Learn how to control which part of an image stays visible when it is cropped or scaled, so the most important part of every image is always what your team sees.
🎯 Who this article is for: This article is for page group owners, editors, and admins working in Pages, and anyone who creates posts or articles in Channels.
💼 Package requirements: Setting image focal points is available to all packages.
🔒 Permissions: Setting a focal point on images in pages requires edit or owner access to the page group or page. In Channels, any user who can create a post or article can set a focal point on images they upload.
1. Overview
A focal point controls which part of an image remains visible when Happeo crops or scales it to fill a container. Without one, every image defaults to a center crop. With one, you decide what your team sees first: a face in a team photo, a logo in a branded header, or the key subject in a background image. Focal points are available across Pages and Channels wherever you can upload an image and adjust its settings.
2. Use cases
- Keep the right subject centered across different screen sizes: A page hero or background image looks different on a laptop than on a wide monitor. Setting the focal point on a face, a logo, or a key visual element means it stays centered regardless of how the image is cropped, and the composition holds together on any screen.
- Make Channel Feed Widgets look intentional: When posts are displayed in a Channel Feed Widget on a page, their images are cropped automatically. Setting a focal point on a post image before publishing ensures the thumbnail shows the most relevant part of the image.
- Control branded visuals on widget backgrounds: When you use an image as a widget background, the focal point ensures the composition stays consistent no matter how the widget is resized or displayed.
3. Before you begin
- For image widgets and banner widgets, the focal point option only appears when the image is set to Zoom image to fit in the widget's configuration settings. If you do not see the focal point option, check this setting first.
- For widget backgrounds and page heroes, the brand style must not be locked. If it is locked, the Style settings are not accessible.
- Image focal points in pages are available in Pages 2.0 only. The Channel Feed Widgets where channel post and article focal points take effect also require Pages 2.0.
- Channel hero images and images inside the Text Widget do not support focal points.
- When setting a focal point on a post or article in a channel, the image will not look different in the post or article view itself. The focal point takes effect when the post is displayed inside a Channel Feed Widget on a page.
4. How to set a focal point
The examples below cover the most common places, but focal points can be set on any image or background image where you can access its settings. The one exception is the Text Widget: images can be uploaded there, but image settings are not available, so focal points are not supported.
In the Image Widget
- Place an Image Widget in a section on your page.
- Click Select source and choose your image source.
- Hover over the widget and select the cog icon to open the widget settings.
- Confirm the image is set to Zoom image to fit.
- Scroll down to Focus point. Drag the blue dot to the area you want to keep centered, or click Detect automatically.
🗒️ Note: If moving the blue dot does not seem to change the image noticeably, try resizing the widget by dragging its edges, then adjust the focal point again.
In a Banner Widget
- Place a Banner Widget in a section on your page.
- Select a layout that supports images.
- Upload your image.
- Hover over the widget and select the cog icon to open the widget configuration settings.
- Confirm the image is set to Zoom image to fit.
- Scroll down to Focus point. Drag the blue dot to the area you want to keep centered, or click Detect automatically.
🗒️ Note: If moving the blue dot does not seem to change the image noticeably, try resizing the widget by dragging its edges, then adjust the focal point again.
On a widget background image
- Place any widget that supports background images into a section on your page.
- Hover over the widget and select the cog icon to open the widget settings.
- Go to Style and scroll down to Background image. If you have not added a background image yet, add it here.
- Once the background image is in place, scroll down to Background focus point. Drag the blue dot to the area you want to keep centered, or click Detect automatically.
⚠️ Important: The Style settings are only accessible when the widget's brand is not locked.
On a page hero
- Hover over the page hero and select the cog icon to open the hero settings.
- Go to Style and scroll down to Background image. If you have not added a background image yet, add it here.
- Once the background image is in place, scroll down to Background focus point. Drag the blue dot to the area you want to keep centered, or click Detect automatically.
⚠️ Important: The focal point option is only available when the page brand style is not locked.
On images in channel posts
- Start writing a post in a channel.
- Click Add file or the image icon in the toolbar and upload your image.
- Once the image has uploaded, click the target icon at the bottom center of the image, next to the linking and deletion options.
- Drag the blue dot to the area you want to keep centered, or click Detect automatically.
🗒️ Note: The image will not appear to change in the post view. The focal point applies to how the image is displayed inside a Channel Feed Widget on a page.
On images in channel articles
- Start writing an article in a channel.
- Use Quick Insert to upload an image.
- Once the image has uploaded, click on the image if needed to reveal the options, then click the target icon at the bottom right of the image, next to the linking and deletion options.
- Drag the blue dot to the area you want to keep centered, or click Detect automatically.
🗒️ Note: As with post images, the focal point will not be visible in the article view. It takes effect when the article appears in a Channel Feed Widget on a page.
5. Best practices
A focal point takes seconds to set, but a few habits make the difference between images that feel intentional and ones that look cropped by chance.
- Use Detect automatically as a starting point: For most images, automatic detection identifies the visual subject quickly. If the result is not quite right, drag the blue dot to refine the position manually.
- Resize the widget to test your focal point: If the image does not appear to change when you move the blue dot, the widget may be large enough to show the entire image without cropping. Drag the widget edges to reduce its size, then check how the focal point affects the crop.
- Set focal points before publishing channel posts: The focal point on a post or article image affects how it appears in Channel Feed Widgets, which is easy to overlook after publishing. Building a focal point check into your content checklist before posting keeps thumbnails consistent.
6. Frequently asked questions
Why don't I see the focal point option on my image?
For Image and Banner Widgets, the focal point option only appears when the image is set to Zoom image to fit in the widget's configuration settings. For widget backgrounds and page heroes, also confirm that the brand style is not locked. Images inside the Text Widget do not support focal points.
I set a focal point on a channel post, but the image looks the same. Is it working?
Yes. Focal points on channel post and article images do not affect how the image appears in the post or article view. The change is visible in Channel Feed Widgets on pages, where post images are cropped automatically to fit the widget layout.
Can I set a focal point on a channel hero image?
No. Channel hero images do not support focal points.
Does the focal point save automatically?
Yes. The focal point saves automatically as soon as you set it. No additional save or publish step is required.