Gallery Sections

A Gallery section shows a grid of images under or beside the standard section header. Visitors can open any item in a full-screen lightbox and move through the rest from there. An item can also be a video, which shows its poster image in the grid and plays in the lightbox, or a link to another page.

When to use it

• Photos of a facility, event, project or product.
• A portfolio, where each image links to a case study.
• A short set of videos, such as tours or recorded talks.

Use a Features section when each image needs a heading and description of its own. Use a Hero section for a single large image at the top of a page.

Content

Field	What it is	Notes
Eyebrow Heading	Small text above the heading.	Optional.
Heading	The section heading.	Required. Wrap words in {curly braces} to highlight them.
Body Content	Text before the gallery.	Rich text.
Images	One item per image or video. Select Add Image.	Fields below.
Outro Content	Text after the gallery.	Optional, rich text.
Buttons	Section buttons.	Optional.

To add several images at once, use Upload Images under the list. Images fill items without an image first, in the order you select them, and any extra images create new items.

Each item has:

Field	What it is
Media Type	Image or Video.
Image / Video Poster	Required. The image, or for a video the poster shown in the grid. Image Position below it sets which part stays in view when it is cropped.
Video Source	Video only. A YouTube, Vimeo or MP4 address, or a video from the Media Library.
Play Button Color	Video only. Primary or Secondary for the play icon over the poster.
Alt Text	A short description of the image for screen readers. It is the image’s alt text in the grid and the lightbox, and it names the image in the page’s structured data. Leave it empty only for a purely decorative image — the page audit flags missing alt text.
Caption	Optional text shown below the image and in the lightbox, depending on the lightbox settings.
Link Text	Leave empty with a Link URL set to make the image itself the link. Add text to show a separate link below the image instead.
Link URL	A page or address the item links to.
Link Target	Same Tab or New Tab.

Layouts and display styles

Choose Display Style on the Layout tab, under Gallery Layout.

Display Style	What visitors see
Grid (default)	The gallery runs full width below the header content and any section media.
Inline	The gallery sits beside the header content, in the opposite column. Limited to 2 images per row.

Switching to Inline changes a Center layout to Left, and 3 or 4 images per row to 2.

Options

Heading size and Section Theme

Option	What it does	Default
Heading Size	Default, L or XL for the section heading.	Default
Theme Variant	Light or Dark section.	Light
Section Palette	Overrides this section’s colours with a saved palette.	Site colours
Scroll Animation	Fades elements in as they scroll into view.	Disabled
Background Type	Solid Color or Image, with a custom colour and image options.	Solid Color

Gallery Layout

Option	What it does	Default
Display Style	Grid or Inline.	Grid
Layout Variant	Left, Center or Right in Grid; Left or Right in Inline.	Center (Grid), Left (Inline)
Images Per Row	2, 3 or 4 in Grid; 1 or 2 in Inline.	3
Row Alignment	Left or Center: how an incomplete last row lines up.	Left
Image Aspect Ratio	16:9, 4:3 or 1:1. All grid images are cropped to this shape.	16:9
Image Styling	Styled (rounded corners and shadow) or Raw, for the gallery images.	Styled
Button Position	After Body or After Outro.	After Outro

Lightbox Settings

Option	What it does	Default
Enable Lightbox	Opens an item full screen when clicked.	Enabled
Show Captions in Grid	Shows captions below the images in the grid.	Hidden
Show Captions in Lightbox	Shows captions in the lightbox.	Visible

In the lightbox, visitors move between items with the arrow buttons, the left and right arrow keys, or by swiping on a touch screen, and close it with Escape. A counter shows the position, such as “3 / 12”. Keyboard focus stays inside the lightbox while it is open and returns to the item when it closes.

Section Media

Option	What it does
Section Media	None, Image, Video or Shortcode beside the header content.
Video Poster Image	Preview image shown before a video plays. Shown for video.
Video Captions	A captions file for a self-hosted video. YouTube and Vimeo carry their own.
Featured Image Styling	Styled or Raw, for the section image only.

The Advanced tab holds the section’s anchor ID, CSS classes and custom CSS. See Working with Sections.

Videos, links and the lightbox

• Video items show the poster with a play icon. Clicking one opens the lightbox and plays the video. YouTube, Vimeo and self-hosted MP4, WebM and Ogg files are supported. A video item never acts as a link, even with a Link URL set.
• Linked images (a Link URL and no Link Text) go to the link when clicked and do not open the lightbox.
• Images with Link Text open the lightbox when clicked, and show a separate link below.

Structured data

Promptless WP adds ImageGallery structured data for each Gallery section with at least three images. Video items and items without an image are not counted. The section heading names the gallery, and each image’s Alt Text and Caption are included. See SEO Panel & Schema.

Limits and common problems

• A video does not play. Video items play only in the lightbox. Turn Enable Lightbox on. Also check the Video Source is a YouTube, Vimeo or direct video file address.
• An item does not appear. It has no Image / Video Poster. Every item, including videos, needs one.
• A video shows as a plain image. Its Video Source is empty.
• Images are cropped. The grid crops every image to the Image Aspect Ratio. Pick the ratio closest to your photos, and use Image Position to keep the important part in view.
• Only 1 or 2 images per row are offered. The Display Style is Inline. Switch to Grid for 3 or 4.

Related pages

• Features Sections — Cards, rows or a carousel for services, benefits, events or price lists — the six display styles, the card fields and every layout option.
• Hero Sections — The banner at the top of a page — its content fields, the five layout modes, media, backgrounds, logo row and boxed layout.
• SEO Panel & Schema — The editor's SEO panel, the structured data (schema.org JSON-LD) Promptless WP builds from your sections, and how to check it, change the page type and add review data.
• Working with Sections — Add, edit, reorder, duplicate, copy, convert, remix and delete the sections that make up a page, and the keyboard shortcuts for each.