How to Zoom Image in WordPress

Wanting to magnify an image on a WordPress website is reasonable. It’s even expected, considering the prevalence of pictures and other forms of media online. In fact, nearly all static web pages can benefit from becoming dynamic to an extent. The problem is that this desire oftentimes comes long after the image was uploaded. Or, even if website owners upload a picture with this in mind, they upload extremely large images that unnecessarily slow their website down. To offset the slowdown, their either purchase exorbitantly costly plugins or try to find their solution. Neither of these problems is necessary if you keep reading. Let’s jump straight into how to zoom image in WordPress.

Why zoom an image in WordPress?

We know you have your reasons for needing to magnify pictures uploaded to WordPress. But by providing a few common examples, we hope to inspire you to use the feature in other areas or even a separate website. With that said, here are a few frequent applications of image zooming:

• The image you uploaded may be too small or too large, making some details hard to make out.
• Wanting to redirect attention to one segment of the image, whether on the featured image or embedded in posts or pages.
• Creating an eCommerce WordPress website and adding high-resolution product images.
• Creating a portfolio or and keeping example previews small with the option of scaling up on hover or click.
• Hosting an art gallery or photography website with the option to inspect art pieces/pictures in minute details.

Can I enlarge images in the WordPress Media Gallery?

While you can open the Media Library and click on Edit Image below any entry, it still requires you to recognize the image’s thumbnail and click on it. That’s far too slow and inconvenient if you’re constantly working with images, especially when they share a color palette or a subject. Sadly, there’s no direct solution because it’d require editing core components of WordPress, and rightly so. Luckily, here are a few quick workarounds you can consider:

1. Magnifier on Windows 10. Magnifier (Magnify.exe) is a built-in Windows utility that lets you see parts of the screen you hover over in a square and rectangle window whose size and position you can alter. It zooms to up to 1600% in 100% increments.
2. Zoom on Mac, iOS, and iPad OS. Zoom is a macOS utility equivalent to a Magnifier available from the get-go in the Accessibility part of “System Preferences”. It magnifies up to 40x. An equivalent for Apple’s smart device is inbuilt into iOS and iPadOS devices for years, albeit not as powerful.
3. Magnification. Android 11 introduced a built-in accessibility utility named Magnification. It can enlarge the screen by up to 8x. For older versions of Android, download a third-party app from the Google Play Store.
4. Browser extension. If you find yourself switching between operating systems often, you’ll benefit from the uniformity and mouse/keyboard shortcuts of any browser extension that enables this functionality.

Zoom image on WordPress frontend

These solutions are tied to the CMS (Content Management System) directly and include installing a WordPress plugin. Let’s dive in.

WooCommerce or any other eCommerce plugin

Are you using a WordPress plugin for eCommerce? If so, it makes sense to investigate its settings within the Admin Section to check whether it includes an option to enable zooming functionality on products and category pages. If that isn’t the case, seek a plugin for image enlargement that works in unison with your eCommerce plugin, yet remains lightweight. Such plugins also typically enable image zooming on all product images by default and let you decide which to exclude instead of the other way around, saving you time. To illustrate our point, here are some examples connected with WooCommerce, none of which we have affiliation with:

• YITH WooCommerce Zoom Magnifier
• WooCommerce Zoomifier
• WooCommerce Product Zoom Slider

Dedicated plugin

Have you decided to blog on WordPress and need ways to break long stretches of text or add variety and decoration to your posts? Are you a photographer, artist, realtor, or interior/exterior designer? Whatever the case may be, a plugin built to enable image magnification in WordPress can help you. Follow these steps to zoom an image within WordPress:

1. Install a plugin in WordPress

You can pick any, free or paid, as long as it’s dedicated to this purpose. We’ll use a popular choice, WP Image Zoom by SilkyPress.com, for demonstration. Again, we have no ties to the developers. After activation, expand the left sidebar in the WordPress Admin section.

2. Configure plugin settings

Click on WP Image Zoom below “Settings,” and you can now:

1. Put a checkmark in front of features you want to enable within the General Settings tab. Some notable features you must decide on include:
   1. Whether to integrate it into WooCommerce products
   2. Whether to enable on Mobile devices
   3. Add a lightbox effect
   4. Select which images should be zoomed (you can do this later, too)
   5. Adding your container class and define its type
2. Click on Save Changes.
3. Switch over to the “Zoom Settings” tab. Now, in the General tab, decide on:
   1. Lens Shape. None, circle, square, or a pop-out zoom window (this one may be problematic on mobile).
   2. Cursor Type. Arrow, cross, pointer finger, or magnifying glass.
   3. Animation Easing Effect. Defines the severity of the zoom animation numerically, from 0 to 200.
   4. Zoom Level. From 1.5x to 3x.
4. Move over to the “Lens” tab to configure the zoom lens size and color, fade animation, and border color and thickness.
5. Optional. Tweak height, width, distance, and more in the “Zoom Window” tab if you made Lens Shape a window.
6. Situational. Add custom text over the image in the “Custom Text” tab.
7. Click on Save changes.

3. Apply zoom effect to an image in post or page

Image zooming isn’t enabled by default unless it’s a WooCommerce product image or configured in step 1 above. Therefore, open a page or post in WordPress and click on the image in the text. Do the following before you preview the results or publish a post or page:

• Classic Editor: Click the magnifying glass icon in the top toolbar.
• Gutenberg Editor: Switch to the Block tab on the right-hand side. Expand Advanced. Now, enter “zoooom” without quotations (or a custom container class you defined) under Additional CSS Class.