MYSTlore:Images
From MYSTlore
Because a picture is worth a thousand words, it is often very useful to add images — e.g. photos, screenshots, illustrations — to articles.
If an article has no image, it's always possible it wouldn't benefit from one, but if it does, consider adding a {{needs-image}} template to it (at the bottom of the page, or at the bottom of a relevant section, much like the {{stub}} template) if there isn't one.
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[edit] Preparing an image
Before uploading, make sure the image is small (in terms of file size, not dimensions!) enough. The file size is currently limited at 1 Megabyte, which should be enough for most kinds of images. You should upload the file in an appropriate format: for illustrations, we recommend PNG; for photos and screenshots, we recommend JPEG at a quality level of 100%.
If the image exceeds a Megabyte, you can try decreasing its dimensions by cropping out irrelevant areas and/or by proportionally scaling it down, as well as (in case of JPEG) by lowering its quality level, though we recommend a level no longer than 85% (sometimes called 0.85).
[edit] Uploading an image
If you believe you have an appropriate image, you should upload it. Don't use a third-party website such as Flickr or ImageShack to host it; use MYSTlore itself. This will be more convenient for everyone — for administrators and editors to manage the image itself, and for viewers to see it appear faster, as it's one and the same server (moreover, linking to such resources externally can also pose a security risk). The sidebar to the left of each page has an Upload file link in the toolbox section.
In the upload form, select the file, and choose an appropriate name. There currently is no naming convention for MYSTlore. Avoid abbreviations; you should have enough characters in the file name to write out words in full, just like for an article title. While the title itself should already serve for a good summary, if you wish, you can enter a short description of the file in the "Summary" textbox. If you have obtained the image from someone else, you must specify this in the description, and assert that you have been given express permission by them to upload the file. Also, categorizing the image is usually a good idea. E.g., for a screenshot from Myst III: Exile, add this to the description: [[Category:Screenshots from Myst III: Exile]]. This will also automatically create a gallery of images in those categories.
[edit] Adding an image to an article
Finally, add the image to one or more articles.
[edit] Thumbnails on the side
In most cases, a thumbnail is preferable over a full-blown version of the image, as not to clutter the layout; MediaWiki provides a syntax like this for them:
[[Image:the filename|thumb|right|A description of the image, and how it fits into the context of the article.]]
You can look at the source code of many articles to see how they have done it, such as Achenar. A common gotcha is that article and file names are case-sensitive, so, for example, Image:Saavedro.JPG (which, at time of this writing, does exist) and Image:Saavedro.jpg with lower-case jpg (which does not exist) do not reference the same file.
This defaults to a thumbnail width of 180 pixels, which you should typically retain. In some cases, you may want to customize it, like this:
[[Image:the filename|thumb|right|300px|A description of the image, and how it fits into the context of the article.]]
Note the extra parameter before the caption, specifying the width in pixels. Likewise, instead of "right", you can specify "left" in order to make the thumbnail appear to the left of the article, which may on occasion be useful.
[edit] Multiple thumbnails in a gallery
To accommodate a large amount of images all belonging to a particular section of the article, use MediaWiki's gallery feature instead. It provides for thumbnails and captions much in the same way a thumbnail on the side does, but instead arranges the result in a grid. For example:
<gallery> Image:An image.jpg|A brief piece of text describing it. Image:Another image.jpg|Yep! Image:And one more.jpg|Here we go. </gallery>
Each line represents an image. In what the visitor sees, new rows and columns of the grid are automatically created as necessary.
[edit] Final steps
Also remember to remove any {{needs-image}} template from the article, once it has all the images it needs.
