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How to add or change the header image in WordPress

Whether you can add a header image to be displayed on the frontend of your site (and respectively change it) using the options in your admin panel depends on the particular theme. Some themes have such a functionality and so they come with the corresponding options allowing you to add a logo/header image. The default themes that come with the installation package, for example, have a header that can be customized. There are also many third party themes that support this. However, there are many third party themes that don't have such a functionality; in this case the code of the theme's files has to be modified in order to display a header image.

With themes that support header images adding and changing the header image can easily be achieved using the settings in the admin panel of your WordPress. After you log in go to Appearance menu>Themes submenu and click on the Header button under the name of the current theme (if there's no such a button, the header can't be customized). On the page that opens look for a section labeled Select Image. You can upload an image either from your local computer or from your WordPress media library. On the page you'll also see the recommended dimensions for the image (they are different depending on the theme).

For better results it's recommended to crop and/or scale the image to those dimensions before uploading it. To upload an image from your local computer click on the Browse button, locate the image and then click on the Upload button next to it. Once you do that you'll be offered the chance to crop the image. If you cropped and/or scaled the image before that, you don't have to worry about it and you can skip the automatic cropping by clicking on the respective button. Even if the image is bigger than the allowed dimensions and you click on the button that skips the cropping, the image will still be scaled so as to fit the container/space designed for the header image.

You can add other images too and from the Header options of the theme you can choose which one is to be shown on the frontend. Just mark the radio button next to the image. There's also a radio button labeled Random. If you mark it, each time the site is loaded a random image will be shown from one of the uploaded header images. When you make changes don't forget to click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.

Some other articles concerning the header of your site:

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