We were working on how to bulk remove featured images from posts in WordPress, and it got us thinking that there are so many things that can be done to improve the media library. Currently the media library displays all your media in a list view with a small thumbnail of images. In this article, we will show you how to add a grid view for media library in WordPress with larger image previews and better user interface.
Who Should Use Grid View? Why It is Better?
A lot of people use WordPress to share photos using their smart phones. There are many great WordPress photography themes and portfolio themes allowing people to showcase not just their photos, but other types of digital art as well. On the front-end of the site, these themes can handle images by adding their own image sizes and using post thumbnails or featured images. But in the admin area, this list view is less than optimal. The thumbnail preview is way too smaller and the list view contains columns for details that most people do not even look at.
On the other hand, replacing the default list view of media library with a media grid totally changes the user experience. It becomes easier to browse media, compare images, edit them, etc. It pays more attention to the visual representation of images than other information.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
How to Display WordPress Media Library in Grid View
First thing you need to do is install and activate MP6 plugin. MP6 is a WordPress admin UI iteration, created by WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg and other core WordPress developers. It could also be the future of the WordPress admin back-end. Once you have installed and activated MP6 plugin, it will change your WordPress admin UI.
Next thing you need to do is install and activate Media Grid plugin. It works out of the box so there are no settings for you to configure. Simply go to Media » Library and click on the Grid View.
You can adjust the size of media preview thumbnails with the slider on the top. Clicking on an image will open the image editing screen. You can also select multiple images and compare them side by side.
Media Grid and MP6 plugins are both an attempt to modify the WordPress admin UI for an improved user experience. What other changes you think will be great for improving the WordPress admin user interface? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
