Feature Request: option to show full images in Media Library

[OsakaWebbie]

It would be very helpful to have an option (perhaps in Settings/Media) to have the Media Library show the full image even if it’s not square, instead of cropping everything to square.

There are a lot of reasons why some of us (perhaps many or even most) don’t like the images shown cropped to square – here are three: (1) the full content is not visible, (2) searching for items you know are a certain aspect ratio is much more difficult, (3) multiple images that are the same in the center but cropped differently (or extended with additional background to make a certain shape) look identical.

I would be perfectly happy if the CSS was simply changed to always show the full image, but I suppose some people might be used to the squares (although I don’t see what advantage that would have other than looking tidy), so I’m suggesting a setting to allow the user to choose.

Currently I’m using a workaround on some of my sites – I installed the “Add Admin CSS” plugin and added this CSS:

.wp-core-ui .attachment .portrait img { max-height: 100%; }
.wp-core-ui .attachment .landscape img { max-width: 100%; }

But it would be better if WordPress could do this natively.

Here are two screenshots of the same Media Library before and after using my workaround: