Help:Image upload

From GenWiki

An image tells more than a thousand words.
(German saying)

Images are a value-adding feature for any web site. They are eye-catchers and information carriers too. They are even NECESSARY!

But how do I get an image (file) into GenWiki?

[edit] Prerequisites

Bevor you upload an image, please verify:

Copyright

Do I infringe a copyright by uploading and therefore publishing this image file? If I do not carefully verify this point, I may hurt rather than benefit the GenWiki project! For more information, please read:

• English version or generally about copyrights
• German version

Quality

Any image should be at most 100 KByte. And it should never be compressed to such extent that nothing remains visible. In particular, scans of book pages or documents that are illisible are worthless! Sometimes it is easier (and faster) to copy the text by hand into an article rather than to scan and upload an image: a full-text search cannot find text in an image!

Imagename

It would be great if the name of the image followed certain conventions. For more about these, please read: Image names.

Knowledge about the image contents

When uploading an image, you should provide:

• A description:
• A source, and the date of creation:
• Name of the photographer or illustrator:
• Other known versions of this image in the Wiki-Commons:
• Copyright:

Example:

• Description: Cathedral of Colon
• Source, date of creation: 06.04.2006
• Photographer or illustrator: John (Doe)
• Other known versions of this image in Wiki-Commons: none
• Copyright: GenWiki

Copyright „GenWiki“ means that this image is freely available for use (by the author) in GenWiki. Copyright PD (Public Domain) allows the use by anybody anywhere for commercial or non-commercial purposes. More information can be found at: Image Copyright

[edit] Upload

OK, you have resolved all those items; now let us go to uploading! Working in wiki-en, you should follow these steps:

On the left hand side you can see a box "Toolbox" and within it a button "Upload file"; click there, and you will taken to the wiki-commons, our common store for all media files (including images) for all language-dependent installations (wiki-en, wiki-de, wiki-nl ...).

The next step is to log in. Click, at the upper right edge, on „Create an account or log in“!

A log-in screen will appear, where you can fill in your (!) GenWiki user-name and password (valid for all genealogy.net projects !) and click on „Log in“:

You will get the message „Login successful“ and „Return to Special:Upload“. Click on „Special Upload“ or in the „Toolbox“ on „Upload file“:

Now you can start to upload: Click on the button "Durchsuchen" (or probably the English equivalent ;-) ) and find the image file on your own PC's hard disc. Doubleclick or "Open" the file. The file name will appear at „Destination filename“. You may change this name in respect your own or GenWiki´s naming conventions. Please add a „Summary“ after {{subst:Bild}}, or the above-mentioned description data. Then click on "Upload file":

[edit] To conclude

After the uploading of all wanted image files, you return to "your" GenWiki (http://wiki-en.genealogy.net). Here select the article where you want to add the image(s). Choose "Edit". The easiest way to bring your image into the article is by typing:

[[Image:Name_of_the_image.jpg]]

where, of course, you have to type in the real name and correct suffix of your image (rather than "Name_of_the_image.jpg").

There are lots of options for positioning, framing, and the environment. See: Image Options.

Do you need further help?

Please join the mailing list of genealogy.net project members! Here you can ask questions and get ingenious answers!