Installation Slider — Per-Photo Sidebar Content (for Casey)

When a visitor lands on a single installation page (e.g. /installations/4890-2/) and clicks through the photo slider, the right-hand sidebar (Type, Tags, description) swaps per slide. This doc shows how to populate the per-photo content so each slide tells its own story.

TL;DR — Edit any installation post → scroll to the Installations Photos 2 repeater → expand a photo row → fill in any of the new optional fields. Blank = the post-level default shows.

What stays fixed across every slide

These belong to the installation as a whole and never change as you advance the slider:

Field Where it's set Notes
Title The post title (top of the editor) e.g. "4890-2" or "Children's Nebraska Lobby"
Institution Installation post → Institution taxonomy e.g. Hospitals & Clinics

Don't look for these in the per-photo repeater — they aren't there on purpose.

What now swaps per slide

These are the new optional fields, attached to each photo row inside the installation's Installations Photos 2 repeater. Each row already has a Photo field (the filename). The new ones sit underneath:

Field Use it for If left blank
Photo Description A caption for THIS specific photo. Plain text or short paragraph. The installation's main description shows instead
Photo Type Comma-separated, e.g. Acrylic or Mural, Vinyl. Override the installation's Type taxonomy for just this slide. The installation's Type taxonomy shows
Photo Tags Comma-separated, e.g. corridor, wayfinding. Override the installation's Tags taxonomy for just this slide. The installation's Tags taxonomy shows

Important: these are overrides, not requirements. You can fill in just the description and leave Type/Tags blank, and only the description will swap on that slide. Mix and match per row.

How to enter content (step by step)

  1. WP admin → Installations → pick a post.
  2. Scroll past the title and main editor content to the Installations Photos 2 field group.
  3. Each existing row shows a Photo filename. Click the row to expand.
  4. You'll see three new fields under the photo:
    • Photo Description (textarea)
    • Photo Type (text)
    • Photo Tags (text)
  5. Fill any/all of them. Save / Update the post.
  6. Visit the live installation page, click through the slider — the sidebar swaps as you advance.

Suggested rollout order

You don't have to back-fill all 486 installations × 10-30 photos overnight. A faster path:

  1. Top 10-20 most-viewed installations first (G&M can pull a list from analytics if you want one).
  2. Anything featured in upcoming pitches or proposals — those benefit most from per-slide context.
  3. Backlog — fill as you have time. Empty fields gracefully fall back to the post defaults, so partial coverage looks fine.

Examples

Installation: Children's Nebraska — Pediatric Clinic Post-level fields: Type = Acrylic, Institution = Hospitals & Clinics, Description = "Playful photographs of animals, flowers, and colorful landscapes adorn the walls of waiting rooms..."

Slide Photo Description (per slide) Photo Type override Photo Tags override What sidebar shows
1 (blank) (blank) (blank) Post defaults: Acrylic / "Playful photographs..." / hospital tags
2 "This piece anchors the second-floor lobby." (blank) (blank) Custom description + post-default Type + post-default Tags
3 (blank) Mural corridor, wayfinding Post default description + Mural type + corridor/wayfinding tags

Common questions

Q: I don't see the new fields on existing posts. Refresh the post editor (hard reload). If still missing, ping Eric — the field group might need a re-sync on that environment.

Q: Can I add HTML / links in the Photo Description? The textarea accepts plain text. Newlines render as line breaks. Skip HTML; if a slide needs rich content, put it in the post's main description instead and leave the per-slide field blank.

Q: What about the Title? Why isn't it per-slide? The slider is one installation viewed from multiple angles — the title belongs to the project, not the photo. If you want each photo to read as its own "thing" rather than slides of one installation, that's a different content model and a separate conversation.

Q: Will autoplay rip through too fast for visitors to read the descriptions? Slick's autoplay default is ~3s per slide. If users complain, we can disable autoplay or extend the dwell time.

Cross-references