PiXELWiT

Sometimes you need to edit an image for use in your WordPress blog but you might not need (or you might not have access to) a high-powered image editing application like Photoshop. Maybe you want to post a smaller version of an image you’ve already used in a previous post or maybe you want to “zoom in” to a specific area of an image to add emphasis. If that’s the case, you may find the ImageManager Plugin suitable to your needs. It has basic image editing functions like resizing, cropping and rotating and it saves the results in PNG, GIF or JPG image formats.

I used the image to the left (click thumbnail to see full-sized version) in a previous post and for example’s sake I would like to use a portion of that large image to “add a little color” to what might otherwise be a rather mundane all-text post.

In order to do so I’ll need to do the following:

1. Install, activate and configure the ImageManager plugin as the plugin author describes.
2. Open the WordPress post editor and place the cursor where the image is to appear in the post.
3. Click the ImageManager button.
4. Select the folder containing the image.
5. Select the thumbnail representing the image.
6. Press the pencil icon below the thumbnail to begin editing the image.
7. Press the “Resize” icon.
8. Uncheck “Constrain Proportions” to allow non-proportional cropping of the image.
9. Press the “Crop” icon.
10. Select an interesting area of the image.
11. Press the green check mark to crop the image.
12. Press the “Resize” icon.
13. Check the “Constrain Proportion” box.
14. Set the width of the image to the required dimension.
15. Press the green check mark to resize the image.
16. Press the “Save” icon.
17. Specify an image name, format and quality.
18. Press the green check mark to save the image.
19. Press “OK” and close the image editing window.
20. Press the “Refresh” button inside the ImageManager window.
21. Select the newly cropped and resized image.
22. Set width, height, alignment, vSpace, hSpace, border, title, style and class as I see fit.
23. Press the “OK” button and the image code is placed in the post where my cursor was located.

Once installed, the ImageManager plugin puts the most common image related tasks in one convenient location. Inserting an image into a post can be as easy as pressing the “ImageManager” button and selecting an image from a list of thumbnails. If you want to use images in your blog but don’t have access to an image editor, the ImageManager Plugin is almost a “must have” item. Even if you own Photoshop, this plugin still may be the best tool for certain tasks.

Comments(1)