perceive and rank your content. Let’s see how to improve your website’s SEO with WordPress featured image optimization.
In conclusion, optimizing WordPress featured images involves a holistic approach that combines visual appeal with technical considerations. Paying attention to Alt text, image size, titles, file names, and uniqueness can boost content visibility and improve its chances of ranking higher in search engine results, benefiting SEO efforts and enhancing the overall user experience on your website.
To adjust the featured image size in WordPress, follow these steps:
The size of the featured image in WordPress varies based on the theme you select. Refer to your theme documentation to determine the recommended dimensions. Generally, themes create three versions of an original image: thumbnail (150×150 pixels), medium (300×300 pixels), and large (1024×1024 pixels).
The recommended size for a featured image in WordPress depends on your theme’s specifications. Consult the theme documentation to find the optimal dimensions. Ensure you adhere to these guidelines to avoid low-quality or improperly displayed images.
To set the featured image size in WordPress:
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