Galleries – Gallery, Tiled and Classic Block
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Howdy folks, I’ve been doing some testing with Galleries and am finding some inconsistencies in how a Gallery appears and behaves on site and how it appears and behaves in the WPcom Reader in a browser.
I think this might be too involved and long to post here, so please let me know what is the best way to report this. Meantime, all the information is in the 4 posts published on the site mentioned here (Private).
Please note that the use of a Classic Theme is intentional.
Thanks.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hello Jennifer! :)
Many thanks for this.
We’ll take a look at the demo site and we’ll most like be touch via email with some further details.
Thank you again!
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Hello @justjennifer
I hope you’re well – I’ve taken a look at this issue and I suspect that this issue may have already been reported and is theme specific.
Does this below look familiar here?
https://github.com/Automattic/themes/issues/6089
Thank you again! :)
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Hi Adam, thanks for sharing that link.
I’m not sure it addresses the issues I wrote up on my demo site, as the github repo involves the Classic Editor Gallery and a Gallery created in a Classic Block when using the Gallery Post Format. However, in all my example posts, the Post Format is Standard (I intentionally did not use the Gallery Post Format because I know it can be problematic.)
If you look at my test site, you’ll see there are also issues with how these posts display/behave in the Reader.
On top of that there seems to be an additional issue that if images have captions, they are unclickable both on site and in the Reader or behave inconsistently vis-a-vis the Image Carousel.
In short, all the things! 🤦♀️ I did say this was involved. Sorry!
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Thanks for the extra details!
We’ll dig into this, but I’m not sure how high of a priority it can get, as features are being built with the new editor in mind rather than the classic editor (or block), which will eventually be fully discontinued.
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Hello again, perhaps I wasn’t clear.
This is not about the Classic Editor, which I am aware will eventually be discontinued.
This is about the Gallery Block, the Tiled Gallery Block, and the Classic Block. All of these blocks are in use in the no-longer-new WordPress Editor and should be supported. All of them have been tested in my demo site where I have found some display and behavior issues.
Here are direct links:
Gallery Block: https://wp.me/pdSdmd-2P2
Tiled Gallery Block: https://wp.me/pdSdmd-2Pn
Classic Block: https://wp.me/pdSdmd-2PEPerhaps I misunderstood you, but @staff-blorbo are you saying that the Classic Block will also be discontinued?
Thanks again.
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Hi @justjennifer,
Perhaps I misunderstood you, but @staff-blorbo are you saying that the Classic Block will also be discontinued?
As far as we are aware, there are no plans to discontinue the classic block at this time.
Thanks for the clarification, and we’ll be sure to dig further into this.
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Just posting to say that I’ve exported the content from my above demo site to a new test site demo202209.wordpress.com using the Twenty Twenty-Two theme, and many, if not all, of the same issues exist.
Cheers.
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Hey there friend, I did not see a site at that address. Did you have a different URL to share for that? Would like to know which issues were related to a classic theme vs. a newer one.
Also as you mention, there is a lot here. I can say that just in flipping back and forth between the 3 test posts you created, I feel like I’m getting turned around a bit. With this in mind I wonder if it will help to look at these one at a time in more detail?
You put a lot of work into pulling this all together, and I want to be sure we’re not missing anything as we take a look. For now I want to focus on https://demosite202204.wordpress.com/2022/09/02/gallery-block-6-columns/
A few questions:
- This is an issue specifically when you use a gallery with a large number of columns? For example, this is not an issue in a gallery with 3 columns?
- I checked cropping and for me it seemed they were cropped as expected (to the center of the image) but there are so many images in the gallery. Can you point out a few where the issue is most pronounced? It may help us to spot the issue better that way
Display Issue on Website: Images with a link in the caption are not clickable when Linkto: is set to None (default)
I’m not sure I understand (perhaps I’m not clicking on the same images as you are?) but to clarify, if the gallery is set to
linkto:nonethere is also an issue where the link in the captions is also not clickable? Or you mean to say the image itself cannot be clicked, and no carousel loads? The reason I ask is because I was able to click on all images the the galleries on this page, and they all open in the Carousel as expected. Possibly a browser or OS specific issue? I was able to click on links in a few of the images (this also worked as expected) but I did not take the time to check every link in the gallery.Thanks for the additional info!
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Sorry, the site using Twenty Twenty-Two is demosite202209.wordpress.com
This is an issue specifically when you use a gallery with a large number of columns? For example, this is not an issue in a gallery with 3 columns?
I’m not sure what you mean by “this”. Regardless, the number of columns in the Gallery doesn’t change the Gallery behavior, either on the website or in the Reader. The Gallery block supports up to 8 columns.
it seemed they were cropped as expected (to the center of the image
For example, this image https://demosite202204.wordpress.com/2022/09/02/gallery-block-6-columns/#jp-carousel-10846 is landscape, but in the Gallery it is cropped to portrait. My expectation is that portrait and landscape images are cropped to their original orientation. That expectation appears to be erroneous. On further review, it appears that only landscape images are cropped to portrait. I didn’t find a portrait image cropped to landscape.
Captions: In my initial test on the website, when the Gallery Linkto was set to the default (None), images without captions opened the Image Carousel when clicked. This was the expected behavior.
Images with captions were not clickable and so didn’t open the Image Carousel. However, that behavior has been inconsistent. Sometimes it opened the Carousel and sometimes it didn’t.
In the Reader, however, none of the Gallery images were clickable when Linkto is set to None, whether the image had a caption or not.
In either case here, I was not referring to links in captions.
Hope that helps clarify.
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Thanks, that helps me to parse the info on that test page a bit better.
My expectation is that portrait and landscape images are cropped to their original orientation. That expectation appears to be erroneous. On further review, it appears that only landscape images are cropped to portrait. I didn’t find a portrait image cropped to landscape.
I think this may speak to the difficulty of showing horizontal and vertical images together in a gallery in a cohesive way. If I had to guess, the devs had to come down to a decision as to how to go about cropping and it looks like they set it so images are displayed at the full height available, and the left/right is cropped to fit the layout. For this many columns, a horizontal image is going to lose a lot of image content every time it’s cropped like that. It’s worth noting that the same image is cropped more gracefully if there are fewer columns:
If I were helping a site owner with this directly I’d likely suggest an alternative like the tiled gallery block, which handles this mix of images a bit better. The standard gallery block is oriented to creating a rigid and orderly grid and I’m not sure a perfect way could be devised to get around cropping issues due to that.
Images with captions were not clickable and so didn’t open the Image Carousel. However, that behavior has been inconsistent. Sometimes it opened the Carousel and sometimes it didn’t.
In contrast this does sound like a real issue. I will admit that I have tried many times to replicate this (thank you for clarifying the behavior) but have not seen it myself. When you say “sometimes” I’m curious how often this is, one time in ten?
Also is this issue specific to the browser you use? I also use Chrome (on my Mac) so it may be the OS is the issue but that is tougher to test. If you have a mobile device do you find the same behavior there? Admittedly since the site is private, it’s more difficult for us to test it across browsers and devices so I appreciate you checking this. :)
In the Reader, however, none of the Gallery images were clickable when Linkto is set to None, whether the image had a caption or not.
Can you share a URL to the page where you see this in the Reader? It occurs to me that one reason we’re having trouble verifying this is because your site is private. I’m hoping to see what you see exactly, and see if we can replicate. The Reader can be odd about private sites (it’s more intended for sharing your site to the public) so that may be a factor.
Thanks Jen!
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Thanks for looking at this and for helping me understand the thought processes too.
It’s worth noting that the same image is cropped more gracefully if there are fewer columns:
Overall, future galleries will have up to 30 or so images. Fewer columns will mean more scrolling for the visitor. So it’s a tradeoff.
I’d likely suggest an alternative like the tiled gallery block
My preference is also for the Tiled Gallery block, but there are a couple of issues there as well. :)
When you say “sometimes” I’m curious how often this is, one time in ten?
At the beginning, images with captions were pretty consistently not clickable. Later, maybe after about 5 attempts, they began to load the Carousel, so I don’t wonder if it wasn’t loading from a cache or that the browser behavior changed with repeated attempts. My concern here is that most people will only visit a post one or two times, so not having the carousel load when they visit the first time is an issue.
Also is this issue specific to the browser you use?
I tested this in both FF and MS Edge latest, both on a Win10Pro PC. I don’t have access to other devices other than my Android phone,
If you have a mobile device do you find the same behavior there?
I looked at this post in the Android WordPress app Reader and in the WordPress app internal browser. The Gallery loaded there in two columns and clicking an image opened the Carousel, captions or no captions. I did not try accessing that post from the phone’s mobile browser either logged in or logged out.
Can you share a URL to the page where you see this in the Reader?
The Reader URL for that post in a web browser is https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/205013429/posts/10852
If you absolutely cannot see that to verify (which admittedly I do find curious) I will make the site public for a short time. Or you can do so when you are online next.
Thanks again.
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Hello again folks, just coming back to ask if you need anything further from me on this topic as I won’t be available from next week for a while.
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Hey there @justjennifer
I think @fstat may be referring to the issue here regarding tiled galleries: https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/issues/45122
In my testing I was also able to replicate your issue of the images with
linkto:nonein the Gallery Block not being clickable, but this seems that this is a correct interpretation of the setting that images should not be linked. It’s not clear if this is an issue with the Reader or the fact that the gallery block useslinkto:noneas a default setting so we’re still looking into this before reporting.As a workaround I was able to get images to be clickable in the Reader by changing the gallery setting to
linkto:mediainstead. Does this work for you as well?If you absolutely cannot see that to verify (which admittedly I do find curious) I will make the site public for a short time. Or you can do so when you are online next.
I was able to set up a test post on my site that is public, and confirm your issue. The issue of not being able to follow private sites is noted here: https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/issues/56779
At the beginning, images with captions were pretty consistently not clickable. Later, maybe after about 5 attempts, they began to load the Carousel, so I don’t wonder if it wasn’t loading from a cache or that the browser behavior changed with repeated attempts.
I have not been able to replicate this, but it may be an OS-related issue since I use an Apple device. I’ve asked a few of our Windows-using colleagues to see if they can replicate, but no luck so far, sadly.
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Sorry, I understood we were limiting our discussion here to the Gallery block. Regardless, thanks for pointing me to the 2020-21 github report on the Tiled Gallery block issue in the Reader.
In my testing I was also able to replicate your issue of the images with linkto:none in the Gallery Block not being clickable, but this seems that this is a correct interpretation of the setting that images should not be linked.
I’d agree, and yet at the same time on that Gallery block post (and all the other posts as well) I’ve noted that Settings>Media Settings>Enable Carousel: Display images in full-size carousel slideshow is checked and that’s what they do when clicked on the website.
If I change the LinkTo setting to Media, images on the website still open the Carousel when clicked, but in the Reader I get standalone media files, which I find user unfriendly. When LinkTo is set to Attachment Pages, then on the website images open the Carousel and in the Reader open a standalone Attachment page, also user unfriendly IMO.
The issue of not being able to follow private sites is noted here
This github repo seems to deal with a different issue, unlaunched sites appearing in the Reader. I was referring to Staff access to our sites, public or private or anywhere in-between, not users. To see a post in the Reader, open the single post view and then click the Action Bar’s option to “View post in Reader”.
Hope that helps clarify. Thanks again.
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I’ve noted that Settings>Media Settings>Enable Carousel: Display images in full-size carousel slideshow is checked and that’s what they do when clicked on the website.
The Reader does operate differently than the site itself in some aspects, and in this case, the lack of lightbox within just the Reader does appear to be the intended operation.
With that said, we have some Reader changes on the horizon, so I’ll pass this along for consideration.
To see a post in the Reader, open the single post view and then click the Action Bar’s option to “View post in Reader”.
Thanks, I’ve learned something very useful today! :)
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we have some Reader changes on the horizon
Thanks, I’ve learned something very useful today!
🥳
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