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1. musicdoc1
   Member
   Mar 2, 2013, 9:47 AM

   Although my most immediate concern is the discovery I made today that on some pages my attempts to insert both a slideshow and a gallery using the same images failed, I have several other issues to discuss regarding the recently changed WordPress gallery editing tools and would like to try to address several of them briefly if I may.

   1. I've surmised that the purpose of having the editor create a unique ID for each image in a gallery allows for easier identification of individual page views. However, aside from that it seems to have mostly disadvantageous effects.

   a. For example: Am I imagining things, or does the editor create an ID for each image in a gallery which previously functioned perfectly with a single page or post ID in the shortcode?

   Example of a gallery using a single page ID in the shortcode: http://songbook1.wordpress.com/pp/galleries-film/broadway-melody-1929-gallery/.

   b. Why does a combined gallery / slide show some times work, some times not? That is, why can I have, as in example 1 (below) both a functioning gallery and slide show on one page using the same images, but not in example 2.

   Example of a functioning gallery/slide show combination:

   http://songbook1.wordpress.com/pp/photo-galleries/aida-overton-walker-slide-show-and-gallery/

   Example of a failed attempt to have both a gallery and slide show on one page:

   http://songbook1.wordpress.com/pp/fx/rudy-and-fredy-walker/cake-walking-babies-from-home/.

   In this last case I tried both the old slide show shortcode [slideshow] and the newer [gallery type="slideshow"] . Neither worked.

   2. I find that dragging and dropping images in the recently implemented gallery editor is much slower than in the previous editor. The image one wishes to move often stalls en route. Sometimes it slows to a crawl, and other times it just completely stops as if for a rest before allowing you to move it again. Then once you finally get it to where you want to drop it, a space often fails to open between the two images on either side of the place where you want it to go. Very frustrating. This might, in part, be a browser issue.

   3. Today I noticed that the shortcode for a gallery contained twice as many IDs as there were images. This page

   http://songbook1.wordpress.com/pp/fx/rudy-and-fredy-walker/cake-walking-babies-from-home/

   contains a gallery with nine images. But the shortcode had 20 IDs, as you can see at this revision:

   https://songbook1.wordpress.com/wp-admin/revision.php?revision=108552&action=edit.

   I eliminated the 12 phantom image IDs, but am left to wonder where they came from. More specifically: If I edit a gallery, removing and replacing images, why would the IDs of the removed images still remain in the shortcode? That appears to be what happened here. Is there another explanation?

   4. Last but not least: A recent change in the WP image editor requires you to rename an image once it is embedded in a page or post. Unless I'm missing a secret, you cannot give an image a title until it is embedded. When you upload an image, the image URL becomes by default the "title" on the right side of the editor. But that's a mirage, because as soon as you click the button "insert into page" the title disappears and what was the title on the right side of the editor, now becomes the "alternative text." The title bar is now empty, and nothing will display when you hover over the image once the post or page is published. That really confused and upset me for awhile, until I realized that it's a good practice to rename your images for embedding. Taking out the dashes alone is a big improvement, but you can also modify the description without being constrained by the order of words, dates, etc. as you might be for image titles in your files.

   Nevertheless, it seems odd that WordPress not only practically forces you to rename every image, but fools you into thinking that a title is being applied automatically in the editor.

   The blog I need help with is songbook1.wordpress.com.

2. justpi
   Member
   Mar 2, 2013, 10:49 AM

   1a. The old gallery shortcode still works (if you upload the images to the post or page in question, or if you add a page or post ID to fetch a gallery of images uploaded to that page/post). The image IDs in the new gallery shortcode are there because now you can freely and directly select various previously uploaded images.

   1b. The old slideshow shortcode (as well as the plain new slideshow shortcode) both work if you upload the images via the Add Media tool of the post or page in question.
   So if you click the Add Media tool of a new post and upload a set of images from your computer (without inserting them in the post), you can simply write these two and you'll have your slideshow and your gallery:
   [slideshow]
   [gallery]
   If you wish to create a slideshow and a gallery of images that are already in your media library, you click the Add Media tool, click create Gallery (top left), select the images, click Create a New Gallery (bottom right), select Slideshow from the Type pulldown, click Insert Gallery. You'll get this shortcode:
   [gallery type="slideshow" ids="ETC ETC ETC"]
   You duplicate it, delete the type="slideshow" part, and again you've got your slideshow plus gallery.

   2. Browser issue. What browser and version are you using?

   
3. Staff has access to your dashboard but we don't, so we cannot see revision pages. But anyway, unless there was a bug or something, a gallery shortcode with 20 IDs means you had originally uploaded or selected 20 images. If you subsequently delete some of them from the media library, the shortcode cannot change: the code of a post doesn't change unless you edit the post itself. For example, if you have inserted a single image and then you delete it from the library, it's code will still be there and give an X or a question mark on the actual post (and a 404 response if the displayed version was clickable and linked to the original file).

   4. The change was made because the alt text is essential while the hover text isn't, plus it creates problems in some applications; few users bother to add alt text, so the image name now automatically becomes the alt text if you don't type any alt text yourself. I don't see why you think that WP "practically forces you to rename every image", but you're right that the title/alt business it misleading (and I hope they'll improve things in a way that won't fool users).

3. musicdoc1
   Member
   Mar 2, 2013, 11:35 PM

   justpi,

   Thanks for the detailed explanations. Sorry about combining so many questions into one request. I see the impracticality, at least in this case.

   1a. OK, understood. The old shortcode with a single page ID still works, but I'm finding that WP assigns an individual ID to each image as soon as I move one of them. Just relocating one image in the gallery does this. When I first discovered this, I tried going back to the single ID, but that immediately erased any rearrangements to the order that I'd made. Previously, one could rearrange the order with a single page ID. That is my point.

   1b. In the example I gave you,
   http://songbook1.wordpress.com/pp/fx/rudy-and-fredy-walker/cake-walking-babies-from-home/
   the images are attached to the page containing the gallery. The page is a year old and I don't recall the moment of actually uploading the images, but deduce that I did so since they are there and attached to the page. This is my example where the slide show fails.

   I haven't yet tried your second answer to this issue, "If you wish to create a slideshow and a gallery of images that are already in your media library...," but I will.

   2. Using the latest version of Firefox. I should have said browser or internet speed issues, because I've been having some connection speed and freezing issues of late which have resisted attempted fixes. Will probably reinstall the operating system soon.

   3. You're right. I deleted some images from the media library recently. But that's one more reason why the multiple IDs for a gallery is a pain. With a single page ID in the short code you wouldn't have this problem. Deleting the images from the media library would also delete them from the gallery.

   4. This is not even a gallery or slide show issue and should have been asked in a separate thread.

   No, WP doesn't force you to rename every inserted image. But they do now require you to manually add a name or title.

   My complaint is based on the following line of reasoning:
   a. I want every image to have a name.
   b. Previously, an uploaded and "inserted" image took the file name by default when uploaded. I still does this in galleries for some reason, but not for images inserted into the page or post.
   c. Since by default you now have no title at all for any uploaded and inserted image you must add the title manually. For awhile I merely copied and pasted the "alternative text" into the title line. Eventually, I began to rename them. But I felt prodded to do so by the change made by WordPress.

4. musicdoc1
   Member
   Mar 2, 2013, 11:44 PM

   Back to number 3. again.

   I said, "Deleting the images from the media library would also delete them from the gallery." That's true but irrelevant, since it also does this with multiple image IDs. My point is that you don't have useless code left over after deleting images with the "old" single ID gallery shortcode.

   Why should rearranging images create more code? I don't get the purpose.

5. musicdoc1
   Member
   Mar 6, 2013, 3:01 PM

   Here's another case where the slide show is working, but playing in the wrong order.

   http://songbook1.wordpress.com/ga/photo-galleries/aida-overton-walker-slide-show-and-gallery/

   It was playing in the correct order since last June, and suddenly began playing out of order today at some point after I added several images.

6. musicdoc1
   Member
   Mar 6, 2013, 3:13 PM

   Or rather, I should say it is partly out of order. It runs in order until just about the halfway point, then goes whacky. That's using the shortcode [slideshow] which had previously been displaying the images in the same order that I placed them in the gallery.

   I also tried the "new" slide show short code "[gallery type="slideshow"]," but the result is even worse. The order is wrong from the very beginning with this code.

7. musicdoc1
   Member
   Mar 6, 2013, 3:47 PM

   Now this second example changed again. It begins in the wrong place, and displays the last ten images I've added chronologically, then plays the next 26 more or less in the order that the images were in prior to adding these ten.

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