Next click the Add Media button next to the words Upload/Insert. This opens the Add Media dialog box.

Once the image has finished uploading the box expands to show you various options as follows:

Title
The first thing to change is the file name. In my attached example, the file name was Allan-Short.jpg, but this is the title tag for the image so I want to change Allan-Short to Allan Short so that when someone hovers over the image, they will see the name without the dashes. You can change this to anything you like, so for instance you might say of this photo, Photograph by Allan Short.

Alternate Text 
If filled out, this text will be read by screen readers for people with poor vision who use these devices to help them browse. The alt text will also show instead of the picture if visitors have their images turned off.

Caption
If you add a caption, it will appear underneath the image, often inside a border that stretches around both the image and the caption. Not necessary, but sometimes useful, especially if you are wrapping text either to the right or left around the image.

Description
Leave this blank. Put text on the page instead.

Link URL
The second thing you want to check is the Link URL which determines how the image is linked. There are three choices, but really you only have to choose between the first two.

1. None – This means the image isn’t linked to anything. If the picture you have uploaded is about the same size as it will be used on the page, then no need to link it. This is the correct choice for this image for exactly that reason.
2. File URL – This means the image is linked to the original full size version of the uploaded file. Usually you would use this to link a regular sized image to an enlargement. If you have a light box plugin installed, this action will overlay the enlargement above the current page.
3. Attachment Post URL – Don’t use this one. This opens the same image on a new page. Totally useless.

Alignment

• Choose None for placing the image on its own line.
• Choose Left to have the text which follows the image float around the right side of the image
• Choose Center to center the image on its own line
• Choose Right to have the text which follows the image float around the left side of the image

Size

When you upload the image to the site, it resizes the image and stores multiple versions for you to use. Under size, select the most appropriate image size from the choices offered.

When you’re ready, click Insert Into Post to place the image.

Sticky Settings
The other thing to know about the Add Media Dialog box is that it remembers the last settings you used so you may have to adjust these each time you upload an image. For instance, if you chose to center the image, it will remember that the next time you upload a photo and until you choose something different.

Knowing what each setting is for and why really helps when uploading images. If you have questions, let me know, I will do my best to walk you through it.

If you found this post useful, you may also be interested in an earlier post I wrote on Linking a PDF in WordPress.

Passerby’s arrived immediately and were quick to organize themselves to lift the vehicle off of her. Paramedics were soon on scene to pick up the shattered remains of her body and to whisk her off to intensive care. This in itself would make a good story, however what happened to Cami during and after this spectacular one vehicle collision is even more intriguing.

Cami experienced what is commonly referred to as a near death experience and while her body healed surprisingly, perhaps even miraculously quickly, it has taken her the last decade and a half to put what happened to her into words. Largely this is because words fail when trying to describe the indescribable.

Cami contacted me a short time ago through Flickr to let me know she was planning on releasing her story as a self published e-book called, “Dance Through It” and was interested in using my spider web photo to help illustrate some of the concepts explained in the text. I find it fascinating that an abstract photo I took of a spider’s web could be used to help convey such complex ideas as are considered in the book.

According to the text, far from being fearful, Cami’s experience was more sublime than scary… and above all else, life altering. While Cami did return to life, pain and eventual recovery, her journey to the other side and back changed absolutely everything for her, bringing new meaning to her life and the very concept of what it means to be alive.

This e-book will be of interest to anyone facing death or who knows someone facing death. Wait – that’s everyone. Okay, so this book will be of interest to everyone.

And for the cost of a $5 foot-long, it could change your life’s perspective too.

Check it out here: “Dance Through It”.

Free Ruler was created by “a person named Pascal” and is a virtual ruler that can measure just about anything on your computer screen.

There are few controls to get in the way (everything is controlled through the menu items) and it does exactly what you’d expect it to. It measures in pixels, inches, picas and centimeters. There is a horizontal ruler and a vertical ruler which you can use independently or together.

I often use the ruler to measure space on sites I am working on. Need to nudge a header graphic over a few pixels? No problem. This measuring tool allows you to reach into any virtual space and measure it accurately and quickly. What more could you want?

Get it here: www.pascal.com/software/freeruler/

Oh, did I mention its free?

Anyone who spends any time working on a computer should be familiar with the following three keyboard shortcuts. Cut – Copy – Paste. The amount of time these will save you compared to selecting them from the menu is immeasurable, as long as you can remember them. So commit these to memory and take your computer writing skills to the next level.

Keyboard Cheat Guide

So how do you put that into practice and what happens if you forget? Don’t sweat it. The answer is staring right at you from inside the menu that you are already used to using. To the right of almost any menu item is the keyboard shortcut that you can use instead.

Here is a screenshot showing Cut, Copy & Paste in the menu of a Mac. The keyboard shortcuts are plainly shown to the right using symbols that are marked right on your keyboard. So start using the keyboard equivalents as often as possible and if you forget, use the menu to remind you what they are. Before long you will be using these three keyboard shortcuts like a pro.

The Right Click Alternative

Now if you are the type of person who avoids using the keyboard at all costs, you can still speed up your Cut, Copy & Paste functions if you have a right click function on your mouse. Right click on anything inside your computer and a contextual menu will appear giving you options that relate specifically to the thing you clicked on. This applies to everything from a word or highlighted phrase inside a document to shortcuts on your desktop, even the desktop itself. We call it a contextual menu because the menu that appears will change according to the context or item that you right click on.

Give it a try. Right click on any word on this page. In the example shown on the right I have right clicked on the word “whatever” from inside the WordPress Dashboard. A contextual menu has appeared giving me several options including Cut, Copy & Paste.

The options that are available to you with a right click will differ according to the computer platform you are using, what program you are in and additional programs you have installed on your computer that can take advantage of right click functionality.

The advantage of using right click over going to the Edit Menu is that like using keyboard commands, you don’t have to leave the area you are working on to use it. The more you right click on things, the more you will discover what you can do with it.

So go ahead and start right clicking around your computer and see what comes up. You may find that this is a quick way to do all sorts of things such as look up a company name on Google or spellcheck that word which just doesn’t look right.