[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #37330: Attachment pages do not always provide a link to the original article.

[WordPress Trac]

#37330: Attachment pages do not always provide a link to the original article.
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 Reporter:  webtechmailbag  |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement     |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Media           |     Version:  4.5.3
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                  |     Focuses:
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Comment (by webtechmailbag):

 Sergey,

 Thanks for the explanation. You answer actually relates to another bug
 entry I had submitted:
 https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37157

 In that case certain galleries would cycle through *all* photos in the
 media library, and just couldn't figure out why. It turns out that when
 you create a gallery from already uploaded photos (so they don't register
 as being attached to any particular post) viewing that gallery will cycle
 through *all* unattached photos in the library.

 Now I finally understand what's going on.

 However, this WordPress behavior still seems almost like a bug. I would
 have expected that when a photo gallery is added to a page, the photos
 would automatically be "attached" to that page (if not already attached to
 another).

 As it is, when uploading and/or adding photos to a page, WordPress
 provides no notification as to whether or not they are being "attached".
 Furthermore, when photos *are* automatically attached, there is no
 particular reason to assume that this is what the user wanted to do.

 Since this causes several problems in WordPress, I'm thinking about re-
 submitting this as a bug or enhancement request. I'd like to hear your
 opinion on the matter, if you have one?


 PROBLEM

 Case 1: The user is editing a page and from there decides to upload a
 batch of photos. They pick out the ones to display on that page, and leave
 the others they've just uploaded to use at a later time. But these other
 photos have already been attached to the current page without their
 knowing, and they will be displayed inside photo galleries on that page!

 Case 2: The user deletes a photo from a gallery and its thumbnail is
 removed. But unknown to the user, that photo is still displayed inside the
 gallery because it has not been"unattached" from that page.

 Case 3: The user updates a gallery with photos that have already been
 attached to different pages. This will cause the gallery to break- not all
 of the photos will be viewable by clicking on a thumbnail and different
 galleries may open. But WordPress breaks the gallery without warning the
 user.

 Case 4: The user updates a gallery with photos from the media library that
 have not be attached to any page. Unknown to the user, this will cause
 *all* unattached photos the user has uploaded to be displayed in the
 gallery. This would included photos that are still being edited, general
 site elements such as icon sets, logos, etc.


 RECOMMEND SOLUTION

 Allow photos in the medial library to be "attached" to multiple pages at
 the same time. (This is the way the Internet works! It is common practice
 to display the same images and videos on different pages.)


 SECONDARY SOLUTION

 When adding photos to a page, (whether a gallery or single photo) there
 should be a check-box option for "attach to this page". This both informs
 the user what is going to happen, and gives the user control of the
 attachment at the proper time and place.

 If the user tries to attach a photo that has already been attached to a
 different page, a warning should be given that the action will "detach"
 the photo from its existing page.

 If the user tries to update a gallery with a photo that has already been
 attached to a different page, the action should be prohibited as this
 effectively breaks galleries (unless a gallery plugin is being used).


 ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

 Use of words "attach" and "detach" in WordPress is confusing because it
 may be assumed that "attaching" a photo to a page and "adding" a photo to
 a page are one and the same thing, (like attaching or adding a photo to an
 email).

 Perhaps a different term could be used, such as "associate/disassociate",
 or more accurately, "create media sub-page/ delete media sub-page" or
 "create attachment sub-page/ delete."


 Regards,

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37330#comment:2>
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