Steven Universe Wiki:Manual of Style/Files

The Steven Universe Wiki has a specific set of guidelines regarding the standard of its gallery files and how it is used on its articles. It is recommended to be consistent with such to make the wiki's file system up to consistent, high-quality standards relating to the formatting, content, and licensing of such files.

The File Itself
The file itself is what the file is that has been uploaded (for example, an image of Santa Claus, a video of Goku transforming into a Super Saiyan for the first time, and an audio file of someone reading 1984 by George Orwell).

Naming
"I tried looking for an image only to see a bunch of numbers or people using VLC..."

The name of a file should be as clear and descriptive as possible without being excessively long. The style provided here along with this style are examples of good naming conventions.

 Correct :
 * For any image/audio file
 * "Beach City from Hill – S04 EP21.jpeg"
 * "Pearl Crying from Frustration – S02 EP09.ogg"
 * "Steven's Ukulele.svg"
 * "Concept Art of Rose from 'You Can't Hide the Truth!!!'.jpeg"


 * For gallery shoot images
 * "(Episode name) (screenshot number).jpeg/png"

 Incorrect :
 * "Image01.jpeg"
 * "JASON!!!.ogg"
 * "DSC00001.svg"
 * "30996951316264l.jpeg"

This is necessary because it helps to find the image easier through search tools such as Special:Search, the editor's image search, and even external search engines like Google.

Format
"As an audiophile and photophile, I disapprove of the way these formats are improperly misused."

The format for the file must be:


 * For images: An SVG (for simple images usually being scaled), JPG (for photographic/detailed images), or PNG (all-rounder/original quality) for static and GIF for animated.
 * Audio: Ogg with the FLAC codec.

The rest are prohibited for security reasons, and videos are uploaded from trusted domains instead.

Quality and Size

 * Why File Compression is Important for Wikis

"I can't see the image because it is either so large it won't load on my screen or my computer zooms it in to a 5,000x setting just so it can make out one or two stray pixels."

Images are important because they make an article and the wiki pop with visual stimulation so one does not become bored. When this is not possible due to the lack of these resources or if they are misused, it poses a problem.

Images with a large resolution, for example, can sometimes be unnecessarily large and only serves to mimic what a simple  image does: hides the pixels as much as possible when zooming in and maintain the shape of pixels rather than the artifacts. Most wiki users do not have a screen that requires a large resolution, so it is recommended to stick around 1920x1080 for episode shots, around 4000x3000 for character model sprites, and so on, for the sake of convenience.

It is not over when the resolution is perfect. What needs to be done next is the compression of the image's byte size. This can be done with various online tools such as lossless compression provided by JPGMini, PNGGauntlet, and so on. Saving an image into a JPG format also works, and while it reduces the size drastically, it is a lossy compression, which means the quality of the image is lost. It is recommended to have the original image and save it as a JPG with 90% quality for the best compression/quality ratio, and the quality itself will have a difference that is barely noticeable to the original work.

Other methods exist, but that will need to be found on one's own.

File Content
"I swear this color palette looks different from what I had seen on TV."

The purpose of the file's page is to provide information about the file. This can include its origins, modifications, licensing, and its description and/or purpose. The file must contain:


 * Mandatory
 * A brief description (preferably as a sentence fragment) of the file's contents and (historical) background. If scientific, a brief scientific analysis is needed instead of short sentence fragments.
 * Who the author of the file is. If unknown or identified, use the institution that owns or distributes the file.
 * Where the file was acquired and the URL specified. If a book or magazine, see § Blogs, news sources, books and YouTube.
 * A list of every single modification if acted upon.


 * Optional
 * A summary of the additional specifications above (For example, the image/video was taken underwater with a Dolby camera, the image being a puffer fish).
 * Information only the maker knows. For example, self-made media, usually that of a photo or drawing. Such details include what is happening in the photograph or the entire concept and detail of a drawing.

Other information such as the date of publication is optional except one section that is required by the law.

Copyright
"I like this wiki, and I go there to seek information for my ongoing projects. However, to see my material being used there, especially without credit, tells me that there is not much point in making original content if one can profit from others without their consent anyway..."

Without this, every image will have to be erased to avoid legal issues that may arise from copyright holders. There are four types of licenses that are important relating to FANDOM and US law:


 * Fair use
 * Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License
 * Public Domain
 * Self-made

The appropriate templates have been made to ease this process, so all one has to do is understand the image's copyright and decide how to upload it (if at all). If a copyrighted file was upload that disregards the fair use license, then the appropriate actions will be taken. In either case, the wiki encourages one to create their own material and be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (which is done automatically via FANDOM's Terms of Use).

Privacy Rights
"I didn't want to be focused on this much in an image, let alone be recorded where I am supposed to have privacy."

Legally obtained media, especially of individuals, cannot be used if it serves for libelous or ridiculing purposes and if the material was obtained intrusively (such as in private areas such as homes rather than in the streets among people or during a sports game) in the name of decency under Article 12 of the UDHR. If consent is needed but cannot be obtained, modification of the material to preserve anonymity is necessary.

Metadata
Metadata is the comments made within an image. They usually tell what has modified it, which date it was modified or created on, who took the picture, the location the picture was taken, and so on. This information is usually added without one knowing, which can lead to the size of a file increasing or worse, having their privacy violated.

When adding a gallery image, it is recommended not to have the metadata of an image and should be removed prior to uploading. Programs such as PhotoME allow this to be done.

File Usage
"This image looks good here, but I don't know how to put it down."

How a file is used on a page and its given criteria will be detailed here.

Images

 * See MediaWiki's available file parameters to understand how to achieve the below requirements.

If an image makes the page look better how it is placed, then that is all that is needed. However, there are challenges such as an image being aligned to the right of the page by default, resulting in issues like stack-ups or over/undersized images. As a result, there are various syntax configurations linked above that can help fix issues that may arise with different images with these solutions:


 * If images stack to make an awkward set of pictures that generate a blank space the section text cannot fill:
 * add more text where possible
 * alternate the images between left and right
 * center the image
 * put them into a gallery
 * as a last resort, use to force a text break and have them explain the individual images (though how it appears depends on the other user's configurations, so keep it in mind).
 * For panorama images, apply the template so the image can have a scrollbar.


 * Gallery Images
 * See mw:Help:Images for parameters

The gallery must have a simple syntax forming it as long as it makes the images look consistent with each other on the page and wiki-wide. To achieve this, the resolution of the images should be consistent with the page so the wiki can scale the image to have its size consistent with the rest while maintaining its quality.

This only goes for the gallery section. For any other section, the gallery should have a simple syntax forming it as long as it makes the images look consistent with each other on the page and wiki-wide. If other options make the set of images look better (for example, a panorama or "pack"), then the appropriate syntax may be utilized.

Audio

 * Note: Music pages use a YouTube link to embed the music into infoboxes, so these pages are not considered.

Audio on pages is to be used when text cannot describe a subject, no video is available, or if the page is excessively large (to save data). In this case, an audio file can be its placeholder or permanent holder on the page.