I’m trying to figure out the most effective method for adding a featured image to my WordPress posts. By this I mean each article should have its own thumbnail or banner picture that doesn’t appear inside the actual post content. This image would typically show up when displaying post previews or in archive pages as a visual preview.
I’ve heard about using custom fields for this purpose, but I’m wondering if there are more efficient or built-in approaches available. What would be the recommended way to implement this functionality?
Yeah, featured images are built into WordPress - use those instead of custom fields. The confusing part is that some themes don’t display them properly or skip them entirely. I had this happen with an older theme where featured images wouldn’t show on the homepage even though I’d set them up right. Had to either switch themes or add custom code to fix it. One heads up - you’ll need to set featured images one by one for each post. There’s no bulk option in the admin, but plugins can handle that if you’ve got tons of posts to update.
wordpress has a built-in feature for that! just look for ‘featured image’ on the right side of your post editor. if you can’t find it, try clicking ‘screen options’ at the top to enable it. way simpler than using custom fields!
Yeah, featured images have been built into WordPress for years. When you’re editing a post, just look for the featured image option in the post settings - it’s in the right sidebar if you’re using the block editor, or below your content in classic editor. Set one and your theme automatically shows it on archive pages, search results, anywhere thumbnails appear. Most modern themes handle sizing and cropping on their own, though you might need to regenerate thumbnails after switching themes. Don’t bother with custom fields for this - WordPress does all the work for you.