Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images: Difference between revisions

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This page documents an English Wikipedia content guideline.

Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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You may be looking for Wikipedia:Image use policy.

Example image caption. To produce this box, use: `[[Image:Example.png|thumb|Example image caption ...]]`

Wikipedia contains millions of illustrative images and other media. This page gives a very brief overview of how images are used in Wikipedia. More information on including images can be found at Help:Images and other uploaded files.

Image preferences

Logged in users can set the size of thumbnails they want in special:preferences under "files". The default, used by those not logged in, is 180 pixels. Logged in users can choose from widths of 120px, 150px, 180px, 200px, 250px or 300px

Also under files in special:preferences you can set the size limit of images shown on image description pages. By default, if either the width or the height exceeds 800px or 600px respectively, then the image is reduced in size until it fits within those dimensions. You can choose from sizes of 320x240px, 640x480px, 800x600px, 1024x768px, 1280x1024px, or 10000x10000px. The last will effectively display all images at 100% resolution.

Using images

See also Embedding Commons' media in Wikipedia articles

Images uploaded to Wikipedia are automatically placed into the file namespace, formerly known as the image namespace, a namespace of Wikipedia. This means that image page names start with the prefix "File:". To incorporate your image into an article you need to use the image markup. As an example in its simplest form, to reproduce the image at the top of this page insert the following text into an article:

[[Image:Example.png|thumb|Example image caption]]

Where the image is called Example.png. Using "thumb" forces the creation of a thumbnail; replace "Example image caption" with a suitable caption.

Alternately, you can use the "File:" prefix instead:

[[File:Example.png|thumb|Example image caption]]

The full set of options is more complex — see Wikipedia:Extended image syntax — but the vast majority of images should be displayed in one of the above formats.

Inline linking

Images on external sites can no longer be linked inline to be publicized on Wikipedia. This is due to several reasons:

inline linking to images on other sites is often considered "leeching" and is thus rude
allowing inline image linking makes it easier for vandals to post images from shock sites
allowing inline image linking makes it easier to introduce copyrighted images in Wikipedia.
external images are often unreliable

Instead, to place an image on Wikipedia, you will need to upload it.

Forced image size

As a rule, images should not be set to a fixed size (i.e. one that overrides the 180 pixels default). See Image use policy: Displayed image size and Manual of Style: Images. If an exception to the general rule is warranted, forcing an image size from the 180 pixel default is done by placing a parameter in the image coding in the form |XXXpx, where XXX is replaced by a number of pixels, i.e.,

[[File:Example.png|thumb|220px|Example image caption]]

Forced left justification

In most cases, images should be right justified on pages, which is their default placement. See Manual of Style: Images. If an exception to the general rule is warranted, forcing an image to justify on the left of a page from a default right justification is done by placing a parameter in the image coding in the form |left, i.e.,

[[File:Example.png|thumb|left|Example image caption]]

Obtaining images

All images on Wikipedia must comply with the image use policy. This means that they must be compatible with the conditions of the GNU Free Documentation License. In particular, images must be free for commercial use and alteration. Some fair use of copyrighted material is, however, allowed in limited circumstances.

Making images yourself

For information on digitally creating drawings & diagrams, see Wikipedia:Graphics tutorials.

You can take a photograph with your digital camera, mobile phone with integrated digital camera, draw an image digitally, perhaps with a graphics tablet, graphs drawn from your scientific simulations, or scan drawings or photos taken with a film camera and upload the image.

Finding images on the Internet

An extensive list of free image resources by topic is at Wikipedia:Public domain image resources. Useful general purpose image search engines include Google Image Search, Picsearch and YotoPhoto. Flickr has a Creative Commons section at http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons. Images with Attribution and Attribution-ShareAlike may be used on Wikipedia subject to the licence terms.

The Wikimedia Toolserver has a Free Image Search Tool (FIST) which automatically culls free images from Flickr, other Wikimedia projects and a few other sites; this may be an easy way to find them.

If you find an image on the Internet that is not available freely, you can email the copyright owner and also ask for their permission to release it under a suitable license adapting the permission requests.

If you cannot find a suitable image, you can make a request at Wikipedia:Requested pictures so that another contributor might find or create a suitable image.

Uploading images

Logged in users with autoconfirmed accounts (meaning at least four days old, and at least ten edits) can upload media to Wikipedia. It is recommended that free media (but not fair use media) be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons (separate registration and login there is required). Media on the Commons can be linked to in the same way as media of the same name on to Wikipedia.

Media can be uploaded to the English Wikipedia at special:upload and to the Wikimedia Commons at commons:special:upload.

Each image comes with its own image description page. On that page should be documented the source, author, and copyright status of the image using one of the pre-defined copyright tags. It is also important to add descriptive (who, what, when, why) and technical information (equipment, software, etc.), which will be useful and informative to later editors and readers, and which it is likely that only you, the uploader, can supply. There is a guideline on the use of sexually explicit images. However, consideration should be reachable by normal consensus-building measures, and people are advised to advance case by case.

A tool to help decide a license for one's own image, or the appropriate license for any other image, is available here.

Image choice and placement

Beyond the basics of copyright and markup, editors face choices of image selection and placement. Some editors maintain that photographs are preferable to paintings and sketches. Notable exceptions exist. Bird identification guides have traditionally used sketches. Other editors dispute giving any preference to photographs.

Articles that use more than one image should present a variety of material near relevant text. Three uniformed portraits would be redundant for a biography of a famous general. A map of a battle and a picture of its aftermath would provide more information to readers.

Images should be large enough to reveal relevant detail without overwhelming the surrounding article text. Similar types of images within an article often look appealing if they appear at the same pixel size. Poor quality images (too dark, blurry etc.) or where the subject in the image is too small, hidden in clutter, ambiguous or otherwise not obvious, should not be used.

Contributors should be judicious in deciding which images are the most suitable for the subject matter in an article.

An image of a white-tailed eagle is useless if the bird appears as a speck in the sky.
Gloria Steinem looks best as a portrait photograph of herself alone, and not with other individuals.
A suitable picture of a hammerhead shark would show its distinctive hammer-like head, to distinguish it from other generic sharks.
A map of Moldova should show its frontiers with Romania and Ukraine, or people may not know where the country actually is.
Rice is best represented with an image of plain rice, not fried rice.
Intangible concepts can be illustrated, for example a cat with its claws out portrays aggression, while a roadside beggar juxtaposed with a Mercedes Benz shows inequality.

For assistance with improving images on Wikipedia, please see the Graphics Lab.

Pertinence and encyclopedic nature

Images must be relevant to the article they appear in and be significant relative to the article's topic. Their origin must be properly referenced. In the case of an image not directly attributed to its creator (e.g. in the case of reproduction of ancient artwork or artifacts), it is not sufficient to merely indicate the image's immediate source (such as an URL), but the identity of the image's content (author, manuscript, museum id) must be given (see also Wikipedia:Reliable sources). Images that are not properly identified (e.g. images with descriptions such as "a cuneiform tablet", "a medieval manuscript" etc.) are unencyclopedic and hence not useful for Wikipedia.

Other

Eventually some of the images reach the end of their life cycle. They may be superseded or replaced by an image with a friendlier copyright policy. If you come across an image that needs to go, list it on Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion.

If you have contributed or found an image that stands out from the crowd, you are invited to nominate it for inclusion on the Wikipedia:Featured pictures list.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 :''You may be looking for [[Wikipedia:Image use policy]].''
-[[Image:Example.png|thumb|right|Example image caption. To produce this box, use: <code><nowiki>[[Image:Example.png|thumb|right|Example image caption ...]]</nowiki></code> ]]
+[[Image:Example.png|thumb|Example image caption. To produce this box, use: <code><nowiki>[[Image:Example.png|thumb|Example image caption ...]]</nowiki></code> ]]
 [[Wikipedia:About|Wikipedia]] contains millions of illustrative '''images''' and other media.  This page gives a very brief overview of how images are used in Wikipedia. More information on including images can be found at [[Help:Images and other uploaded files]].
 ==Image preferences==
-[[special:userlogin|Logged in users]] can set the size of thumbnails they want in [[special:preferences]] under "files".  The default, used by those not logged in, is 180 [[pixel]]s.  Logged in users can choose from widths of 120px, 150px, 180px, 200px, 250px or 300px. <!-- See [[Wikipedia:Thumbnail size]] for examples. (might write this later) -->
+[[special:userlogin|Logged in users]] can set the size of thumbnails they want in [[special:preferences]] under "files".  The default, used by those not logged in, is 180 [[pixel]]s.  Logged in users can choose from widths of 120px, 150px, 180px, 200px, 250px or 300px <!-- See [[Wikipedia:Thumbnail size]] for examples. (might write this later) -->
 Also under files in [[special:preferences]] you can set the size limit of images shown on image description pages.  By default, if either the width or the height exceeds 800px or 600px respectively, then the image is reduced in size until it fits within those dimensions.  You can choose from sizes of 320x240px, 640x480px, 800x600px, 1024x768px, 1280x1024px, or 10000x10000px.  The last will effectively display all images at 100% resolution.
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Images uploaded to Wikipedia are automatically placed into the '''file namespace''', formerly known as the '''image namespace''', a [[Wikipedia:Namespace|namespace]] of Wikipedia. This means that image page names start with the prefix "File:".  To incorporate your image into an article you need to use the [[Wikipedia:Extended image syntax|image markup]].  As an example in its simplest form, to reproduce the image at the top of this page insert the following text into an article:
-<pre>[[Image:Example.png|thumb|right|Example image caption]]</pre>
+<pre>[[Image:Example.png|thumb|Example image caption]]</pre>
 Where the image is called [[:File:Example.png|Example.png]]. Using "thumb" forces the creation of a [[thumbnail]]; replace "Example image caption" with a [[Wikipedia:Captions|suitable caption]].
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 Alternately, you can use the "File:" prefix instead:
-<pre>[[File:Example.png|thumb|right|Example image caption]]</pre>
+<pre>[[File:Example.png|thumb|Example image caption]]</pre>
 The full set of options is more complex &mdash; see [[Wikipedia:Extended image syntax]] &mdash; but the vast majority of images should be displayed in one of the above formats.
@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 ===Forced image size===
-''See [[Wikipedia:Image use policy#Displayed image size|Image use policy: Displayed image size]] and [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Images|Manual of Style: Images]]''
+As a rule, images should not be set to a fixed size (i.e. one that overrides the 180 pixels default). ''See [[Wikipedia:Image use policy#Displayed image size|Image use policy: Displayed image size]] and [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Images|Manual of Style: Images]]''. If an exception to the general rule is warranted, forcing an image size from the 180 pixel default is done by placing a parameter in the image coding in the form <code>|XXXpx</code>, where XXX is replaced by a number of pixels, i.e., <pre>[[File:Example.png|thumb|220px|Example image caption]]</pre>
+==Forced left justification==
+In most cases, images should be right justified on pages, which is their default placement. ''See [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Images|Manual of Style: Images]]''. If an exception to the general rule is warranted, forcing an image to justify on the left of a page from a default right justification is done by placing a parameter in the image coding in the form <code>|left</code>, i.e., <pre>[[File:Example.png|thumb|left|Example image caption]]</pre>
 ==Obtaining images==
@@ Line 67: / Line 70: @@
 == Image choice and placement ==
 {{See also2|[[MOS:IMAGES|Manual of Style &mdash; Images]]}}
-[[Image:APEC Police Helicopter, Opera House, 2 Sept 2007.JPG|250px|right|thumb|This is not the best photograph to show what a [[helicopter]] or the [[Sydney Opera House]] looks like.]]
+[[Image:APEC Police Helicopter, Opera House, 2 Sept 2007.JPG|250px|thumb|This is not the best photograph to show what a [[helicopter]] or the [[Sydney Opera House]] looks like.]]
 Beyond the basics of copyright and markup, editors face choices of image selection and placement. Some editors maintain that photographs are preferable to paintings and sketches.  Notable exceptions exist.  Bird identification guides have traditionally used sketches.  Other editors dispute giving any preference to photographs.