Setting thumbnail areas and making featured images smaller
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Hi there,
I have two problems I’m hoping someone can help me with. Firstly, here is the blog I need help with – it’s a non-pro account using the Hatch theme: http://christakesphotos.wordpress.com/ So, if you notice on the home page, the thumbnails of the photos are automatically set, and so some of them are not centered around the subjects, and in some cases, it looks really bad. For example, some of the thumbnails have people’s heads completely cut off. I have looked online for solutions, and I have played around with it in WordPress a few times, but to no avail. :( Most of the solutions I’ve seen in other support forums talk about changing the coding, but I know nothing about coding, so I’d prefer not to play around with that if there’s an easier solution, as this doesn’t seem like that complicated of a problem. However, I can’t seem to change it so that, like in facebook, I can reposition the framing of the thumbnail to an area of my choosing. Maybe there’s something really obvious that I’m missing? Please help!
My second problem is that when I set the featured image for the blog post, there are no options to change the size the way there is when you upload an image directly into the blog post. So some of the images end up being humongous and don’t even fit in the browser, and I can’t seem to make them any smaller. I know if you actually put the photo into the post then you can manipulate the size. But I tried this, and then I noticed that the image shows up twice – at the top, as the featured image, and then again right below it, as the photo in the blog post, which looks kind of stupid. And if you don’t set the featured image, then no photo thumbnails show up at all on the home page! Does this make sense? Anyways, I’m wondering if there is a way to set a maximum size for featured images in Hatch so that even if a photo I upload is enormous, it will automatically be scaled down to a reasonable size and fit in a browser window. Or, if there’s no way to do that, then is there a way to put a photo directly into the blog post where it doesn’t show up twice, as the featured image at the top and then right below it at the top of the blog post? Maybe these options are part of the “pro” package only? Please help! And again, I really don’t know anything about coding, so if there is a solution that doesn’t involve any complicated coding, that would be great!
Thanks so much!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Many of your issues are tied to the combination of how WordPress automatically sizes images for use as thumbnails and featured images and how your particular theme handles images.
You can modify the size of your thumbnails in your Media settings:
https://christinepickering.wordpress.com/wp-admin/options-media.phpRight now we don’t have any way to edit what appears in a thumbnail, but if you’d like, you can submit this as an idea (with specifics on how it would help you) to our ideas forum, https://en.forums.wordpress.com/forum/ideas
As far as the Featured Images go, some themes do show the image both at the top of a post and then in the body of the post. The only way you can change that within a given theme is to purchase the Custom Design upgrade and hide the image when it appears the second time in your post via custom CSS.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/ -
Hi Jackie,
Ok, thank you for this information. It’s unfortunate that there’s not a way to do it easily within a non-pro account, as it seems to be a problem that a lot of WordPress users are having. But I appreciate your response. Thank you!
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If you’d like to customize a theme to have a design different from what it provides as the default, you will need the Custom Design upgrade, which is $30/year. That’s different from the Premium bundle, which is $99.
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Hi Jackie,
If I purchase the Custom Design upgrade, I can put the photo into the post without it showing up twice, right? But, even within the upgrade, there’s still no way to reposition the area that appears in the thumbnail? I suggested this in the ideas forum, as you recommended. Please let me know if this is ever implemented, as I think it’s a pretty integral feature for a photo site!
Thanks! :)
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Custom Design will not allow you to control the area within a thumbnail. It will give you some control over your header/featured images.
If you’d like, you can give Custom Design a try, and seek out assistance in our CSS forums, to see if you can get your blog looking the way you want. If not, you can get a refund on the upgrade if you do so within 30 days of purchase.
Thanks for the idea post as well. :)
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Alright, Jackie. Thanks for the tips. Maybe I’ll try out the Custom Design upgrade and see what I think… :)
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