Gallery plugin for WordPress in Russian. How to create a gallery in WordPress? Useful instructions for beginners

Looking for the perfect WordPress photo gallery plugin? Confused by the huge selection? In this article I will talk about the three best plugins and conduct a qualitative analysis and comparison of them according to such criteria as: speed, performance, ease of use and others. The goal will be to identify the perfect plugin for creating photo galleries in WordPress.

Many WordPress users from time to time they create galleries, i.e. this is a fairly common occurrence. This is why WordPress has a built-in gallery feature. However, its functionality leaves much to be desired, or rather it is quite limited, and the created galleries sometimes do not meet all the aesthetic requirements that may arise. This is why there is a need to use special plugins for creating galleries.

Choosing the right plugin will help you not only create beautiful and functional galleries, but will also have the most positive impact on users’ impression of your site.

What's wrong with most WordPress photo gallery plugins?

The most big problem Most of these plugins have this slow speed work. If they are poorly coded, then photo galleries created with their help will greatly slow down your site, even if it is located on a good WordPress hosting.

Another problem is the complexity of the work. Very often, plugins are overloaded with options and difficult to understand, especially for beginners. A large selection of functions is not always good and does not at all mean that you have a good product.

Last but not least, most plugins don't create .

So, the ideal WordPress gallery plugin should be fast, intuitive, and have all the necessary features to create beautiful photo galleries (lightboxes, image navigation, albums, pagination, etc.) without being cluttered with junk. All this will allow you to create beautiful photo galleries that will have a very positive impact on the user experience of your site and improve its SEO.

So I've done enough great job, having studied a bunch of plugins, I identified and compared the best of them. Here are the results of my work.

Candidates for winning or the best WordPress plugins for creating photo galleries

Here are the three most popular plugins that most experts recommend using in their work. I will compare them, evaluating speed, functionality, ease of use and reliability.

Envira Gallery
Foo Gallery
NextGEN Gallery

Let's start comparing! Let's go!

Speed

Speed is critical when choosing a plugin because... it affects the user experience of the site and its SEO.

If you have a portfolio site or a site where the main content is photographs, then you have no right not to take the speed indicator into account. I tested all these plugins by creating a gallery and using the same images without making any changes to the settings. And these are the results:

As you can see from the results, the best performance is when using the Envira Gallery plugin, despite the fact that the page weight is almost twice that of the NextGEN and Foo Gallery plugins.

The reason that Enivra Gallery has the best score is that it has good encoding and is highly optimized for speed. So the choice is obvious - for better speed To load pages with photo galleries, use the Envira plugin.

Easy to use

Creating a photo gallery isn't as simple as adding one or a couple of images to a post. You need to choose a photo layout, select columns, decide on size, select a suitable lightbox and animation. For a beginner, all these tasks may seem quite complicated. Therefore, here I would like to define a plugin that is functional, but at the same time the most intuitive to use.

Envira Gallery

Envira Gallery is a great example of following classic WordPress coding standards and best practices. The plugin interface is very similar to the WordPress admin panel. Creating a gallery here is as easy as publishing posts in WordPress, so we can say with confidence that this plugin will be appreciated by beginners - everything is familiar and understandable.

When you create a gallery, you will immediately see a shortcode that you can add anywhere in the post or WordPress pages. The plugin will also add a button in the post editor window (next to “Upload media file”), with which you can quickly add a gallery or album to a post/page.

The Envira Gallery plugin also displays a template tag that can be used in WordPress templates. This is very useful if you are developing a site for a client and want to include galleries directly in the theme files.

Foo Gallery

The structure of Foo Gallery is very similar to Envira Gallery. Creating a gallery here is very simple through an interface very similar to the WordPress admin panel.

The plugin will also add a button at the top of the post editor, making it extremely easy to add galleries to posts or pages.

The only difference here is that Foo Gallery is not a tag for inserting the gallery directly into the theme or template files.

NextGEN Gallery

NextGEN differs from the two plugins described above: it has a completely different interface, with its own database tables and separate folders for storing images. Due to its unusual appearance for WordPress, the plugin may seem confusing and difficult to use.

You'll have to spend a little time understanding where to upload images and how to create galleries. Also, the process of adding a photo gallery to a post/page is not that simple. The plugin will also add a button to the visual post editor, but if you work in text editor– no button is visible.

Winner: the victory by a small margin is again awarded to the Envira Gallery plugin, in second place with a minimal lag - to the Foo Gallery plugin. NextGEN will be very unusual for beginners, so it will seem incomprehensible.

Functional

To create beautiful photo galleries you need such functions as: lightbox, full screen mode, albums, pagination, navigation, slideshows, password protection, EXIF metadata, and much more.

However, we must remember that overloading with options can greatly slow down the speed of the site. Let's compare the plugins and find out which of them managed to achieve the best balance in this matter.

Envira Gallery

Envira Gallery goes as completely adaptive plugin, where you don’t have to configure anything specially for this.

This means that from one interface you can easily set thumbnails, animations, gallery layouts, and add meta tags to images.

In addition to the built-in functions, you can add additional options to the plugin by installing addons, such as: gallery templates, social buttons, videos, password protection, albums, slideshows, pinterest, deep linking, full screen mode, image tags and much more .

Foo Gallery

The Foo Gallery plugin also has quite a lot of functionality, but it is not responsive by default. You will have to dig deeper into the settings, select responsive template to create a responsive photo gallery.

Another omission is that the standard set does not have a lightbox; it can only be obtained by installing the free adjacent plugin Foobox. It seems to me that this function should be in the main set.

A number of extensions have been developed for the plugin that can be installed and thereby add additional functions, such as branding, a rotating cube effect, a lightbox and more.

NextGEN Gallery

NextGEN Gallery is the oldest plugin of the three presented here. It has very extensive functionality. Many features that are only available with Envira and Foo when adding addons are included here by default. This plugin also has paid versions with even more options.

However, it is worth understanding that working with many functions requires certain experience and knowledge, which a beginner taking his first steps in web development does not have. You will have to delve into the functionality, read the relevant literature in order to appreciate, and most importantly, be able to take advantage of everything that the NextGEN plugin offers.

Winner: If we evaluate the functionality, then the undisputed leader is the NextGEN plugin. Foo Gallery lacks some of the necessary features in the standard package, but the Envira Gallery plugin has the right balance between functionality and ease of use.

Compatibility

WordPress allows you to move your site from one hosting to another and even to competing alternative platforms.

So let's evaluate the plugins for making it easy to import/export and backup photo galleries.

The Envira plugin stores all photo galleries as custom type records in the database WordPress data. It stores your media using the default WordPress media location. This means that by doing this, you will automatically make a backup of your photo galleries. The plugin also allows

Import/export individual photo galleries, so you can easily transfer a photo gallery from a WordPress site to another.

When moving a site, the plugin will automatically detect this and offer options for the move. All these features make Envira Gallery the most reliable WordPress photo gallery plugin.

Foo Gallery

Like Envira, the Foo Gallery plugin stores photo galleries in the WordPress database as a custom post type. By making a backup of your site, you will automatically create backup copies of your photo galleries.

However, you will not be able to move individual galleries from one place to another, because... The plugin does not have functions for exporting/importing galleries.

NextGEN Gallery

The NextGEN plugin does not have functions for exporting/importing galleries. It stores data in separate database tables, so when backing up a site you will have to tinker with the settings to enable backup copy and these tables.

NextGEN also stores images in a separate folder. If you need to make a backup copy, you will have to download this folder separately to your computer.

Both Envira and Foo Gallery plugins can also import their images.

Winner: The Enivra Gallery plugin has a more complete set of tools for easy import/export of photo galleries.

Price

All three of these plugins have free versions available in the WordPress Plugin Directory, and premium versions are also available for additional fee. The price depends on the service package you want to choose after using the free versions.

Winner: there is no clear favorite - the price very much depends on additional functions and the plan you choose.

Conclusion

Envira Gallery is best WordPress plugin for creating photo galleries. It is extremely clear, fast, comes with all the necessary functions and is completely adaptive. Photo galleries created with its help are spectacular and do not overload the page.

I hope I helped you understand WordPress plugins to create photo galleries and you now know which one is the best and why. What plugin do you use? Leave your answer in the comments or email me.

Don't forget to follow me and, of course, share the article!

Galleries are an integral part of every WordPress site. With their help, you can, saving space and with increased loading speed, demonstrate your media materials to users. They must be present if your site cannot live without pictures and videos. And since search engines lately focus on this kind of material, the presence of a gallery of images and videos is prerequisite for the success of your Internet project.

There are many ways to generate a gallery. Some experienced webmasters prefer to create WordPress Photo Gallery manually - using codes. But not every website owner knows how to do this.

Therefore, it is better to entrust the creation of a gallery to third-party, downloadable modules.

There are many plugins of this kind that will make your life easier and allow you to quickly create a high-quality section for viewing images and videos from the page. Let's look at the best of them.

If you want many images in one place and easy to view, then trust the NextGEN plugin. This true leader among other modules of this type. NextGEN has already been downloaded by more than 6 million users. No other media add-on for WordPress has such download volumes.

To get started with NextGEN, you need to download it and, preferably, Russify it. Next, you have to configure the NextGEN plugin. The main parameters that need to be set are the path to the files (that is, where the module will get media for the gallery), the activation of SEO links (the files will be named with human-readable URLs so that search engines index the gallery better) and adding URLs for certain images. Additionally, if you already have a site full of images, you can remove them using the NextGEN plugin so that they are all transferred to the gallery.

Creating a new image gallery is available in the “Gallery” section of the NextGEN plugin console. Click “Add Gallery” and come up with a title. In order for the photo gallery to appear on the page, you have to insert the shortcode into the desired part of the site. NextGEN will provide you with such a shortcode immediately after defining all the gallery settings. After adding the shortcode to the page, you can change the composition of the gallery images - add or remove them.

NextGEN allows you to automatically adjust the size of images, which is very important for the usability of the site. If you have a lot of different-sized images, this can harm the site - it will “jump”, either increasing or decreasing. Standard size images can be set in the plugin settings. This isn't the only way to edit images - you can also add and change tags. Creating tags is great way optimize the content of WordPress site galleries. Users will be able to quickly navigate between similar pictures.

And one more useful feature NextGEN is a feature for adding images with automatic watermarking. This feature will be especially useful if you maintain an author’s blog and add your photos to it. Then even if competitors copy the content of your site, they will only make additional advertising for the resource.

Tribulant Slideshow Gallery

This plugin is also popular and trusted, but it has only been downloaded 0.5 million times worldwide. Nevertheless, the capabilities of the module are not much inferior to other similar add-ons. You will be able to add a number of images to the gallery you created. Please note that Tribulant Slideshow Gallery in to a greater extent designed for slide shows. The plugin allows you to generate slides both for the site header and for placement inside posts.

The add-on works stably and there are many parameters that you can change. The image transition animation can be replaced if necessary. When you hover over individual pictures in the slideshow list, they darken. The user will be able to open individual slides in full screen for detailed viewing. In this case, the image is framed by a frame that can be customized to suit the specific design of the resource. You can add to each slide brief description. When hovering, the visitor will see the name of the images, and after clicking, if you so wish, the transition to the specified hyperlink will be activated.

Grand Flagallery

Photo gallery, music tracks, video slides - all this can be placed in a flash gallery made using the Grand Flagallery plugin. It is also a popular add-on with over a million downloads. The plugin allows you to create slideshows with completely different materials, and arrange it all in different style solutions. In the basic version of the module, 4 gallery skins are available, in the paid version there are 10 more on top.

The peculiarity of the Grand Flagallery add-on is the ability not only to create a WordPress Video Gallery, but also to generate individual pages. Using the Grand Pages tab, you can configure separate page, into which you will embed a gallery of images and other types of files. And using the FiaGallery menu you can change the gallery parameters:

adding audio and video boxing;
creating slides with banners (images with links);
change the gallery skin;
adjusting the size of slides;
changing the path to the gallery;
adding sorting options for images and slides;
integration with Facebook.

You don't need to purchase any to change your slideshow design. paid version Grand Flagallery plugin - in the menu you can set your own parameters for colors individual elements and change their size. The module will allow you to create a slide show, a video player and a music playlist for the site.

BestWebSoftGallery

It’s not for nothing that the plugin contains the word “Best” in its name, because despite the relatively large number downloads (half a million), the module deserves best reviews users. The plugin's rating is 4.4, while NextGEN is only 3.9. Such a high rating is not a coincidence, but a direct consequence of the large number of functions in the BestWebSoft Gallery module.

Main features of the add-on:

adding an unlimited number of images to galleries;
creating albums in galleries (they can also be added in unlimited quantities);
You can add a description to each album;
It will be possible to add meta tags to albums and images, useful for indexing in search;
the size of albums, previews and photos themselves can be adjusted in the settings;
slideshows can be viewed in full screen mode;
galleries are added using short shortcodes;
the number of pictures displayed in one line can be adjusted;
you can set the sorting order by date, title and other parameters;
you can add your comments to the gallery;
Images in the gallery can be downloaded directly from the WordPress library.

As evidenced by reviews from Russian users of the plugin, the module works with high-quality support. If you have questions, you can always find answers! And since the supplement is also provided in Russian, most likely you will not have any questions - everything is very simply and clearly presented.

Other plugins for creating photo galleries on the site

Fotobook is an excellent module for linking an account in social network Facebook with resource photo albums. With just one click, you can automatically add pictures to both your website and your Facebook account.
Yet Another Photoblog is a convenient and functional plugin. Suitable for creating photo blogs, where the main focus is on photographs, not articles. Perfect for a photographer's blog!
AWSOM Pixgallery is a module for creating photo portfolios. The plugin is popular among artists and designers.
LightBox Gallery is a functional add-on for adding photo galleries to posts. You can customize both their viewing mode and size.

If you do not pursue any special goals, then the NextGEN plugin will be enough for you - a photo gallery made with it performs all the necessary functions.

1. Go to your WordPress console;

2. Add a new article and text to it;

3.Select format Gallery(gallery) in the field Format(format) ;

4.Using a button ‘Add Media‘ (add media) upload pictures for galleries;

5. Click on 'Create Gallery'(create gallery). Download all pictures from only hard drive! Otherwise, they will not be displayed on the site.

6. You can crop/rotate/edit any image directly in the administrative panel. Next click on ‘Edit image’(add a picture).

7. At the very bottom Gallery settings(gallery settings) you can see which pictures will appear in Gallery post

8. Click on ‘ Create new gallery’(create a new gallery).

9. B Gallery settings(gallery settings) set 1 column layout.

10. Click on ‘Insert gallery’(insert gallery)

11.In the tab ‘Text/Html’(text/Html) you can remove the gallery shortcode. It should look something like this:

12. Publish new post galleries. The gallery has been successfully added.

Many people face the problem of limited functionality of the built-in photo gallery. Often, a webmaster needs not only to organize correct location images, providing users with more convenient ways to view them, but also to do it quickly enough, without unnecessary problems with settings and design of thumbnails. This is especially true on those sites where it is planned to publish a large number of photographic materials.

Such problems can be solved by using third-party galleries for WordPress, which have more advanced features than a standard photo gallery.

You can find a huge variety on the Internet similar decisions, are in many ways similar to each other, which greatly complicates the choice of the appropriate option.

The most common problems that many plugins suffer from

Many similar solutions have one very common problem - heavy load to the server. A poorly optimized gallery plugin can cause a significant increase in site load time, which will undoubtedly affect your rankings search results. Even more expensive hosting cannot always save the situation. And if you consider that for some resources photographs are the main content, then speed of work plays the most important role there.

One more common problem– complexity of setup. Some plugins are so overloaded with additional options that even experienced user It takes a lot of time to find something as basic as changing thumbnails, let alone for beginners.

The final challenge is adaptability. For users mobile devices is receiving more and more attention from search engines, it is now very important good optimization site for small screen resolutions, the same applies to images.

An ideal photo gallery plugin should include 4 main qualities:

Good optimization, low load on the server;
Intuitive interface, not overloaded a large number unnecessary options;
A set of necessary functions (albums, lightboxes, navigation, changing thumbnails);
Availability simple way export and import.

Choosing the best option for creating a photo gallery

To choose correctly best plugin, among a huge number of proposals, you need to evaluate the most popular of them according to the four proposed criteria.

This is one of the most popular photo galleries, providing powerful functionality for downloading media files directly from your desktop. It allows you to add, delete, change and sort images. Also, it contains additional features, For example, creating a slideshow with Lightbox and thumbnail editing.

Optimization

The operating speed of NextGen is quite fast, despite the large number of built-in functions, it is not inferior in speed to its competitors. Unfortunately, it often contains code execution errors that can cause additional load on the server.

Interface

NextGen has its own interface, very different from the standard one in WordPress, which can seem quite complicated at the learning stage. Beginners will have to spend some time learning, but it will more than pay off during use, as it will open up a very wide range of possibilities. Main feature Its interface is that it allows you to centrally manage all your existing galleries from one place.