Image Text Overlays
How to add a text overlay to images in WordPress.
What is an image text overlay?
While image captions show up below images, text overlays display above the image, covering part of it.
Publishers often give additional information like descriptions or author attributions in image caption overlays.
Relevant features for a WordPress image with text overlay
✔ Choose the position of the text overlay, e.g., top left.
✔ Include links to other pages and sites.
✔ Show the same text wherever the image is used.
✔ List image texts in various ways, e.g., in a global image index.
✔ Manage the content in a central place.
✔ Warn about forgotten texts.
Text Overlay Positions
In Image Source Control, you can choose among various positions for your image text overlays.
Full Image Text Overlay. Show the full text right away.
Extend the text. Show the image text overlay only when a user interacts with it, e.g., by clicking on or hovering over an icon. (Click for an example)
Image text below the image. Disable the overlay to show the image text underneath the image.
A WordPress image overlay plugin
WordPress core doesn’t offer image text overlays.
The default captions are only displayed below images and are added on a per-post basis. Captions for the same image become out of sync or accidentally removed.
Image Source Control is the ideal plugin for creating a WordPress image with text overlay. It has been maintained and improved constantly since 2012,
The plugin manages all image texts in the backend and provides various position and layout options for displaying them in the frontend.
Angelmagazin.deGreat plugin for managing image credits
ISC is really an awesome plugin for handling your image credits and sources. Works like a charm. The image overlay is really nice and a perfect solution to display the necessary information.
Bonus points: I had a small issue with some images on my website, and support was super fast in coming up with a solution.
Christoph Hein, angelmagazin.de
Reliable image overlay texts
Image overlay texts not only have informational purposes. In some cases, they are required legally, so you need a reliable way of displaying them.
✔ Required author attributions.
✔ Crediting image authors for their work.
✔ Context so that images are not misinterpreted.
✔ Give usage information for your own images.
Take a look at our WordPress image overlay plugin, Image Source Control, to display the required image information.
Did you know?
I originally built Image Source Control over 12 years ago after a legal argument about a forgotten image attribution. Read the full story below.
Editing image text overlays
Image Source Control has various options for entering and managing the image text overlay in WordPress.
Block Editor. Add the image with a text overlay directly in the editor.
Batch processing. Change image overlay texts in bulk in the media library.
MH ThemesTime-saver for my team
When the number of articles on our blog grew, I noticed my team running into trouble managing copyright info for images that we used from external sources.
With Image Source Control, we’ve found a legally reliable and convenient tool for this task. In particular, batch editing and easy linking to the owner’s site really help my team with their work. It’s obvious the ISC devs know what editors need.
Florian Daugalies, MH Themes
Options for images with text overlays
✔ Modular content of image text overlays, including a general label, multiple outgoing links, and optional license information.
✔ Choose recognized images. Whether they are images in the content, all visible images, or even background images buried deep into your site’s code and options.
✔ Select the columns in the global image text list and decide on the size of the preview image.
✔ Auto-fill the image text overlay with custom text, the uploader’s name, or IPTC metadata.
✔ Seven positions are available for the image overlay text layout.
✔ Developers love the ease of adding their own CSS styles or extending functions via WordPress hooks.
3000 EUR for a Forgotten Photo Source
In 2012, I received a letter from a law firm specialized in missing image author attributions. On my private blog, I had failed to mention the author of an image from a photo database.
The penalty: 3000 EUR plus the attorney’s fee of the opposing side.
For other images from this platform, I had mentioned the author in a text next to the image. However, during the last revision of the post, I must have forgotten or accidentally deleted it. Unfortunately, WordPress gives no indication when this happens.
Luckily, my lawyer was able to avert the major damage—for a fee—as it was a non-commercial blog. For my professional and client projects, I have since used Image Source Control to ensure that author attributions are entered and displayed reliably.
Thomas Maier, developer of Image Source Control
Why You Want a WordPress Image Text Overlay Plugin
| Image text overlay without a plugin | Image text overlays with Image Source Control | |
|---|---|---|
| Displaying the image caption as an overlay | × | ✔ |
| Editing in the Media Library | ✔ | ✔ |
| Editing in the Block Editor | ✔ | ✔ |
| Update all image overlay texts globally upon change | × | ✔ |
| Overview of missing image texts | × | ✔ |
| Warning for missing image texts | × | ✔ |
| Overlays for automatically embedded images, e.g., galleries | × | ✔ |
| Text overlays for background images | × | ✔ |
| Batch processing for image caption overlays | × | ✔ |
| Lists all images with text overlays below posts or on a dedicated page | × | ✔ |