Title: Does get_the_image support description/caption?
Last modified: August 20, 2016
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# Does get_the_image support description/caption?
* [Mark](https://wordpress.org/support/users/codeispoetry/)
* (@codeispoetry)
* [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-get_the_image-support-descriptioncaption/)
* Get the image is clearly one of the nicest plugins around for image
handling
in WordPress. Beautifully executed with sensible defaults.
* However, how can we get at the image description or caption using `get_the_image()`?
If this is not possible, is this functionality perhaps planned?
* Here are some reasons to have descriptions or captions:
* 1. Accessibility. Images should have alt texts, and if we can’t even set the
alt text using get the image that’s a bit of a bummer.
2. Licensing. Images
sometimes require attribution. We can use the WordPress description or caption
fields for this info, but that is of little use if we can’t get at the info with
the nicest plugin around. 3. Usability. An image says more than a 1000 words,
but a few words can radically alter our interpretation of an image. Captions
and descriptions are often crucial parts of the image, and it would be great
if get_the_image() supported them.
* I’m hoping future versions of the plugin will enable us to `get_the_caption`
too!
* [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/get-the-image/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/get-the-image/)
Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
* Thread Starter [Mark](https://wordpress.org/support/users/codeispoetry/)
* (@codeispoetry)
* [13 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-get_the_image-support-descriptioncaption/#post-3320036)
* Okay here’s the answer. I overlooked that the alt text was being set already
due to my image being embedded in a link.
* For the benefit of others, this was to make the Flickr Pick a Picture plugin
work with an Oxygen child theme. FPP puts the attribution, including a link to
the Flickr photo page, in the image post_excerpt. Alt text can’t include links
so I was looking for a way to display the post_excerpt with the featured image
in another unobtrusive way. I settled for a div that only appears when you hover
over the image.
* First, I was able to throw together a function for getting the `post_excerpt()`
field (what I was calling the caption). Here is the function that I added to
my functions.php:
* ```
function get_the_feature_caption() {
global $post;
$thumbnail_id = get_post_thumbnail_id($post->ID);
$thumbnail_image = get_posts(array('p' => $thumbnail_id, 'post_type' => 'attachment'));
if ($thumbnail_image && isset($thumbnail_image[0])) {
$caption = ''.$thumbnail_image[0]->post_excerpt.'';
}
return $caption;
}
```
* Then in the post.php template of my Oxygen child theme, I include the following
code:
* ```
if ( current_theme_supports( 'get-the-image' ) )
$image= get_the_image( array( 'meta_key' => 'Thumbnail', 'size' => 'single-thumbnail', 'link_to_post' => false, 'image_class' => 'featured', 'attachment' => false, 'width' => 470, 'height' => 260, 'echo' => false ) );
$caption = get_the_feature_caption();
if ( !empty( $image ) ) {
echo '' . $image ;
echo '
' . $caption . '