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Using the Media Library in WordPress
Leverage the WordPress image libraries so you don't overload your site
Now that you know the basics behind uploading images and using them to gain SEO traction, you might want to know how to leverage the WordPress image libraries so you don't overload your site.
Connecting Virtual Libraries to Reality
In the previous article, I showed you how to upload images to your database in WordPress and how to add them to a post. In this article, I'll help you streamline this process as you learn more about the Media Library and Gallery within WordPress.
You might think about your WordPress Media Library as a bricks-and-mortar library, where books are stored on shelves. If you go to the library in your town, you may or may not find a book you need on the shelves; but, the librarian may know how to find that book for you and send off for it so that you can read it.
You would not expect to find two or three books of the same title on those library shelves, however, as these replications take up space that could be used for new books.
The same analogy applies to the Media Library in WordPress (WP). Why add two or more of the same image when you already have that image in your library? And, if you cannot find the image in your library, you always can add that image to an upload, much like the librarian would send off for a book that wasn't on the library shelf.
With this analogy in mind, you can help to keep your image gallery to a minimum size. This slimming down of your media library can go a long way in site speed and in saving your sanity when you need an image. You are, essentially, building a library filled with images that pertain to a certain topic – the topic of your blog. What a resource you have on your hands, then, as long as you remember to keep backing that resource up in case of...well...in case 2012 really is going to be the mess some people predict.
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.