The Single Item layout displays one image from the Gallery as a full-width showcase. The active sort order decides which image appears, which makes it useful for a fixed hero image or a photo that rotates on every visit.
Location Gallery Settings → Layout → Layout Type → Single Item
How it works #
Single Item renders exactly one item from the Gallery, shown large at full resolution so it stays sharp on high-resolution screens. The Gallery’s sort order chooses which item that is:
- With manual sort, the first item in your arrangement shows.
- With random sort, a different item shows on each visit.
- With date sort, the earliest or latest item shows.
- With title sort, the first item by title shows.
Even though only one image is on the page, all the usual item behaviours still apply: it can open the Lightbox, carry a caption, run hover effects, or act as a link, exactly as items do in any other layout.
Single Item is available for Galleries only, not Albums.
When to use it #
Single Item suits a hero banner at the top of a page, a featured photo of the week, or any spot where one image should stand on its own. Paired with random sort it becomes a rotating showcase that refreshes itself; paired with manual sort it pins one specific image in place.
Settings #
Item Aspect Ratio
Sets the shape of the single item. Single Item is one of the layouts that offers None, which keeps the image at its original proportions.
| Setting | Item Aspect Ratio |
| Options | None 1:1 4:3 3:2 16:9 3:4 2:3 Custom |
| Default | 4:3 |
Choose None to show the image exactly as shot, or pick a ratio to fit it into a fixed shape. Custom reveals a Width and Height pair for any ratio.
| Setting | Width |
| Range | 1–50 |
| Default | 4 |
| Visible when | Item Aspect Ratio is set to Custom |
| Setting | Height |
| Range | 1–50 |
| Default | 3 |
| Visible when | Item Aspect Ratio is set to Custom |
Item Fit
How the image fills its shaped box. This appears only when a ratio other than None is chosen, since None already shows the whole image at its own shape.
| Setting | Item Fit |
| Options | Cover Contain |
| Default | Cover |
| Visible when | Item Aspect Ratio is set to any ratio other than None |
Cover fills the box and crops anything outside it; Contain shows the whole image inside the box without cropping.
Lightbox Contents
Single Item is the only layout with this setting. Because just one image is shown, you choose whether opening the Lightbox shows only that image or steps through the whole Gallery.
| Setting | Lightbox Contents |
| Options | Just This Image Whole Gallery |
| Default | Whole Gallery |
This setting lives in the Interactions tab under the Lightbox settings. With Whole Gallery, the single shown image becomes the entry point into a Lightbox that contains every item in the Gallery. With Just This Image, the Lightbox opens on that one image only.
How this layout affects other settings #
Single Item shows one image, so several browsing settings do not apply and are hidden when it is selected:
- Pagination — there is only one item, so there is nothing to page through. The Pagination settings are hidden.
- Filtering — a filter bar over a single image has nothing to narrow, so Filtering is hidden.
These are enforced when the Gallery renders, not only hidden in the editor, so the pager and filter bar never appear on the page for a Single Item Gallery. Sorting stays available and is in fact central here, since it decides which image shows. Captions, item styling, and Hover Effects all apply to the single image as normal.
Tips and recommendations #
Random sort turns Single Item into a self-refreshing showcase: a different image greets every visitor with no manual effort. It is a quick way to keep a homepage hero feeling fresh.
When you want one specific image to stay put, use manual sort and place that image first in the Gallery. The Single Item layout will always show whatever sits at the top of the order.
Aspect Ratio None is worth choosing when the image itself is the whole point and you do not want any crop, for example a carefully composed landscape. Switch to a fixed ratio only when the surrounding page layout needs the hero to be a consistent shape regardless of which image lands in it.
