A WordPress plugin banner is a header still, not a demo reel
wordpress.org wants a header banner with the plugin name readable at directory size. Seedream or Ideogram. /for/web-designers is the studio. A generated walkthrough is not the banner.
wordpress.org wants a header banner with the plugin name readable at directory size. Seedream or Ideogram. /for/web-designers is the studio. A generated walkthrough is not the banner.
A plugin that lists is a header image the directory will crop: plugin name, a short claim, type that survives 772×250 and the 1544×500 retina file. It is not a 16:9 demo reel of a dashboard, and it is not a before/after of a client site you do not ship with the plugin. Lock the header as a still. Letter the name.
Directory size is the job
WordPress.org plugin assets are named by size. banner-772x250.png (or .jpg) is 772 pixels wide by 250 pixels high. banner-1544x500.png is the high-DPI twin. Those are the files in /assets. The directory paints them across the top of the plugin page. A 16:9 film still that dies when the header letterboxes it is a cover you cannot ship.
The banner has to show the name they will search: exact spelling, exact casing, a one-line job if there is room. “SaaS productivity, cinematic dashboard” restages a studio case study. The directory header is a wide still. 772×250 is a short strip — roughly 3:1. Proof at 100% on a 772-wide preview. One misspelled plugin name is a regenerate.
Do not generate a photoreal laptop “using the plugin” as the banner. The laptop is a lifestyle scene. The banner is type. Do not generate a fake client logo wall. Do not generate a walkthrough and screenshot frame twelve. The header is not a reel.
Seedream for dense lockups; Ideogram for the short name
Seedream 5.0 Pro is ByteDance’s flagship text-to-image row when the header is a structured lockup: plugin name, a short line, maybe simple UI chrome. Catalog facts: native text rendering in 14 languages, precise control over dense layouts, 7 credits flat. Qualities listed: 2K. Aspects: 21:9, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 3:4, 9:16. Audio is empty — this is a still.
None of those aspects is 772×250. Generate wide (21:9 or 16:9), then crop to 1544×500 and 772×250. Quote every string a reviewer will proof. A wrong character in the name is a regenerate.
Ideogram V4 is the short lockup: eight to twelve words that must read at directory size. Text-to-image, 6 credits, posters and logos with accurate text rendering listed. Aspects: 1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 4:3, 3:4. Quote the string. Use Ideogram when the banner is a title card: name, one claim, a flat lockup. Use Seedream when the banner is a dense header with chrome.
Neither row is a video model. wordpress.org will not play a reel. Motion will not correct a misspelled slug.
The agent still has to pick a stills row
Generate an image from text is the named stills job: you describe the header, the agent asks style, aspect, and count, then picks an image model — or uses the one you name. Cost is priced per model, shown before you confirm. Name Seedream 5 Pro when the brief is dense header type. Name Ideogram V4 when the brief is a short readable name. A bare “make a WordPress plugin banner” is how you land on a photoreal row that melts the letters.
Quote the strings. "WP Cache Prime" is a string. “A headline about caching” is how you get a plausible label you cannot ship. Text to image is the launcher when you are already on the row. Same still. Same proof.
Export at 1544×500 for retina. Derive 772×250 from the same art. JPEG or PNG, matching the handbook filenames. Do not upload a 1920×1080 “hero” and hope the directory letterboxes kindly. It will crop the name off.
Not the web-designers studio, not a demo reel
Web designers already have a studio page: a before/after scrolling walkthrough of a real client site, process screen recordings, a testimonial about results. 16:9. LinkedIn and YouTube. Two posts a week. That page is a redesign sales pitch. This listing is a wordpress.org header. Do not rewrite the walkthrough as a plugin banner. A generated “old site versus new site” is a client you do not have a grant for, and it is not the file in /assets.
A plugin demo reel — dashboard clicks, a talking founder — is a different file. YouTube can have it. The directory header cannot. Pause on the plugin name at 772 wide. If a buyer would not read it on wordpress.org, you made a reel. Quote the name; Seedream the dense header or Ideogram the lockup; crop to 1544×500 and 772×250.
FAQ
Should every plugin banner be Seedream 5 Pro?
No. Dense headers with chrome and a short line are Seedream: 7 credits, 2K listed, text in 14 languages, dense layouts named in the catalog. Title-card names with a handful of words are Ideogram V4 at 6 credits. Scout cheap. Proof the string. Crop to 1544×500.
Can I skip the still and prompt a video model for a “cinematic plugin demo” as the banner?
You can. You will not get a signed header. You will get a clip whose first frame is a guess, and wordpress.org will not play the clip. Lock the header still first. Name readable at 772 wide.
Is this the same job as /for/web-designers?
No. That page is the studio: real before/after walkthroughs of client sites. This page is the plugin directory banner — a 772×250 / 1544×500 header with the plugin name intact. Do not rewrite the designer audience as a marketplace tile.
Why not a dashboard screenshot as the banner?
A live screenshot can work if the plugin name still reads at directory size and you own every pixel. Most dashboards die when cropped to 250 pixels tall. Seedream or Ideogram the lockup; keep the screenshot for the plugin’s own media tab.