Title Images

For many years, we have provided the option of adding a Title Image to a story. Such an image appears below the story’s headline to set the tone for your post and add visual appeal. Our site metrics confirm that stories with Title Images generate more clicks and time spent in the story than stories without them. (Think about your own habits and preferences when you choose the stories to open.) After our migration to WordPress, adding a Title Image offers the additional advantage of eliminating the blue curlicue figures that appear by default in that position.

NOTE: Site members now have the option to upload a personalized Title Image for their own stories. Such an image will appear in place of the blue curlicue image that is the standard default in every story published by that user, unless it is overridden by the author of a given story with a specific Title Image. See directions at the end of this resource. 

To add a Title Image to your story, start on the draft view page and click on the Settings icon to  open the right sidebar. That icon, which looks like a vertically-divided page, is located in the upper right corner, next to the blue Publish button. Click it to open the sidebar and access the suite of formatting tools available within. 

You’ll see two tabs at the top of the sidebar, Community Post and Element. Click Community Post, and then at the top you’ll see either “no title,” or your draft post's title, if you have already given it one. Directly below that area, "Title Image" is displayed as a bright blue button. Click it to open the Title Image grid. That grid offers you two key choices via the tabs at the top: Upload files or Media Library. The default view offered is the Media Library, for which four filters are available, plus a search tool. 

Choosing a Title/Featured Image from the Media Library

Check out the menu for each filter to see the available options. The Search field will look for text included in images’ filenames, descriptions and attribution fields. It is also possible to search for images uploaded by a specific site member. In the search box, type “author: authorname“ to pull up a display of that user’s images.

If the image you want to put as your TITLE IMAGE is already in the Media Library, then you have a choice to make, namely between your own uploads and those that anyone else has uploaded (and allowed to be used by others here). 

If you want to upload a new one, then you'll click on the “Upload files” tab to the left of “Media Library“ and follow the prompts. Note that the maximum file size is 4 GB.

Once you choose the image to feature, then you'll be prompted for alt text and attribution, which are required. Adding a caption to the title image is easiest at this point, though it and other metadata fields are optional. Don't forget to scroll down to click the TITLE IMAGE button in the lower righthand corner of the sidebar before you make other changes to the post.

You can preview the post by clicking the little icon in the upper right that looks a little like a monitor. Your title image should show as expected in that preview.

Choosing a Featured/Title Image without (directly) accessing the Media Library: Two Options

There are a couple of other routes available for setting an image as the Featured/Title one for your post.

Option One:  A nifty and convenient way to put a Featured/Title image into the special position at the top of the story is to “promote” an image you have already put into the body of the story. 

1. Click on the image you want to boost to the top of the story.
2. Click the vertical three-dot menu in the options header to open a drop-down list.
3. Click on  “Set as featured image” as shown.

(Image courtesy FosterMom)

Option Two: It is also possible to set your own default Featured/Title image, which will appear on any story you post that does not have a unique Featured/Title image to override your personal default. 

Allison McHenry, our Chief Technical Officer, explained the process for creating a default Title Image in her site update post of August 11, 2026, New ability to add your own default image.

Creating a personalized Title Image for your default simply substitutes an image of your choosing for the blue squiggly image that is the standard default. It remains within your control to supply a new Title Image as you please for any story you write.