Thumbnail proportions in image galleries

[eklyx]

Back to building an Akita site for an artist friend but I’m not sure if this is a WP or an Akita question. However, I’d appreciate a little advice.
Using WP Add Media > Create Gallery, we are constructing several image galleries to show off her paintings, which are either landscape, portrait or square.
In a gallery of landscape images (1000x500px) where all have the same proportions, the thumbnails on the page are landscape. Likewise, if the images are portrait, the thumbnails are displayed with portrait proportions. Symmetry and consistency all good so far!
However, we hit problems when the images in a gallery are of mixed proportions (some landscape, some portrait, etc.). The individual thumbnails match the proportions of the images themselves so some are portrait and some are landscape. Although the lightbox resizes to display the complete images, the thumbnail display doesn’t look great when images are mixed!.
Is there a way to force thumbnails to be displayed as squares, regardless of the individual image proportions (they would obviously be subject to cropping but that’s OK)?
Any help appreciated.
All the best…Rob

Topic

[Jason Bobich]

Hello Rob,

If I understand you correctly, you’re referring to the standard WordPress built-in galleries, which use the thumbnail settings specified from WP Admin > Settings > Media > Thumbnail size. Go there and make sure the box is checked that says:

“Crop thumbnail to exact dimensions (normally thumbnails are proportional)”

Note: If you are changing this setting, the change is not something that happens instantly. WordPress applies these settings at the time you upload an image in order to generate the proper crop sizes. So, if you are changing these settings, you must regenerate your thumbnails for all previously uploaded images to see the effects.

[eklyx]

Jason,

Thank you so much for pointing out that one small (but important) checkbox.

I’m moving from our locally built (MAMP) prototype to a live site now and trying to recreate everything (and remember what all the options are) is a challenge.

I think I understand thumbnails and galleries at last, mainly thanks to your guidance along the way, so thanks again.

Any new themes coming?

All the best…Rob.

[Jason Bobich]

The next step is some huge free updates to all of our current themes to get everything working in sync with the Jump Start theme, which was released a few months ago. I’m hoping all the updates and updated documentation videos are posted sometime around the official release of WordPress 3.6. And then, on to new themes!

[Author]

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