Choosing the right image sizes is crucial for any WordPress website. As an experienced webmaster, I want to share my insider tips to help you make your site look visually appealing and load blazing fast.
In this beginner‘s guide, we‘ll explain what image dimensions are, how WordPress handles them, and recommendations on optimal image sizes for different parts of your site.
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What is Image Size?
Image size refers to the width and height of an image measured in pixels. For example, an image sized 1600×900 pixels means it is 1600 pixels wide and 900 pixels tall.
The larger the image dimensions, the more pixels it contains. More pixels leads to a bigger file size.
A standard 15-inch laptop screen is around 1366×768 pixels. Images wider than that will require horizontal scrolling to see the whole thing.
Why You Should Care About Image Sizes
There are two major reasons why you need to pay attention to image dimensions on your WordPress site:
1. Impact on Visual Design
Using improperly sized images can make your site look unprofessional or sloppy.
For example, stretching a small image to fill a large container results in a pixelated, blurry, and awkward appearance.
On the other hand, using overly huge images forces users to scroll horizontally to see the whole thing. Neither is ideal.
Choosing image sizes tailored to their containers enhances the visual flow and aesthetics of your site design.
2. Page Speed and Performance
Large image files take longer to load, which significantly hurts your overall website performance and user experience.
Stats: Unoptimized images account for 60-65% of total page weight on average.
Optimizing your image sizes improves page load times and site speed, leading to better engagement and retention.
So getting your image dimensions and file sizes right is key for both visual appeal and fast performance.
How WordPress Handles Images
When you upload an image file to your WordPress media library, several resized copies are automatically generated.
By default, WordPress creates 3 resized versions:
- Thumbnail – default 150×150 pixels
- Medium – default 300×300 pixels
- Large – default 1024×1024 pixels
In addition, your specific WordPress theme can register additional image sizes to use in different areas of your site.
For example, themes may add custom sizes like "featured" for homepage images or "gallery" for photo galleries.
You can see all registered image sizes under Settings → Media in your WordPress dashboard. Any unused sizes can be disabled to save storage space.
As a best practice, I recommend adding image size definitions to your theme‘s functions.php file for consistency.
Recommended Image Sizes for WordPress Sites
The optimal image dimensions will depend on where and how they are displayed on your particular site. Here are my tips for choosing sizes in common scenarios:
Blog Post Images
Blog post photos vary based on your theme‘s layout:
- Single column themes: Wide images like 1200×675 pixels
- Two column themes: Medium width like 680×382 pixels
You can also adjust image sizes as needed. For example, using portrait images with text sections.
Tip: Aim for images taking up 60-75% of column width for ideal proportions.
Featured Images
Featured images are usually displayed very prominently, so large dimensions are recommended:
- 1200×675 pixels for rectangular layouts
- 600×600 pixels if your theme uses square featured images
Social Media Images
Most social platforms work best with square 1200×1200 or rectangular 1200×675 images.
Use the All in One SEO plugin to define Facebook and Twitter image sizes.
Website Logo
Check your theme‘s recommendation for logo dimensions. Common sizes are 300×200 pixels or 400×100 pixels.
I suggest uploading multiple logo variants to choose what looks best.
Ads and Widgets
Refer to the image guidelines for the ad network you are using. For widgets, 125×125 or 250×250 pixels.
Image Sliders
For full bleed image sliders, use 1600×600 pixels or larger. For sliders inside content, try 800×400 pixels.
Product Images
600×600 pixels is ideal for square product thumbnails. Use 1000+ pixels for detailed product pages.
Image Editing
Use free editing tools like Canva or Pixlr to easily resize images as needed. Save uncompressed PNGs for higher quality.
Tip: Resize images before uploading to WordPress for best results.
Retina Displays
With high resolution screens becoming standard, create 2x and 3x sizes of your images too.
For example, if you have a 200×200px logo, also generate 400×400px and 600×600px versions. WordPress automatically displays the optimal image for each device.
Best Practices for Image Sizes
Here are some top professional tips for managing images on your WordPress site:
- Upload the largest version possible – Let WordPress scale it down
- Compress images – Optimize file size with tools like Imagify
- Generate multiple sizes – Create square, vertical, etc variants
- Set global defaults – Define standard sizes under Media Settings
- Clean up periodically – Remove unused images and sizes
- Use CDNs – Serve images from blazing fast content delivery networks
Conclusion
Optimizing your image sizes is crucial for improving the aesthetics and performance of your WordPress site.
As you can see, there are many factors to consider when selecting image dimensions. I hope these tips give you a good starting point!
Start by using the recommended sizes in this guide, tweak them as needed for your specific theme and layouts, and be sure to optimize images for speed.
Properly sized images make your website look more professional, load faster, and greatly improve the overall user experience!
Let me know if you have any other questions!
