WordPress – as most other “Blog” applications – handles media (images and video) content as “Attachments”. You write a Post and you attach an image using ‘Add Media’. The system does all the magic, scales the image in 3 sizes, allows multiple images per post. You even can add those multiple images as a gallery to a post…

Criticism

The approach in its current form is not working for me as Writer, Blogger, Publisher. Images are Posts not Attachments. I want to post an Image, not a Post. An Image is as differnet to a Post as a Page is to a Post (‘WordPress universe’ wording). Images have specific particular features, in both back (administration) and front-end (themes) aspects. The ‘advanced’ user needs more control in templates and template tags.

I am an Information Architect not a coder (developer), but this is how I see it: In a OOP metaphor an Image is a Post with specific ‘extensions’. If I would define a Post as a Class, an Image would be a Post Sub-Class. It would inherit all template tags while adding a few pieces of magic.

The Image ‘content type’

This is what I imagine would be possible without reinventing the (WordPress-) wheel…

• Adding  ‘New Image’/'Edit Images’ similar to ‘New Page’/'Edit Pages.’
• The content type contains the same set up as “Posts” plus an ‘Upload Image’ field.
• The Image is scaled to three sizes, (defined in settings).
• The title equals ‘alt’,
• the excerpt equals ‘description’.

Extensions to Template and Template Tags.

• Adding a new condition similar to is_page() -> is_img()
• Inheriting all post template tag (again WP pages do the same)

While adding images tags similar to e.g. Author Tags

• the_img() with parameters e.g.
  - size (thumb, medium, large, full)
• the_img_url() with parameters e.g.
  - size (thumb, medium, large, full)

… and so on. I think you get the idea

Galleries could be handled with ‘smart’ themes, templates and categories.

Mobile

Of cause… I want to be able to take a picture with my iPhone and use the WordPress App to post this image as Image – not as Post.

Possible Image PlugIns

• Location or geo tagging
• Flickr connection
• Twitter connection

So where to stop?

To be honest the next thing I am going to demand is a Video/Audio content type doing exactly what the new image feature does ^_^ … so where to stop? Less is more. This is why I love WordPress.

I have designed (Information Architecture and Project Management) many Drupal Instalments for government and corporate websites, on average with 6 to 12 custom built content types, making it as easy as possible for the web editors. Even so I was not the Developer, this experience was very, very (very) painful… The outcome however was actually quite good.

I want WordPress to be what it is, I definitely do not want another Drupal

But as a blogger or publisher this is what I do: I run around having ‘brilliant’ ideas, writing, taking images and videos/audio which I would like to store and share. I will still use Flickr and or YouTube to share the majority (noise) but  ‘Your blog is your mothership.’ (signal).

Image and Video content is Core not PlugIn.