Adding an image to an article

Introduction

How best to add images to an article depends on which version of Joomla and which editor are in use. This article has illustrations for Joomla 4, with notes on differences in Joomla 3, and TinyMCE the Joomla default editor. To get started, open an article for editing:

• Select Content → Articles in the Administrator menu.
• Select the title of the article you wish to edit

After inserting the article text, place the cursor at the location where the image should appear.

Adding a local image

If the image is located in the images folder of your Joomla installation you should insert the image using the CMS Content → Media button In the TinyMCE edit toolbar (In Joomla 3: Select the Image button):

In the popup window, navigate to the image you want to use and click to select it. On selection a form will appear prompting for additional data. In Joomla 4 the form is to the left. In joomla 3 the form is at the bottom (scroll down):

Set the image properties as required. In most cases you should certainly fill out the Image Description (Alt Text) field. The other fields are used to customise the image appearance with your own css.

• Image Description: This becomes the alt attribute for the image, an important feature for accessibility and compliance with web standards. In Joomla 3 it is labelled as Image Title.
• Image Class: If an image is used without a caption some custom classes may be applied here. For example, in Joomla 4, float-end ms-2 mb-1 will align the image to the right and float text around it with margins to the left and below to prevent text touching the image. In Joomla 3 the equivalent style is pull-right.
• Figure Class: If a caption is set then an alignment class, if any, should be applied to the Figure. It is a html tag that encloses the img tag. Note that in Cassiopeia margins are applied by the template style sheet.
• Figure Caption: Enables the caption which displays the Image Title below the image.

In Joomla 3

• Image Float: Sets the image alignment. By default, the align attribute is Not Set.
• Caption Class: Applies the entered class to the figcaption element.

Select the Insert Media button to insert the image. The Insert Image screen will close and the image will be displayed in the editor. Or select the Cancel button to leave the Insert Image screen.

Tip: select the Toggle Editor button to see the applied Image and Caption styles.

Using Drag and Drop for Local images

In both Joomla 4 and Joomla 3 you can drag an image from the desktop or a file browser directly into the article text and the image will be uploaded to the media folder and placed in the article. The only snag is that all such uploaded images will be placed in the same media folder. The location of the Images Directory used for upload and whether this feature is enabled (On by default) are set in the TinyMCE configuration Options.

Adding a remote image

If the image you wish to use is not in the images folder of your Joomla installation a slightly different procedure is needed.

• Select Insert → Image from the TinyMCE toolbar to open a dialog box. In Joomla 3, use the Image icon and the same dialog as used for local images.
• Insert the image url in the Source field.
• Fill out the other fields as required.
• Advanced provides some formatting options applied as in-line styles. Experiment with 1rem, 2, groove. (This feature is incomplete)

Using Drag and Drop for Remote images

You can drag and drop an image from a remote web site directly into your article text. But be aware that this may also copy the image container html with class statements not valid for your site.

Uploading images using the Insert Image screen

You may upload new images using the Media screen (the Image screen in Joomla 3).

• First open the Media browser and navigate to the folder where you wish to store new images for the current article.
• Select the Upload button at the top left of the Media screen (In Joomla 3 scroll down to the Browse button at the bottom of the Image form) to open a file browser.
• Select the image files you wish to upload. Select Open in the file browser to confirm the selection. Note: The file browser style and layout depends on the browser and operating system you are using. In Joomla 4 the upload is immediate. In Joomla 3 select the Start Upload button.
• The selected file(s) appear in alphabet order in the Media/Image screen.
• When the upload is complete a green confirmation notice will appear at the top of the screen.

You may now select and insert the uploaded image as before.