This is Joe’s Headline

If Joe Photographer was real, and if he really shot this picture. This is where he might tell you the story. But Joe’s not real. And you can really use this field any way you want.

When you are in any of the Media Library-level image detail editors, you’ll see a “Description” field. It will be empty. Nothing maps to it. What’s that? You’ll be forgiven if hairs of confusion begin to rise on the back of your neck.

The IPTC standard allows developers to call the “Caption” field the “Description” field. Or both at the same time. Photo Mechanic calls it “Description/Caption”. In Photoshop and Bridge, it’s “Description”. In XnView, “Caption”. And in Lightroom, it can be either, depending on exactly what view of the Metadata Panel you have called. (What’s up with that?) That’s all inconsistent as all get out, but it’s fine with the IPTC.

The WordPress “Description” field is something completely different. It is a text block on an image’s Attachment Page. You may well have never heard of the Attachment Page. It turns out that WordPress makes a special page to display each item in the Media Library. There are links to the Attachment Page in the ‘Attachment Details’ pop-up and the ‘Edit Media’ page in the Media Library. If you follow one of them, you’ll be taken to a page that displays your image.