[WikiEN-l] Re: Article size consistency 32k

Mon May 23 01:35:49 UTC 2005

John R. Owens wrote:
> 
> I don't know if this might have ever been suggested before already, 
> but perhaps a change in software could allow us to set a maximum 
> image size in our user preferences? Either in width/height, e.g. 
> "always shrink images to less than 200 pixels wide or 150 pixels 
> high, whichever is smaller", or in kB, e.g. "always shrink images to 
> less than 10 kB".

This is absolutely brilliant. I love and support this idea.

Not because I have a slow connection (which I do, but I don't mind), but
rather because I'm getting annoyed when people make images so huge
because they have a 1280x1024 resolution and they think everyone else
must have that too. (I even had one replying back to me saying "Not
everyone has a resolution as low as yours, so please leave the image
this big!")

> And of course, you probably wouldn't want the rule applied to Image: 
> namespace pages.

Yes, you do want it applied to Image:-namespace pages. The actual image
above it is not part of the page. :)

> But then again, you might also end up with weird formatting, when the
> author/editor inserting into a page doesn't know how large the image
> ends up being displayed.

People should learn that formatting is more than just looking at what it 
looks like on *your* screen. Pages must be formatted in such a way that 
they are readable on any resolution (OK, I guess we can assume a minimum 
resolution of 800x600, but not more!). Resizing your window is all it 
takes to check. Once this is done properly, varying sizes of images 
shouldn't have any adverse effect on the formatting.

Of course, if it was entirely up to me, all images and taxo-/infoboxes 
would be one big right-floating element and at the top of the article 
source text. They would form a neat column on the right, with the text 
entirely unaffected. This would solve pretty much all layout issues 
instantly, especially the one with the section edit links. There are a 
few special cases where this doesn't do, and in some circumstances you 
really do want left-floating images, but they can always be handled on a 
case-by-case basis.

Timwi