WordPress 3.5 Media Library New Features

It seems that the new and improved WordPress 3.5 Media Library has people a bit confused. I recently upgraded my Website Management Program clients’ sites to WordPress 3.5.1 and have fielded several questions as a result, mainly “What the heck did they do to the Media Library?? I can’t find anything any more!!”

With all progress comes the pain of change and the WordPress 3.5 Media Library is no exception. In my opinion, the new media library is a big improvement over the old one. The improvement is a result of redoing many of the things that made the old media library…uh…interesting to work with at times.

The user interface is quite different from previous WordPress versions starting with the first screen. After clicking the Add Media button above the top left corner of the editor, you’ll see the following screen pop up:

After uploading one or more files, or clicking the Media Library tab at the top of the screen, you will see the following screen showing available media files, latest ones first:

After selecting the desired media file, the options that used to be prominently displayed under the thumbnail are now in a scrollable window on the right which I’ve outlined in red. As you can see above, the title, caption, etc. are shown at the top of the scrollable window. The remaining options, such as alignment, size and link are in the bottom portion of the window as shown below:

Here’s a tip: You’ll note that I have made the above images clickable. In a previous post, I explained how to remove links from post images which is desirable in most cases. This is one of the exceptions. The images were too large to display properly and making them smaller obscures some needed detail, so I uploaded the full size images and smaller versions of them, as well. The image shown in the post is the smaller version. The link is a custom link to the full size version. It was also necessary to add a target parameter to the link in order for it to open in a new tab or window.

Video Tutorials

One of the services I provide with my Website Management Program is a series of video tutorials that cover how to do most basic functions in WordPress. The videos are available in the admin dashboard for WMP clients.

For those not in the WMP who would like a video tutorial on the new Media Library in particular, the WPBeginner website has the same series of videos available for free. You’ll need to register for a free account to access the videos and other resources. Video number 6 covers adding media and showcases the new features of the media uploader.

John
The Small Business Website Guy on Google+