Forum:Thumbnail size

Please don't specify thumbnail widths

To directly quote from one of the principal IT guys at Memory Alpha:


 * I think this has already been brought up on some talk page, but here it is again, for all to see:


 * There's an option in the preferences (Preferences -> Files) that allows any user to specify a preferred thumbnail size between 120px and 300px. For that option to have an effect, the image link must not specify an image width (as in "...|thumb|right|125px|...").


 * Unless there are very good reasons to specify a size, please don't. It's just annoying for other users with other screen resolutions.
 * "It looks good on my screen" is not a good reason... ;)
 * While editing, watch out for such specifications and remove them while you're at it.


 * Thanks. Cid Highwind 10:12, 24 May 2006 (UTC) source

You read that right. 2006. This is an old bit of "wiki wisdom", but in this case "old" does in fact mean "wise". That's why this has been a part of our policy for a while now, promulgated at T:ICC. However, I've been encountering thumbnail width specifications with greater frequency, and they need to stop — for the benefit of all users.

Rule summary
Just for clarity, file width specifications:
 * are allowed in infoboxes, where they should always and without exception be 250px. (If this makes your infobox pic unbelievably long, or gives it a weird amount of white space, then your infobox pic has not been cropped properly.  Make it a minimum of 300px wide, crop it to a widescreen aspect ratio, and you'll be fine.)
 * are allowed within gallery structures, but galleries are further regulated by T:GAL. (Chiefly, this means that you can't just put your single image within a gallery structure in order to circumvent the "no-width-specification" rule.)
 * are not allowed at any other time.

But you've broken your own rule!
Now, of course you're going to find cases throughout the wiki where this rule hasn't been followed. Hell, there are a number of cases where I myself haven't followed it. It's awfully tempting to put the first pic on the page at 250px, and then have the others be at "normal" width. But you can't do this, because we need to give full control to users over how big their pics will be. If you really want to make that first pic 250px, put it in an infobox.

Infoboxes aren't required on every page. They're often unnecssary. But if you're going to insist upon having the first pic on the page be at 250px, it must be in an infobox.

Finally, please remember that just because you find cases where this rule has been broken, even by admin, the rule is still binding. Read T:IUP ADMIN for more info about that. 21:52: Sat 11 Feb 2012