Your Memories Take Center Stage with the New Photo Carousel
Photo galleries on WordPress.com are a great way to share the pictures you’ve taken with your friends, family, and your followers. But the design of your theme can limit how large your high-resolution photos are displayed. Today, we’re announcing a great new way to make the most of your photos: a full-size carousel view that presents your images as large as your display can contain them.
To experience the carousel, just click an image in a photo gallery on any WordPress.com blog. You can navigate between photos using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking or tapping the arrows on the left and right. Click the Permalink below any image to see its attachment page or the image file directly, depending on how you setup your gallery. You can easily like a photo from the carousel, too. When you’re done, click anywhere in the background or press the Esc key on your keyboard to return to the thumbnails.
Check it out here, with this gallery of images taken by some of our colleagues during our recent meetup in Budapest.
Now, whether you’re using a tablet or a large desktop display, you’ll see photos in the best light possible. And the best part of all: if you’ve already been posting photo galleries on your WordPress.com blog, you’ll get the new full-screen carousel view without lifting a finger. If you haven’t posted your first gallery, there’s never been a better time to try!
Posted: Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 11:52 pm. Filed in New Features, Photos, Social, WordPress.com.
Nov 8th at 11:58 pm
This is great! I might just use a gallery in the future then!
Nov 9th at 12:00 am
Oooh! Very nice! Good job!
Nov 9th at 12:07 am
Pretty cool….:-)
Nov 9th at 12:19 am
Some folks are going to love this new feature. Thanks.
Nov 9th at 12:23 am
Is this ready to go? I’m not seeing any difference on my previous galleries or any options for it in the “gallery” tab.
Nov 29th at 10:33 am
It’s ready and working. Click on an image in a gallery to see it in action.
Nov 9th at 12:28 am
THIS IS A GREAT NEWS!!!
Nov 9th at 12:28 am
Absolut great..Like!!!!!
Nov 9th at 12:45 am
Yes! Yes! Yes!!!! Thanks you hard working friends at the WP.com!! This makes me giddy. Oh thanks!
Nov 9th at 12:54 am
One more reason to love WP…
Nov 9th at 1:09 am
Perfect! Awesome work!
Nov 9th at 1:09 am
THIS IS A GREAT NEWS
Nov 9th at 1:11 am
Oh! It’s so cool to see it in effect. I had about 4 blog entries where I used gallery, and it’s so cool to see this photo carousel in effect. WordPress is the best when it comes to site improvement and modification!!!
Nov 9th at 1:17 am
Okay, that is very cool. I can’t wait to give it a whirl!
Nov 9th at 1:21 am
wow another great feature!!! thank you
Nov 9th at 1:22 am
This looks great. Helps that you photos are pretty awesome too! I look forward to using it and promoting it with some of the student bloggers and keen photographers I know. Nice one WP!
Nov 9th at 1:23 am
Very cool. Is there a plugin in the works for self-hosted sites? This would be a far better solution than many of the plugins currently available.
Nov 9th at 1:35 am
Yes — we’ll be looking at adding the Carousel to a future version of Jetpack.
Nov 9th at 1:30 am
Very useful and cool! I ever had the frustrating experience that large pics didn’t work well with the narrow style themes…
Nov 9th at 1:33 am
Thank you! Very cool! I might have to try it out, since some of my blog heavily relies on photos.
Nov 9th at 1:42 am
great…nice pict.i like it
Nov 9th at 2:07 am
Actually, I don’t like it. I found that some of the images don’t open.
Nov 29th at 10:34 am
Images should open. Please contact the support team with specific details if you’re still having trouble.
Nov 9th at 2:59 am
I give it a thumbs up. Can’t wait to see what my flower pictures look like.
Nov 9th at 3:07 am
This is definitely going in my photo posts, thank you!
Nov 9th at 3:14 am
VERY nice!
Nov 9th at 4:20 am
This is fan-freakin-tastic. Kudos to the WordPress team.
Nov 9th at 4:30 am
I just check it out on my blog (http://tangentsky.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/flower-delight/) It looks awesome!!!
Nov 9th at 4:47 am
It’s really nice
Nov 9th at 4:58 am
Wow! You guys have no idea how long I have been waiting for something like this! This is absolutely fantastic. Will have to re-do my galleries now completely, but once that’s done…
Thanks a lot!
Nov 9th at 5:05 am
A good idea for lover of photograhic.
Luis Pizarro
Nov 9th at 5:16 am
Looks great, but how do I use it? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I’m a newbie.
Kev
Nov 9th at 5:22 am
We love newbies! Just follow the 5 steps under “Adding a Gallery” on the Gallery Support Page and you’ll get the carousel automagically.
Nov 9th at 5:28 am
A touch of class!
Nov 9th at 5:29 am
This is probably one of the best things for photo blogs. I genuinely love this feature. Thank you Matt & folks.
Nov 9th at 5:30 am
Beautiful. WordPress is going from strength to strength. Lucky me..!
Nov 9th at 6:06 am
Aha… it’s really good idea!
Nov 9th at 6:32 am
It is wonderful. I hope to have a chance to visit?
Nov 9th at 6:35 am
Looks great. Hope I can figure it out
Nov 9th at 6:39 am
Yipee…I love this feature….love photos
Nov 9th at 6:52 am
Author Phil Simon is right: it’s really the “Age of the Platform”.
You’re one of the most promising ones!
Nov 9th at 6:58 am
yeah its great..!!!! anticipating for more cools application in word press…cheers!!
Nov 9th at 7:05 am
Thanks – at last! This was one of the big holes for the wordpress.com blogs. Pleased it has been sorted as it allows my galleries to be seen in a much better way!
Nov 9th at 7:06 am
It’s so cool to see it in effect
Nov 9th at 7:21 am
While a “lightbox” style image viewer has definitely been one of the most hotly requested features here on WordPress.com, for those of us who have used the Gallery’s image attachment page to give extra information about the photo, drawing, sketch, etc. (think travelogue, portfolio, etc.) all of that information is now completely invisible to the viewer.
Please consider offering the Carousel as the default behavior for those Galleries that have been linked to an image rather than making it the default action for all Galleries.
As always, thanks for making WordPress.com the best place to blog.
Nov 9th at 7:29 am
Love it! Love it! LOVE IT!! Thank you soooo much, WordPress. This is a fantastic feature! Now I’m just curious to see whether captions will show up as well beneath the pictures, so that it is a little like the slideshow option…?
Nov 9th at 7:39 am
Just great!!, when I saw this functionality in other sites, I really thought how nice it would be for wordpress. Now wordpress got it big
Nov 9th at 7:49 am
Greatfull ! Thank you sooooo much, Guys
with love <3
Nov 9th at 7:50 am
This is great! I’ve been shopping third party themes and plugins looking for this feature! It’s so great to have it implemented natively in WordPress so it’s in all themes!
Any idea when the next version of JetPack which includes the Carousel will be out?
I can’t wait.
Greg
Nov 9th at 8:03 am
Just found the Carousel feature by accident as I was posting a new gallery.
This is absolutely fantastic for featuring photo stories that I have created in the past and Boomerang Girl looks amazing. http://mixphotography.co.uk/2010/12/01/boomerang-girl-gallery/#wpcom-carousel-482
Another fantastic add on WordPress – and that’s why we love you.
Nov 9th at 8:04 am
Great. Wonderful way to navigate a picture gallery, so smooth, so cool.
Any easy way of zooming in on on a picture to see details?
Nov 9th at 8:22 am
Cool!!
Do you also offer a Flickr like slideshow ?
And I suggest that you replace the small esc with a huge cross or a large close sign. I found that a bit confusing…
Cheers
Mihir
Nov 29th at 9:47 pm
The new carousel feature is the closest thing we have right now to a Flickr like slideshow. We also have an in-page slideshow which you can add to posts and pages. And if you want to display an actual Flickr slideshow into a post, you can place the slideshow URL on a line by itself and it will auto embed.
Nov 9th at 8:24 am
I like it!
Nov 9th at 8:41 am
Brilliant!
Nov 9th at 9:00 am
This is great! Something that I’ve always been wanting on wordpress. My only ‘gripe’ with it is that it loops back to the beginning of the gallery without a clear indication that the user had reached the end, so that may be a bit confusing. I think there’s a ‘space’ in between when it loops back to the beginning, but something more obvious (but still subtle) would be helpful.
Nov 9th at 9:08 am
Really LOVE it ! THank you!
Nov 9th at 9:23 am
This is a really nice feature for photographers. Could this be extended to a ‘lightbox’-type feature on single images?
Nov 9th at 9:34 am
I LOVE PICTURES ! I’M GOING TO PUT A PICTURES GALLERY ON MY SITE!
Nov 9th at 9:40 am
FANTASTIC
Nov 9th at 9:42 am
great for photographers to display their photos! nice one wordpress!
Nov 9th at 10:19 am
Awesome! Waiting for the new Jetpack!
Nov 9th at 10:42 am
A great way to show off your collection
Nov 9th at 10:59 am
This is wonderful! So many improvements as of late.
Nov 9th at 11:26 am
Thank you!
Nov 9th at 11:33 am
It amazes me how you guys are always trying to improve wordpress. I’m so glad my son told me to use wordpress for my blog.
While I’m sleeping you guys are working on stuff and waking up and seeing the news apps is like christmas!!
I love God…My husband…..and wordpress!
Oh I forgot…My kids….
Nov 9th at 12:00 pm
veru good upgrade
now the photo gallery is more stylished and gives a greater a view for your photos, keep up the good work
Nov 9th at 12:15 pm
Just another great news for photo lovers!! Thank for the great feature you created.
Nov 9th at 12:24 pm
Brilliant feature!
Sufficient guidance and encouragement even for the newbies.Overall,it seems quite manageable.
I will try my hand at it with great enthusiasm.
Many thanks WP for the endless,positive stimulus.
Nov 9th at 12:44 pm
You took the cake with this one, awesome! Thanks!
Nov 9th at 12:52 pm
I’m so excited about this! Awsome job.
Nov 9th at 12:54 pm
Thanks! As a photographer most my posts have a gallery!
Nov 9th at 1:21 pm
WP you are the best!!!! xD
Nov 9th at 1:52 pm
nice pic…beautifull picture… ^_^.. I loved it
Nov 9th at 2:02 pm
Hello everyone
Thanks for the New Photo Carousel I’ll try it out later
Nov 9th at 2:15 pm
This is wonderful! Thank you!
Nov 9th at 2:24 pm
Oh noes…
When somone has commented on one of my photos in my gallery…
That disappears now when you have changed this… 
Other from that, I like it…
Regards Nicole
Nov 9th at 3:03 pm
Beautiful photos.
Nov 9th at 3:04 pm
Question!! I do a travel blog for the groups we escort. The participants family/friends like to leave them a comment on a particular picture. Have we lost this capability? I see that they can “like” it, and leave a comment for the whole posts, but can they leave a comment and attach it to a certain photo? Thanks for your help.
Nov 9th at 5:16 pm
If your galleries previously linked to the photo attachment pages (where users can comment on photos), clicking the “Permalink” on a photo in the carousel will take you to that page now. We plan to do more to improve the experience of commenting on photos; stay tuned for that.
Nov 9th at 3:42 pm
Very nice work!
Nov 9th at 3:58 pm
NICE!
Nov 9th at 4:49 pm
I like it!
Nov 9th at 5:09 pm
Fantastic! I love WP!
Nov 9th at 5:20 pm
amazing
Nov 9th at 5:25 pm
This is a fantastic feature! I don’t currently use galleries, but I think I will with this new feature! Thanks, WP!
Nov 9th at 5:26 pm
Thank you Matt. (See my question above) That does work. Is this something I need to do when I load a gallery, or will anyone looking at the picture have to click on permalink on each picture? If it is something I can do, how? I guess I don’t understand exactly what permalink does.
Nov 9th at 5:56 pm
For now, users will need to click the Permalink to comment on your photos.
Nov 9th at 5:47 pm
Looks cool…nice clean look……BUT…….. what happened to the photo descriptions? The new carousel only includes captions/titles but not descriptions? Is this going to be changed?
Nov 9th at 5:58 pm
This is just the first version of the carousel — we’ve got more in store for the future. But if you click the “Permalink” on any photo, you’ll be taken to the photo attachment page you’re used to, with title, description, and comments.
Nov 9th at 6:13 pm
Great! What an improvement!
Nov 9th at 6:33 pm
Thank you, Matt. This new photo carousel is AWESOME. You mention above that you might include a plugin version with Jetpack. I have a client that would love to use the carousel on their self-hosted site. Can they get the plugin now or do they need to wait until it’s added to Jetpack? Thanks again. -Mark
Nov 9th at 9:16 pm
Not at this time — but we’ll announce it on the Jetpack News page when that changes.
Nov 9th at 7:16 pm
Very polished. I like how all the galleries now have it without us needing to go back and change anything. Thanks!
Nov 9th at 8:14 pm
Thanks mate !!
Nov 9th at 8:39 pm
Thanks A lot!
Nov 9th at 9:00 pm
So happy you did this! Looks great!
Nov 9th at 9:03 pm
love it love it love it!
Nov 9th at 9:19 pm
Great work
Nov 9th at 9:28 pm
Great Feature, Thank you! Wish it could sync with Flickr sets/gallery images…. then it would be a dream come true!
Nov 9th at 10:50 pm
Thanks! Great job. Enjoyed seeing the photos. Liked the ability to capture the image page permalink. As a professional photographer, anything to make it easier for clients to note their favorite image, the better. Also thanks for the step-by-step instructions.
Nov 9th at 10:53 pm
Fantastic! The WP team is the best!
Nov 10th at 2:17 am
The work you guys do is top drawer excellent finesse. Thank you many times over.
-L
Nov 10th at 4:21 am
I do not like the carousel feature at all. You should give people the option of turning it off. I will now have to change the way all my photos are loaded. The carousel doesn’t show the text with the photos and people will not know how to get to the single photos. It is certainly intuitive. I am new here and I’m very disappointed with this change.
Nov 10th at 4:23 am
Not intuitive in the above comment.
Nov 10th at 4:53 am
Great work ………..Thank you.
Nov 10th at 7:39 am
Castle Hill Tunnel is my favorite! so beautiful- -
Nov 10th at 10:02 am
Excellent progess, thank you! I will however wait until you add the features pertaining to comments and description. Looking forward to seeing them as soon as possible.
Nov 10th at 11:33 am
Excellent idea! I loved it very much! Thank you!