Telarapedia:Formatting/Images

This article outlines formatting guidelines that should be followed for images uploaded to Telarapedia.

General guidelines

 * To be expanded upon game release.
 * Crop images when possible so that only the relevant subject is featured.
 * Images with reduced effects of image compression are more desirable. An image with a high level of compression artifacts will look pixelated and lose detail; stay above 70% quality for JPEGs.
 * Images should be taken from the game when possible and not from concept art as the image in the game is the one which people will see when playing the game. This is harder to follow prior to game release and is a general guideline as opposed to a rule.  Concept art is allowed on 'main' article pages such as Class and Race.
 * If multiple images of the same subject are uploaded, the one that will be kept and used is the one which is found most useful. Following these formatting guidelines should ensure your images are as informative as possible.

File type and naming

 * Use descriptive titles. Suffix the filename with the content description. Examples to be inserted once appropriate game informatin has been released.
 * JPG/JPEG format should be used for screencaptures as their compression rates are good in relation to image quality. Do not compress beyond 70%, however, as image quality will suffer.
 * PNG format should be used for icons.
 * Lowercase file extensions should be used for uniformity (i.e. .jpg rather than .JPG).
 * Avoid uploading images of the same subjects under different names. It is better to overwrite an existing image with a better one than to upload it to a new name (unless the current name is not descriptive enough). Images can be reverted back to previous versions if newer ones are deemed to not be improvements.
 * Names are case sensitive so Filename.JPG is considered a different file from Filename.jpg.
 * Use of underscores in image names is unnecessary as MediaWiki automatically replaces spaces in file names with underscores.  is the same as.

Image size

 * Although files up to 4 megabytes can be uploaded, there is no need for most images to be that large.
 * Larger images may be difficult for some users to download or view so it is recommended that you crop images to focus on their subject when possible.
 * Certain programs have settings to save images "for the web".
 * It is not recommended to resize images in an editing program, as MediaWiki can scale images automatically. Uploading a large image that is cropped neatly means that higher amounts of detail can be seen if necessary.
 * If you wish to have a photo beside the text in an article then you may create a "thumbnail" by adding  after the image name (e.g.  ). If needed, you can also manually edit the size of the thumbnail by adding   at the end, where * is the width in pixels (250px to 300px is recommended). You can also specify which side the thumbnail floats to by using   or   (right is the default value) or add a caption by putting   at the end, too.
 * Officially released screenshots (when they can be used) are the one exception to the rule above, although it is still recommended they be resaved as 90% quality jpeg files to reduce their file sizes slightly.

Licensing and copyrights

 * Images that violate the terms of use of this website or infringe copyright will be subject to deletion.
 * See Telarapedia:Copyrights for more details.

Free and open-source image editing software
These free software packages have been recommended for use in image and media manipulation:
 * Paint.NET - http://www.getpaint.net/