The Sims Wiki:Image guidelines
Proposed Policy This policy is still under discussion or undergoing a vote and should NOT be used to guide official decisions or actions. If you wish to participate in the discussion of this policy, see the appropriate entry on the Proposed Policies page. This page in a nutshell *To use an image or other media file on The Sims Wiki, you need to upload it, and then edit a page to use the file.
This guideline outlines good practices to use for images uploaded to The Sims Wiki, and steps that can be taken to make them display better and/or become lighter for download. To upload image files, visit Special:Upload.
Adding images to pagesThe first step in using an image or other media file is to upload it to The Sims Wiki. Inline linking of images on external sites for display will be removed. To include the image in a page:
For more methods of showing or linking images, see Help:Images and Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. Image usage and layoutImages make an article memorable and pretty. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images can detract from an article. When choosing images, keep in mind placement, size, and the appropriateness of the image to the section. Let images flow with the text instead of break it up. Almost all images (especially screenshots) should use the "thumb" (example: For general information on wiki images, see the MetaWiki page on images and other uploaded files. GalleriesWhen an article has many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images detract from the readability of an articles, the use of a
Image design and qualityTransparencyImages that require transparency should use the PNG file format. GIFs also handle transparency, but they do not allow smooth shading (anti-aliasing) of edges, and they only support 256 colors. Screenshot contentGame screenshots are "photo" like in appearance, and rectangular (do not need shading). The JPG file format works well for these as they tend to be fairly sizeable and JPG compression brings them down to manageable sizes.
Compression levelsFor the majority of images, the maximum size should be 500 kB. If yours is larger, it should be compressed or cropped (unless it really benefits from being large and high quality).
Resolution
Image description pagesThe purpose of file pages is to provide information about the file, such as the author, date of creation, who uploaded the file, any modifications that may have been made, an extended description about the file's subject or context, where the file is used, and license or copyright information. In the case of an image, the file page shows a higher resolution version of the image, if available. To view the file page for an image or video, click on the image itself and then the icon. File descriptionEg: "Image of a goldfish in a small tank". This should not be an alternative text, but rather a description. This is useful for users who do not have direct access to the image, and is a temporary substitute for a proper If you downloaded the file from somewhere else, you should give details of source, author, etc. Image summaryFor pictures:
For synthetic pictures:
For screenshots:
Technical information for pictures:
Technical information for synthetic images:
Technical information for screenshots:
Copyright informationAll files must be provided with copyright information. This includes the author, the file's source and the file's license. All files must either be freely licensed or suitable for "fair use" (a low resolution image or only part of a song for example). You should choose the most appropriate tag from Image copyright tags. Please be aware that the copyright holder (the original creator of the file), not the uploader, decides on the licensing for the image, and that "fair use" of non-free files has a specific definition. Please read Wikipedia:Copyrights, Wikipedia:Image use policy, Wikipedia:Fair use guideline, and Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for information about what images are acceptable to upload. CategorizationImages should be categorized into image-specific categories (images should not be in the same category as articles) and always belong to at least two categories: One by license and one by content. Note that the license category is automatically added by the license template. The Image category should only be used as a last resort, if the image does not belong anywhere else. It is currently filled with images which need not be there. You are welcome to help clear them out. It's always a good idea to preview a category to see if your image fits there. Images from the Sims gamesHere's a list of the most usual categories where an image from the Sims games might belong:
These are pretty big categories, which consist of just about everything else. This is for screenshots from inside the game, this can be anything from images of interactions to images of performing actions.
Images not from the Sims gamesImages not from the Sims games are mostly user files, used to spice up user pages. Remember that the image must be under a free license such a Creative Commons or GNU. "I found it somewhere" or "I can't remember where I got it" are not valid excuses for a license and such images will be deleted. See also |