Commons:Help desk/Archive/2006/08

This Help desk is a forum for questions and help on

How to use the Commons

A-H

Advertising in Commons?!

Template:BB4100 is IMO clear advertising what for an image of the modell and infos about optial zoom and max. megapixels? .. I dont know how you handle it on commons; so i inform you herewith ...Sicherlich ^Post 17:55, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

seems that nobody is here .. hmm okay good to know .. or better bad to know ...Sicherlich ^Post 08:56, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

The editor in question seems to be a respectable contributor, rather than someone with the sole purpose of abusing the system. Have you tried raising the issue directly? (As for it being quiet here, I dunno...maybe the Village Pump is better for this sort of thing?) -- JVinocur 12:26, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Probably it's a little over the top, but I don't consider it an abuse. You can see by "what links here" it's only on 7 images, which I imagine are his. I've seen similar tags before. *shrugs* If he was using it elsewhere, I would remove it, but on his own images, I don't see what harm it does. pfctdayelise (translate?) 09:18, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Arrows

I was wondering if there were any images of arrows. A green up arrow, a red down arrow in particular that I could link to, or would I need to create these by myself. Not hard on paint, but no point having duplicates. Cheers. 155.143.220.8 07:43, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Category:Arrows in general, and Image:Red Arrow Down.svg, Image:Green Arrow Up.svg in particular. User:dbenbenn 08:48, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Article Cities and villages in Macedonia

Hi, I recently wanted to create the category "Cities and villages in Macedonia" but by mistake I created an article (Cities and villages in Macedonia) instead. Could anybody delete it, please? Sorry for the stupid mistake. - Jungpionier 20:52, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Done. To request deletion, use {{db|reason for deletion}} -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 20:56, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Categories and articles

The article Petrol station is missing a lot of pics of the category of the sanme name. Could they be linked from the article page? 83.5.201.122 02:22, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Sure, of course! But don't put ALL the images on the gallery page - just the best or most interesting, informative ones. Also writing a caption is useful to give the reader some context (at least, say the location and maybe company name). pfctdayelise (translate?) 03:52, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Categories/articles and links

Another Q (or two).

1. Could you direct me to a categories vs articles discussion? (Or just tell me.) I'm currently adding my images to both, eg Image:Baobab seeds.jpg to Category:Malvaceae and Baobab.
2. Links in the description. These could be to Wikipedia, for info about the linked term, or Commons, for related pics (again, came up w Baobab image). Is there a policy on this?

My own feeling is that the description should link to more info (WP), and there should be some obvious template place for outgoing links to related pics (WC). It should also be above the licensing and file data, since if I'm a reader I never get past those. Ne?JackyR 17:33, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

There was Commons:Images on normal pages or categories:Vote, but it's pretty out of date. I think the de facto standard is that you can do whatever you want. Personally, I prefer categories.

There's no policy on links. When I upload a picture, I always link to wherever I intend to use it. E.g. I just uploaded Image:Complete bipartite graph K3,3.svg, and I linked to w:Complete bipartite graph at the very top of the description page. User:dbenbenn 18:03, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

For the first Q, I would say you're doing it exactly right. I would always add at least one category to my images because, as I saw someone correctly point out, if your image is removed from the gallery page, then once again it is 'lost' and unfindable (more or less). pfctdayelise (translate?) 22:34, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Categories or Articles? How do I decide?

Can someone point me to usage or WM policy on when categories are preferable to articles and vice versa. I'm fairly clear about WP usages but have no clue what guideline to follow here.Nature Loader 13:11, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

I've had the same problem. Some fairly useful answers above, but there seem to be bigt inconsistencies in practice: much work needed. For the record, I'm a category woman myself. JackyR 20:37, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

The "category and gallery policy" is being described at our Commons:First steps (in fact it is up to now just a strong recommendation). Arnomane 01:30, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

We usually use cats to collect all images of a specific theme and use articles to better display some of them (in galleries, with comments, additional links and so on). --Denniss 06:23, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for all your responses. I've got a reasonable handle on the issue. Regards, Nature Loader 12:12, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

That's an excellent summary, Denniss :) --pfctdayelise (translate?) 23:32, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Category confusion

Does anyone why there are two categories that appear to have the same name, but different contents? Seriously, click the two links:

• Category:‪Molecular biology
• Category:Molecular biology

And more importantly, how do we get Image:Pcr machine.jpg out of the nearly-empty category and into the one with all the other stuff? -- JVinocur 15:31, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

The second one was actually Category:%E2%80%AAMolecular_biology - there seems to be an invisible unicode character at the beginning. I'll delete it. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 17:21, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Category question

I've recently added Image:Contrary Mary cover.jpg but I am not sure what categories might be suitable for it. Any suggestions? AndrewS 19:57, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

If all else fails, Category:Portraits of women. But it would help to know where you are going to use the image - from that, a suitable category can usually be deduced. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 21:00, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Changing filename

Hi! I've a question? The name of an image uploaded cannot be changed? Or an administrator could? also to delete images? only an administrator could? --FrancoGG 00:10, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

To change the name, just upload the image again under the new name, and request the old one for speedy deletion ({{Speedydelete}}) with a link to the new image. For deleting, yes, only administrators can. See Commons:Deletion guidelines. pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:57, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Changing username

Is there a page in Commons to request the above? -- Ianbrown 07:13, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Commons:Changing username. pfctdayelise (translate?) 07:59, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. -- Ianbrown 13:18, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Checking CSS classes

Hi, I want to see the CSS classes that are being referenced by a bunch of different templates. (in particular, the Infobox template on Wikipedia). How can I do that? I'm just learning how to create templates, and it's a bit frustrating not knowing what CSS is available.

thanks!

130.207.106.64 22:00, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

You should ask this on the w:Wikipedia:Help desk. This is the Help desk for the Commons. If you want to ask about images, we can help there. :) pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:37, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

My apologies! Thank you for the redirect. :-)

130.207.106.64 13:41, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

I have users who are complaining that IE does not show updated PowerPoint docs from our mediawiki. In fact it appears that IE is not checking for new. Is there any way to force (like html no-cache)? Or to make a filetype (PPT)? no-cache? Reidmaynard 13:36, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Clarification about image use and licenses

I'm interested in uploading a few images that are cropped, partial panels from a comic. Is this acceptable? After what I've seen used and what I've read, I'm fairly certain it isn't but I wanted to confirm. And if it isn't, is there any rule against cropped bookcovers? What license is applicable for these subjects? Sorry for the dumb questions, but I couldn't seem to find a suitable answer, and I apologize if I've missed something that would've explained it. Honeybiscuit 15:04, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Answer is no. Right license for copyrighted images like bookcovers and comics are {{Fair use}}. See Commons:Licensing for more details. --EugeneZelenko 16:07, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Eugene is right, so for fair use images, you should upload those to your local project if they accept fair-use material (en.wp does). You will probably have to write something like "fair use rationale" for your image as well, although there are a few generic tags - check out w:WP:ICT. pfctdayelise (translate?) 20:31, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Commons Equivalent to "Vorlage:Bildleiste-R2"

Where please do I find that? —Annie IP 20:02, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, what does it do? -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 20:14, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

We have deleted them yesterday in de.wikipedia as they are avoidable complicating the source code, do destroy the connection of the image with the text (an image should always be next to the text it is targeted at), harm the free float of elements dependant from resolution and don't make any sense (apart that they sometimes avoid a Mediwiki bug with the "section edit" flowing inside pictures when tables are around as well - in those cases most times a reduction of tables and intelligent left and right placing of images helps solving the issue). Arnomane 20:54, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Aha. I borrowed the idea from Hilfe:Bilder (where they discribed "how-to", but did not show an example) and thought I might try it on commons, where I feel more at home. I actually hoped it might be about as stable as a gallery-line whilst beeing a row. tx.

What about using tables to display pictures? - should that rather be avoided, too? I mean, I wouldn't be very much interested do use such, being to complicated to overview in my eyes, but they had a nice example. —Annie IP 21:18, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I have as well removed the section describing it in Hilfe:Bilder in de.wikipedia yesterday. Yes images aligned with tables and div environements are a clear no. Formatting of images can be done always (really always) in exactly the same or even superior way with the parameters you can give in the image link or with galleries (formatting of normal text together with images via tables is a different story but should also be used seldom). Arnomane 22:02, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Not that it matters, but there are plenty of times when it's useful to align images with tables. See w:Pawn (chess), for example. User:dbenbenn 22:11, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

@Arnomane: Do you think that Commons:Account anlegen which is set up by using a table might create havoc? (de) Komme ich da in Teufels Waschküche? (/de) Compared to your step-by-step instruction, mine seems by far clearer, easier to follow, I'd say. —Annie IP 06:13, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

copyright

I wish to copy this map on language distribution http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Langs_N.Amer.png#about_sources and see not citation information.

Please advise. Wren 16:47, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

See Image:Langs_N.Amer.png#bibliography for source citation. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 19:07, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Copyright problem

Im new to the commons so this might be the wrong place to bring this up. the image Image:!chretien.jpg was uploaded as a public domain because the uploader found it on a US government website and assumed it had been created by the US government. It is actually Jean Chretien's official portrait from his parliamentary biography [1] which puts it under Canadian Crown Copyright and makes it a fair use images. If this is the wrong place to bring this up please let me know Dowew 03:34, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

If you sure that images is copyrighted, please use Commons:Deletion requests. --EugeneZelenko 15:48, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Copy vio

the User:MSchnitzler2000 uploaded several images and stated GNUFDL when it was fair use on en! I posted several deletion request; but didnt check all images. maybe an Administrator could check the images and speedy deletion fair use ones?! maybe some warning towards the user would be helpfull as well. Thx ...Sicherlich ^Post 23:28, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Here is an overview. Duesentrieb^(?!) 00:26, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

corrupt file in wikibooks?

When I do a search for economic expansion on google, one of the results I get is the file I uploaded to wikibooks a few months ago. See google results below. However, when I click on the provided link, which is [ upload.wikimedia.org/wikibooks/en/6/6c/EconomicExpansion-Cacace-ss1-2a.pdf ] the pdf file starts to load in my browser but hangs before it is done. Adding to the mystery, when I search for "economic expansion" anywhere within the wiki projects my document doesn't show up. I can re-upload the file, but I thought we should figure out what is going on here, lest I make matters worse by uploading a duplicate.

GOOGLE RESULTS: [PDF] Castells is also keenly aware of the disadvantages: that the ... - 4 visits - 8:21amFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat ECONOMIC EXPANSION. IN THE INFORMATION AGE. By. ALBERT JOHN CACACE. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for. the degree of ... upload.wikimedia.org/wikibooks/ en/6/6c/EconomicExpansion-Cacace-ss1-2a.pdf Casey 21:03, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

The file works fine for me under linux (in both, acroread and xpdf). However, I get a warning that the file contains things not supported by my (oldish) acroread. Maybe that is your problem? In any case, try to download the file and open it locally. If that works, the file is not corrupt. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 22:57, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm... Well, my acro is the same version that I created the document in. So, I'll just chalk that up to an anomalie on my PC. But, can you, or anyone, tell me why the document shows up in a google search but not in any wiki searches? I ask this because I would like to see how it shows up in a search and also to send links to others for download and for updates. Casey 19:12, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I withdraw the question. I believe I need to pose this question to the wikibooks area. Thank you for listening. Casey 19:42, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Creating a New Category.

I have been browsing your site and have found a location that does not seem to have been covered previously and I was adding a few pictures but am unaware as to how I might create a category that users may search for. Any help would be appreciated, I apolegize if this is covered somewhere else, I am a rather new user to this site and with the breadth of this site it seems like I could have easily missed this information.

edit: The location in question is Mt. Wakakusa (Mikasayama) in Nara Prefecture, Japan.

Emerson 01:46, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

OK. Starting at Category:Japan, we have Category:Japanese prefectures > Category:Nara prefecture. We also have Category:Geography of Japan > Category:Mountains of Japan but there is no further Category:Mt. Wakakusa (or if there is a better name, use it - I would use whatever the Wikipedia article is called). So you can create it. When you upload a photo (or if you already have, click on "edit" at the image page), simply type in

[[:Category:Mt. Wakakusa]]

Then at the bottom of the image page will be a red link to "Mt. Wakakusa". Follow that red image link. You can write a short description if you want - something similar to Category:Mt. Nantai - but the most important thing is to give it parent categories:

[[Category:Nara prefecture]]
 [[Category:Mountains of Japan]]

+ anything else that might be relevant. Try it out and see how you go. pfctdayelise (translate?) 03:38, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Creator namespace question

How does one go about creating a Creator:yournamehere article? Is there a template for creating them? Thanks! Sparkit 00:43, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Type the new creator you want in the search box- eg: Creator:Fellini. Next fill out the fields listed in Template:Creator. Edit an existing Creator article for examples. My big question is: how does one set of these up in one's own wiki? I get how you set a template and all, but I don't get why a {{Creator:Antonio Canova}} resolves properly when used in an article. Is Creator also a separate namespace? Very confusing but cool Mak 04:49, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know that it is appropriate to create a Creator: thing for yourself. Creator is a namespace unique to Commons, yes. It was set up when we uploaded 10,000 files from Directmedia. You can read about it here: commons-l mailing list post / Commons_talk:10,000_paintings_from_Directmedia#Where_to_put_artist_information.3F / Commons:Village_pump_archive-21#Creator:Alexandre_Benois

You could create a template for yourself to put on your image pages, no one would object to that. For example Template:Fir0002 20D. But personally I would put it in your user space, eg User:Sparkit/myinfo or whatever. Then to transclude it, put {{User:Sparkit/myinfo}}. pfctdayelise (translate?) 05:06, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! I have no present, or projected, desire to create one for myself. I've been categorizing some of the Category:Art images and I've come across cases where a Creator: article/template would be useful. Sparkit 06:30, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I was confused because you said yournamehere. :) Yeah, go ahead and make some! pfctdayelise (translate?) 05:31, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

(del) (rev) - could we expand this?

Would it be possible to expand this to say (delete this version) (revert to this version)? "rev" in particular strikes me as unnecessarily cryptic. pfctdayelise (translate?) 15:54, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, there is an explanation given immediately above, "Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version.". User:dbenbenn 17:46, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Disable the image Upload warning

Is it possible to turn off this Upload Warning:

A file with this name exists already, please check Image:example.jpg if you are not sure if you want to change it.

So the image downloads without the warning?

Thanks for all your help guys.

Signed:Travb 18:38, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, when you upload, tick the box that says "Ignore all warnings".

If you're going to do that, you better be damn sure to give your images good names, though. :) pfctdayelise (translate?) 23:34, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Use that button "Ignore all warnings" at your own risk. Don't be surprised if you get in trouble with somebody because you accidentially did overwrite an heavily used picture. Arnomane 23:44, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

This is probably not the right forum, and I apologize if it is not, but can I disable this in localsettings.php for my own wiki? Travb 21:38, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

You're right, it's not the right forum :) try searching meta:. pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:20, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, I figured the worst I could get was a "no".Travb 04:26, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Double Island Masu near Shantou

Please can anyone tell me anything about this island where I believe one of my husbands forebears a German / Danish Tisewaier / Surveyor is believed to have been buried in 1895. Vistibg Shantou in June so would be grateful for any help. Annette Gunther N.Z. —the preceding unsigned comment is by 202.49.130.24 (talk • contribs) 15:02, February 13, 2006

I think the Double Island you are referring to is also known as w:Wong Wan Chau, part of Hong Kong, is that correct? At any rate, this Help desk is for asking questions about the Commons. This question is more likely to get a better response at the w:Wikipedia:Reference desk. Feel free to ask your question again there. pfctdayelise 08:10, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

e-mail confirmation

Today after logging in I got the message "Because of a change in the settings of this wiki the "E-mail this user"-function does not work anymore if you do not confirm your e-mail adress". However, even after confirmation the message remains.

What can be done about it?

TIA, RickP 13:12, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

You mean the message MediaWiki:Sitenotice? This is always displayed, but usually it is blank. Sometimes they put fundraising announcements there. MediaWiki:Anonnotice is the version non-logged in users get. In en:, they added it to MediaWiki:Watchdetails, so you only see it every time you check your watchlist.

You can in fact make the sitenotice never appear, if it really bugs you. In that case, though, you should definitely add MediaWiki:Sitenotice to your watchlist, in case useful messages are put there. But to remove it forever, add this to your monobook.css file:

/* Remove Unneeded Notices */
#siteNotice { display: none; }

HTH. pfctdayelise (translate?) 14:35, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

This notice is a Wikimedia Commons wide "site notice". It does not change after confirming your mail (as it has no possibility to determine user settings). It is just a normal alert message (the same system like that for the foundraising campaings and the server maintainance info). Arnomane 14:37, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Ah, thanks; I see. On my preferences page indeed it says "Your e-mail address was authenticated ..." RickP 17:51, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Somewhat overstressed, at this time, I notice that after having confirmed my mail-address my "allow mail" is un-checked (=NO). I'm not quite sure about, but I thought I had it checked (to YES) before. Maybe someone can check whether this might be a bug or just my mistake? In latter case, I'd apologize. —WolfgangW. 20:46, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Confirmation really unchecks "E-mail allowed"

Just tested out. May be one should inform public on that wirhin the site notice line. Best, Wolfgang _T.P.B 13:23, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Gaining permission to use an image

Hi, the source of this uploaded image:Image:TJC.jpg is from here [2], which I guess is originally from the Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association (?????????? ).

Their homepage website (in English) is [3]. (I presume)

• I really wish to avoid any copyright violation - However, I am not sure how to contact them in order to gain their permission for using this image in wikimedia commons. Can someone help me contact them [4]? Please? —the preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.118.188.76 (talk • contribs)

You know... it would be a lot easier to find a free image resource, and then look for a suitable image within it, rather than the other way around. :( They have to agree to let the image be used commercially and allow derivative works, are you aware of that? It's not just Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons. I could try and write an email in Chinese asking for permission, that you could send them. But don't you think it would be easier to upload it to local project as fair use??? pfctdayelise (translate?) 14:15, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Request:Can you please try and write an email in Chinese asking them for permission? (Because my Chinese is poor) (User:203.118.188.76)

GNU Images

Hi, im a web site designer and am always looking for public domain images I can use and modify for use in commericial and non commerical websites etc. Does the GNU allow for images to be used in commercial entities? - 202.7.176.131 12:53, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the GNU-FDL (and also CC-by-sa) allows commercial use. By policy, all images on the commons can be used commercially, but please always double check to see if the license claimed does actually apply (ther's often confusion about won fotos of copyrighted objects, etc). Note that images on the commons are under different free licenses, with slightly different requirements. Also note that if you use material under the GNU-FDL in print, you need to print the license text in full, too (the CC licenses do not require that).

Generally, if you use images from the commons, you need to credit the creator(s), cite your source, and name the license. If you create derivative work (modified image, etc), you must release that work under the same license (if you use an image on your website, that does not mean everything on the website must be under the same license - you must make clear, however, what is under which license).

It's always a good idea to read the actual license text before using images, especially commercially. While the legalese is tiering, it is important. Some links: GNU-FDL, CC-by-sa deed CC-by-sa license.

Oh, and disclaimer: i'm not a lawyer, and not an official representative of wikimedia. I'm just trying to explain what those licenses mean, from my personal experience. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 13:46, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

History Day Project by Student

Hello, our names are Sarenna and Chris. We are two 6th grade students and we did a History Day project on Billy Graham. The project was entered in a History Day competition by our teacher. As part of our project we used a picture from your website. We need to get permission to use it. Can you please email us permission or tell us who we need to contact about getting permission. The information from the picture is below. We do not intend to make any money from our school project. Thank you for your help. Our email address is (removed).

Description: Richard Nixon with Billy Graham at a "BIlly Graham Crusade", 05/28/1970 Date: May 28, 1970 Source: National Archives and Records Administration nara.gov ARC identifier: 194319 Photographer: Oliver F. Atkins (1916-1977) License: Public domain

You are referring to Image:Richard-Nixon-and-Billy-Graham.gif. You do not need to get permission to use any of the images on the Wikimedia Commons (all the images here are free to use), and in particular you never need to get permission to use w:public domain images. If you want to credit the image, either as near to the image as possible, or at the bottom of your project, perhaps something like this:

Photographer: Oliver F. Atkins, National Archives and Records Administration. Source: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Richard-Nixon-and-Billy-Graham.gif Image is public domain.

Because this image is public domain, I don't think this is even required, but I'm sure it will keep your teacher happy. Good luck with your project! pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:38, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I removed the email address, and I have emailed them with a link to this page. pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:42, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Hotlinking policy?

Hello, I was wondering what the policy on hotlinking is for the Commons. To put it in a practical sense: is it allowed (and possible) to use include a picture uploaded on Commons in an [IMG] tag on a remotely hosted forum? Ma.rkus.nl 10:52, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

It is possible. But... I don't know too many websites that encourage hotlinking. I think it's safe to assume that it's not a practice Wikimedia would encourage. (Anyone correct me here if I'm wrong.) Why don't you use a service like http://tinypic.com/ and in your forum post, link to the Commons page and/or note the license and author? pfctdayelise (translate?) 11:17, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Hotlinking and leeching will get your IP blocked from reading anything from wikimedia servers, if you generate enough traffic to be noticed. In any case, it's not nice, people will hate you for it. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 12:12, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

How do I add a licence tag to an already uploaded image...?

How do I add a licence tag to an already uploaded image...?

You can edit the description page of an image just like any other page on a wiki: click the "edit" tab at the top of the page. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 10:03, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

How to edit an image manually?

Hello, I would like to fix the distortion and colour bias in an image. I suppose Edit this file using an external application is the way to go, but I can't get the helper application to work (I keep getting "libgobject-2.0-0.dll not found").
So what would be the best way to do this manually?--Wikipeder 10:23, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I think you need to download the image separately (click on the file name just below where the file appears in its image page), and open it in an image editing software program. There is some information about open source image editing programs at Commons:Software. What you use might depend on what image format you are working with.

After you've edited the image, you can upload the new version directly over the old. There's a link to do this on the image page. Your account has to be > 4 days old. pfctdayelise (translate?) 10:37, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I-M

I want to know the amount of foreign aid to SAARC countries

—the preceding unsigned comment is by 203.112.196.85 (talk • contribs)

Perhaps you should try asking at the Wikipedia Reference desk. pfctdayelise (translate?) 14:02, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

IE and Images

Why when I see Wikimedia Commons with Internet Explorer 6 SP2, i can't see a lot of images?, like the logo of Wikimedia Commons, the image "Is a Wikimedia Proyect", the image "Powered by MediaWiki" and sometimes images in general? With Mozilla Firefox and Opera, i can see all pictures. --Alexan (♦♦♦♦) 19:52, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

This is going to be simplistic...but... this sounds like the problem is with your Internet Explorer! Maybe this site is set to not be allowed. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 22:07, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes you can see images and sometimes you can't? We kinda need more information to be able to help... pfctdayelise (translate?) 03:29, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Image:Earthlights dmsp.jpg display bug

Are there more people who see today's image of the day as a black rectangle ONLY? I've set my display sizes to mimimum and I use firefox. Just to let u know. —Annie IP 14:08, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

image not working in regular view

This image Image:World War 2.gif does not work in regular view or as a thumbnail, however the high resolution still works. Is there any way to fix this? I had thought there would be problems with such a large filesize animated gif (1.7mb), I wouldnt normally make them that large but because I was asked to make a month by month version of a previous image. Astrokey44 11:06, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Hm. It is quite likely a problem with our image rendering. The only thing I could find was bugzilla:3083. Maybe we will find out soon if that's the problem or not. pfctdayelise (translate?) 11:34, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

There's a memory limit on image rendering - scaling a large animated gif probably takes to much RAM. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 13:09, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

ok, thanks for your help Astrokey44 01:32, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

image without tags

While trying to upload my first image it was uploaded before I was able to enter all the required information. Can you please remove Image:Montauk Point Lighthouse.jpg and keep Image:Montauk Point Lighthouse with licence.jpg (or rename the latter complete one appropriately)?

At the top of each image page is an "edit" tab. You can click this to add or change licensing and summary information. It's not required to add all the information at the same time as you upload the image. I copied the licensing info to Image:Montauk Point Lighthouse.jpg and deleted the other one (since this one has a better name). --pfctdayelise (translate?) 01:13, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Images uploaded by User:Cardshark04

User:Cardshark04 has uploaded images from http://www.richwoodstrack.com/Olympics/1956melbourne.htm and other pages within that site. I am pretty certain the ones from the 1956 Olympics are unfree - there is no indication on the originating website that they are free, or even what their source is. Under Australian public domian rules, images would only be free if the date before 1955. I suspect administrator action would be more effective to roll back these uploads. Thanks--AYArktos 23:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Please use Commons:Deletion requests for such requests in future. --EugeneZelenko 15:31, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Interwiki prefix reference from "External" wikis?

I have installed the wiki software on my site and want to make use of images in commons. I know how I do it in wikipedia, but what do I type from such "external" wikis? eg is there some use of the interwiki map that works: [[Image:Commons:tour_eiffel.jpg]]? If not, is there some long and ugly URL way of referencing the image? Mak 06:04, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

No. What you're trying to do is known as hotlinking or bandwidth theft. If you want to use an image from the Commons, you should download it and upload it directly to your local wiki. User:dbenbenn 08:22, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm. If I was interested in bandwidth theft, I could simply enter the ugly http- like

img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Canova-Hebe_45_degree_view_detail.jpg" and so on.
But yeah- I understand the concern about bandwidth theft, and we have no problem if there is no support for what I was asking about. In the interests of sharing images and propagating connectivity of knowlege, it was my intention to encourage our users to upload images of general interest (eg nature photos of hawaii) to commons in the same way that wikepedians do. These images represent no more than 10% of our stocks- most are of little or no interest to a broader community. This would allow our users to benefit from any further annotations made of those images, and following of links to other articles which used them.

OK, we can certainly do this the "information isolationist" way and just do copies. However I have noted there is some notations like "this article is a version of [fill in a help article on meta.wikimedia here]", and wondered if there is some real versioning features that we could alternately make use of? That is, is some way to inherit attributes from a "Versioned" image in commons? This might not be any full on versioning, but something that functionally achieves the benefits. EG- say we have an image "mauna-kea-erupting.jpg". We keep and use the local copy on our wiki but upload the same to commons, and leave some marker that indicates their relationship. Now same some volcano expert notices the photo on commons and annotates it with information as to the type of lava "aha" that is very apparent in the foreground. Now, it would be nice if contributors to commons from external wikis could benefit from this information enrichment in the same way that wikipedia and wikiquote project do. For example if there was some way of doing an automated download so that we could benefit from such additions. See what I am getting at? I guess what I am describing is a process whereby commons forces everyone to keep a local cache of images (to address the understandible problem of bandwidth theft), while not forcing a severing of ties between the information objects. Is there some jetpack/ Ted Nelson way of doing this or are we not there yet? Certainly I can recommend folks do hard coded links (eg- we go to the trouble of putting in a hard coded link to the commons version that we uploaded?) My guess is most of my folks won't bother to do either unless there is some way for me to make it easy for them to share data with commons- which is a shame- but I understand and can sympathize with the bandwidth theft problem.
Regards, Mak 02:01, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Interface translation

Hi! Where can I set the help desk and village pump links in the navigation box of Slovenian interface to point on a page in Slovenian or remove them? Currently I would like to set village pump to point to Commons:Pod lipo. Thanks. --Eleassar ^{my talk} 16:19, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

It's through MediaWiki:Village_pump-url/sl. It's updated. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 16:40, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Is there a reason or policy to disallow RTF

within wiki projects? I suppose, rather yes, but I do not get an answer on Commons:Forum since (WolfgangW. 01:25, 8 March 2006 (UTC)). I get silly flames instead. What, please, is t.h.a.t terribly wrong about such question? —Annie IP 12:02, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

To be more precise: I did learn that proprietary formats are not welcome, ACK; GIF, for instance, is such, and is accepted for as long as there's nothing better in ceratin cases. Isn't PDF either?
(a) I mean, is there any reason to flame a newbie on such question, whilst giving no answer during 3 days - an eternity in terms of communication?
(b) By what non-proprietary format should RTF, which can be handled by most editing programs, including (huuu!) MS Word, be replaced? I do use bloody MS.W... and would like to be able to read +write stuff wiki allows. For some purposes, as: easily handling formatted text within a table, on translation purposes (including any exotic fonts), wiki-text would not be a manageable option. Of course, I can email such documents for a few intended translations, but I feel there should (or even might) be some "corner" of wiki where such could be exchanged anonymously, too. —Annie IP 17:01, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

There are a lot of free file formats that are not accepted at Commons. We simply don't need RTF as it is a plain text document format. We have our own plain text format which is our wiki syntax. We also don't need RTF for translations and we don't need to use fancy fonts inside a wiki. Which exotic characters your browser is able to display is only dependant from your computers font settings. One of the key lessons in a wiki is: Be carfully with text highlighting. Not that much the visual appearance but the content itself is important. Tables e.g. should be used only seldom (and they are also not that easy in wiki syntax). For sure there are things a document is better than wiki. For example in case of a spreadsheet which you use for larger datasets. So you can upload spreadsheets in OpenOffice 1 format in Wikimedia Commons at the moment (Probably OpenOffice2 spreadsheets will be allowed too). Arnomane 18:15, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, as I see it its not "plain", but "rich" text, allowing to embed fonts, amongst others. Whether asian, arab, hindi fonts might be "fancy" or not, I will not discuss here. It's not about highlighting, in this case (I do know _you_DO_know me ;))) It's about the practical management or rather almost-impossibility to, with reasonable expense, put one sentence given in one language beneath its translation into languages using completely different fonts (Russian vs. Chinese, I mean), and comparing those, within_same_document, to EN, FR, DE, IT, arab languages. was I _now_ clear enough? —Annie IP 18:43, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

One mor question: Can word (which is used by lots of people) write "open office", or how would I manage to transcribe a Word- or RTF document into OpenOffice? I mention, once more, it contains a table, formatted by different languages fonts, say: Russian, Arab, Chinese. tx, —Annie IP 18:50, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Word can't write OpenOffice format. But OpenOffice can read Word format. You'll probably have to adjust the layout a bit, though. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 18:56, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

TX, —Annie IP 04:38, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Is there some way...

1. to display a "commons" image in the the local wiki although the local one has an imge with the same name? If not, it would be a "nice to have".

   I think this is question of MediaWiki software setup. http://bugs.wikimedia.org is best place to request such feature. --EugeneZelenko 15:48, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Tx for the info. However, just having had a look over there, I feel somewhat overwhelmed by obvious lack of "How-To" ask the correct way. Would _you_ mind asking that little question there for me? And just give the link here, where later I can read what comes out (i.e. "Bugzilla:39560" or similar? BIG TX, —Annie IP 16:35, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

This is a known bug. bugzilla:2717. Making a comment is allegedly more worthwhile than voting, but we encourage both! (requires login) pfctdayelise (translate?) 10:20, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

1. to have a PDF from commons "self-opening" in eg firefox? PDFs found by google would start my Acrobat plugin, can same be done for wikimedia-PDFs? if not, one more "nice to have". tx, —Annie IP 11:48, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

just click the link to the file on the description page. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 18:57, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Beloved Daniel, I thaught I mentioned, that, by doing such extra click, I would display my desired PDF, if such would come from wiki. I thaught that I also mentioned that within horribile-dictu-MS-Space, similar www.PDF would open W.I.T.H.O.U.T extra tickling by being extra-clicked. Love, —Annie IP 04:35, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

You can link directly to a media file with [[Media:Foo.pdf]], instead of [[Image:Foo.pdf]], which merely links to the image description page. Perhaps that is what you are thinking of. User:dbenbenn 20:55, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, tx, that was it! —Annie IP 21:54, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Kalahari

Kalahari: I think this article would be better as a category, if it could be a sub-category of Namibia, Botswana and desert. Don't know how, not going to learn (life too short, too much to do on WP). Anyone keen? JackyR 20:02, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Good idea to add all Kalahari-elated images into category and best of them to article. Kalahari should be main article in Category:Kalahari. Category:Kalahari should be included in Namibia, Botswana and desert categories.

See Commons:Village pump archive-21#Category or article with gallery?.

EugeneZelenko 15:44, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Keep getting "picture doesn't exist" from commons links..

I am newbie wiki developer who is trying to link pictures from wiki commons but with no success. When i first started it worked fine but then it suddenly stopped working. If i link to a picture from wiki commons now it just shows a link to the picture instead of the picture itself, and when i clilck on that link it tells me that the picture deson't exist. I am however able to link to pictures I upload to my site. My site is in danish and can be found at Specialsiden

using images on your website (mediawiki or not) directly from the commons server is considered bandwidth leaching. I.e. people will hate you for doing it, and it may even get your IP blocked. This means you shouldn't use images from the commons without copying them to your own webspace.

Have a look at meta:InstantCommons for a proposal that would make it much easier for external wikis (like yours) to use commons material. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 14:44, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

linking to de_wiki

Hi,

How do I make a link to de_wiki. I understand that [[w:...]] will link to en_wiki. I tried d:w: w:d: w:de: ..... none worked. Thanks Schizoschaf 08:40, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

de:FOO. User:dbenbenn 09:52, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[[w:de:Foo]] == w:de:Foo actually works, although it looks like it doesn't. It's not necessary to put the "w" (for wikipedia) as it assumes wikipedia by default. So the super-correct version would be [[:de:w:Foo]]. Note the "leading colon" (:). If you leave it out, it creates an interwiki link that appears in the left-hand menu, as opposed to a link within the text. pfctdayelise (translate?) 10:16, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Actually, neither w:de:Foo nor de:w:Foo is quite correct. Inspect the actual URLs that are produced by the two links at the beginning of this sentence. The first links to a page called "de:Foo" on the English Wikipedia, and the second links to a page called "w:Foo" on the German Wikipedia. Only de:Foo makes a completely-correct URL. (The fact that the other two forms also work is a hack in MediaWiki.) User:dbenbenn 11:56, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

But in general, the pattern is languagecode:projectname:articlename, correct? It's just that wikipedia is the default? How do you generate a "correct" link to, say, wikinews? I just tried a bunch of permutations and couldn't get it to work. pfctdayelise (translate?) 12:55, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

wikinews:de:Hauptseite, n:de:Hauptseite, de:n:Hauptseite all work, de:wikinews:Hauptseite does not, for some reason. I would prefer the first variant, i.e. project:language:page. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 13:03, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

They all "work" but they are not all "completely-correct" (as dbenbenn said). When you mouseover the links, you can see they'll be weird things like en.wikinews.org/de:Hauptsiete -- but when you click through it works fine. pfctdayelise (translate?) 13:19, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[[:de:Artikel]] that looks like de:Artikel is the shortest form for de-Wikipedia links. In order to have it looking pleasant use [[:de:Artikel|Artikel]], that gives Artikel. Arnomane 11:38, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your answers. --Schizoschaf 09:44, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

media and pedia

I recently wrote an article (now up for deletion cause I put it in the wrong category and had put in a personal link ((now deleted)), BUT my question which could apply to other pedia articles, I uplaoded a photo to wikimedea of the Presidents House at the University of Toronto, but when I linked it to the Wikipedia article it was a totally different photograph. How do I correctly link from one wiki to the other or do I have to upload the same photo in wikipedia?? WayneRay 12:57, 25 April 2006 (UTC)WayneRay

If you upload a picture at the Commons (here), you can use it on any Wikimedia project including Wikipedia. The only exception is if there's an image uploaded locally at that project with the exact same name. If there is, the software will automatically use the local image and you will be unable to access the Commons image. Currently there is no way around this besides renaming one of the image (ie, uploading again under a different name). Hope this helps, pfctdayelise (translate?) 13:12, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Money

Can I upload pictures of my country's currency? 203.214.60.234 10:02, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

That depends on your country. Ask your national bank for copyright and usage policy of their bank notes. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 16:33, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Moving an image to a new filename

Hi, I just uploaded an image (Image:CIMG0014.jpg) erroneously under its original (non-descriptive) filename. Is there a way I can move it to a better file name? Or do I have to as an admin to do it? Or mark for deletion and re-upload? -- Marcika 00:34, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Images can not be renamed, you have to re-upload it under the new name. If you do, please put {{db|bad name, now under [[Image:better-image-name.jpg]]}} on the description page of Image:CIMG0014.JPG (note upper-case JPG!). -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 01:22, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Moving Image

Hi. I am very active on Wikipedia, and while on the Amazing Race 9 page I noticed the map was outdated, so I created an account on commons, put the picture on my paint program and updated it. When I uploaded it, I wanted to save over the old one since it was outdated. However, it said I was to new, and to ask someone at the help desk to do it. So, can someone move Image:800px-Amazing_race_9_map.png to Image:Amazing race 9 map.PNG Thanks. TeckWiz 13:39, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

You seem to have done the update on an 800 pixel wide thumbnail, instead of the higher resolution map available from the description page. Image editing is best done as losslessly as possible. Could you please do the modifications again using the original file? --Para 14:36, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

moving images from wikipedia to commons

Hi All Hope there's an easy solution I have about 15 images currently on en.wiki and would like to move them across to commons is this possible and how thanks Gnangarra 15:38, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

You have to download them to your computer, and re-upload them here.

When you do that, please make sure to copy all information from EN. Include the name of the person who originally uploaded to EN. And if any image has multiple revisions in the "File history" section, please copy all of the revisions. Finally, make sure to tag the images on EN with {{NCT}}. User:dbenbenn 17:14, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

thanks Gnangarra 00:26, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Better than that, use the Commons Helper! It will make copying the information easy. But if they're YOUR images and no one has uploaded any edited versions, I would suggest copying the information directly from en is overkill. Just upload them here as if you'd done that in the first place. pfctdayelise (translate?) 02:41, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

mp3's

hi i was hoping to add an Mp3 file to a page that i am creating on wikipedia. is that possible? i'm not sure how to do it. it looks like on wikipedia it says that the file type is no good and that oyou could load it onto wikimeida commons but then i don't knwo how to do that or how i would access the file form the other page. can you help me ? j.nickles@hollyhunt.com —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Johnnickles29 (talk • contribs) 15:04, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Read Meta's article on Multimedia: here. It provides a lot of information on the Trouble with Multimedia. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 17:03, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

The short answer is you have to convert your mp3 to w:Ogg Vorbis. On Linux you can do that by using mpg321 (to decode the mp3) combined with oggenc (which is available in the vorbis-tools package) to re-encode. User:dbenbenn 21:27, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Multiple login for different languages?

Do i have to create different login account for each of the wikipedia sites? i.e. spanish v/s english versiones? english v/s commons, etc???

Is there any way to enable some sort of single-sing-on between the sites? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gvasquez (talk • contribs) at 13:35, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Sadly it is not possible up to now. You have to create for every local wiki an own login. This issue is however beeing worked on and MediaWiki lead developers (see Wikimedia Foundation page) said that it will be possible within the next month. Well we will see. ;-) So don't wait for single-login (it will merge the current acounts anyway) and join Commons now. Have fun. :-) Arnomane 13:46, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

See also bugzilla:57 for technical details -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 14:19, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

N-S

Names for more version of one file

Does it exist some recommended way of choosing names for a file, when we (or somebody other) will publish more version of one (ex. several photographies of one building)? It is certain better to do it unifiedly. 13:22, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I would just call them all something like Building name - from front, Building name - from side etc, or maybe Building name (1/x), (2/x) etc. The names are not as important as linking from one to the other, so that if someone stumbles across one, they can easily find the others. pfctdayelise (translate?) 12:38, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Right - the only thing i could suggest is that all names should start the same, and have something about the "version" at the end. Since "versions" can differ in many ways, I see no point in a general rule (like numbers or something). Simply use something descriptive, like "front", "at night", "cropped", etc. And link to the other versions from the description page. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 12:53, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Newbie: check my work?

Hi, I've just swallowed my fear and put some pics up on Commons (they won't win awards, but are there for editorial content). Could someone check over my first three pics and infopages, listed here, and let me know if I'm doing it right - esp. licensing and categorising – and advise on how to bring the file sizes down? Much appreciated, JackyR 00:37, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Perfect! :) Good names, using template:information and categories... what more could we ask?! :)

Just a tip - when adding a category, use [[square brackets]] not {{curly brackets}}. Curly brackets are for when you want to transclude a template or other page (force it to show its content on your page as well).

Also, if you want, you can add them to Category:Photos by JackyR (or whatever other name you want to use), and make that category a subcategory of Category:User galleries. To link to an image's description page, instead of actually displaying the image, insert a leading colon (:) like this:

[[:Image:Example.jpg]] --> Image:Example.jpg.

HTH, pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:46, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Aha. Many thanks :-) JackyR 01:22, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

New version of image not uploading?!

I just uploaded a new version of Image:Gamewatch mariobros closed.JPG using Mozilla Firefox and the old version still displays. I've tried twice, and made sure that the file I was selecting for upload was the new version and I was bypassing my browser's cache. I've also allowed several minutes for the server to refresh. What's going on here?! Seahen 22:26, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

The first image you uploaded is the lighter version, your second upload is the old version again. Just revert to your earlier version if you like (you can do that on the image description page using the small (rev) link). If you still see the old version on the descrition page, make sure to bypass your browser's cache. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 22:52, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

New user feedback request (and questions)

I went out in the sunshine today and took a bunch of images to help with Wikipedia:Requested pictures, and decided to join the Commons to make them more widely usable. I uploaded them with the Commonist and put them in Category:User:JVinocur.

1. I'd love some feedback on whatever anyone thinks is worth mentioning.
2. I clearly have a little trouble with rotated images. I'm using Mac OS X, and I had rotated my images using Preview.app. However, I'm now discovering, this rotation via EXIF info does not work universally. Once the four-day waiting period expires, is there some tool to fix these quickly? (It seems like there must be a better way than re-uploading them one at a time, but I just read a bunch of help pages and can't find anything.)
3. Any ideas why my gallery screams no license tag! even though the licenses I added (via Commonist) show up fine on the individual image pages? Should I be picking a license via the drop-down menu in Commonist and adding one manually?

Thanks! -- JVinocur 02:13, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Try Gimp I have found its got all the necessary features plus loads more and its free for non commercial use Gnangarra 02:27, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Oh, I have a variety of photo-manipulation tools. But doing this task by hand (downloading an existing image, figuring out which way to rotate it, and reuploading it) would probably take a minute per image, which is awfully inefficient for any more than a few images. So I'm speculating that the gurus must have some trick for doing it more quickly. -- JVinocur 02:48, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Regarding "whatever anyone thinks is worth mentioning" - what do you mean exactly?

Nothing in particular -- just that it's my first contribution and I'm sure there are things I could do better next time...but someone would have to point them out.. -- JVinocur 05:55, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

The licenses are fine - if you change them now or not it's up to you, but I would at least tweak your method for future uploads - they're not showing up because they're inside Template:Information. I changed one and it's fine now. I think it's a good idea to always mention the licenses by name, anyway. If something happens to the template all the reader will be left with is a rather cryptic line saying {{self2|GFDL|cc-by-2.5}}. OK, not that cryptic to us, who are familiar with the abbreviations... but I don't think it hurts. pfctdayelise (translate?) 03:54, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

That one looks good, thanks. But how do I get Commonist to do that? -- JVinocur 05:55, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

I have never used Commonist so I can't answer that one, sorry. pfctdayelise (translate?) 06:53, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

First of all, thanks for contributing!

1. all seems fine on first glance - you even properly categorized your images, which many new users fail to do :)
2. EXIF-rotation is indeed quite unreliable. Look for a lossless rotation tool for MacOS, there should be some out there. I personally use jpegtran and ImageMagick, which are free software - but they do not have a graphical interface, and are somtimes a bit cryptic to use. Also, I'm not sure there is a mac version, those tools come from the Linux world. But since MacOS-X is POSIX-compatible, I would guess they also exist for the Mac. (Side note: The Gimp is free software, too - it's free to use, distribute and modify for any purpose. No idea where Gnangarra got the "non-commercial" thing).
3. The reason that the locense tags are not recognized by the Gallery tool is that they are nested into {{Information}}. Generally, the license tag should be below the information template, the "permissios" field is for pointing to a permission given by a third party, like the license staement of a website you copy images from, etc. For your own work, you can leave it blank, put "own work" there, or the plain name of the license(s) you choose. Anyway, I'll look into fixing the Gallery tool to be less strict about this :) As to using Commonist... I have never used it, so I don't really know, but I expect it shouldn't be hard to make it insert two templates one after the other, instead of one inside the other.

Cheers -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 09:32, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

1. Awesome, thanks.
2. Okay, so there are some tools for OS X. I still think there ought to be a really fast and easy way to rotate images that are already uploaded, though.
3. I just posted a patch for Commonist to fix this problem (see Commons talk:Tools/Commonist#Nested licensing templates). Let me know if you like the results.

-- JVinocur 03:43, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

No big problem, but awkward

Hi, folks: I'm using Commons for the German Wikipedia and have two questions: 1) Although I did link German Wiki-articles to the files I uploaded, those links aren't shown in the file information ("Links: There are no pages that link to this file."). I thought that info would be like ... trans-Wiki? Actually, some of my pictures are not bad. I'd really like to know in which articles they get to be used. 2) If I click on these Commons-images in the German articles, I'll get them massively oversized at first. That's quite messy if you do that in order to enjoy them out of context. You first have to scroll down and click on the image's name on the lower left side in order to get it reasonably sized. And you have to figure that out first. Not the end of the world, but awkward for non-Commoners. It wouldn't happen if I'd left my images inside the German Wiki. Have I done something wrong? Example for 1) *and* 2): click on w:de:Naga (Mythologie), then on the image (Naga Cult Kanchipuram.jpg); see yourselves. :-) -- Kavaiyan <°)))o>< 08:56, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately the regular "what links here" is only within Commons. Fortunately, we have great people who have written programs to show us the usage over all the projects. :D This link will show you all the pages that it is used in: http://tools.wikimedia.de/~daniel/WikiSense/CheckUsage.php?i=Naga_Cult_Kanchipuram.jpg&w=_100000 Admins have a tab for this (called "CheckUsage") for all images here automatically; regular users can easily install the tabs by following the instructions at Commons:Tool integration.

For #2, I am not sure what you mean. Clicking on the image's name underneath the image gives you the full file, so I don't know how it's smaller... the image on its image description page is quite big, it's true. But I think that's just a coincidence of its dimensions (it is fairly 'square'). pfctdayelise (translate?) 10:56, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Please put your images on gallery pages and/or into categories on the commons, so they can be found and used by people looking for images here. Aus to the "oversized" problem: the images in 800x579 pixel on the description page, matching the default. If that's too big for you, you can change it in your user preferences. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 12:11, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! In short: CheckUsage-tool works nicely; but even by changing my preferences I couldn't get by the oversize problem. I'd love to put them on the gallery pages, have just now figured out how to do it. Probably half of the problem is that I'm newb, and the other half is maybe in my browser (Firefox 1.5.0.1)...? -- Kavaiyan <°)))o>< 12:57, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Does the problem at de:Bild:Naga Cult Kanchipuram.jpg go away if you log out? It might have something to do with your preferences (try the fourth tab there). User:dbenbenn 13:04, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

No, sadly not - even when reloading, and logging out&in-again, etc. Whenever I enter Commons from another Wiki by way of an image link, the image won't be fitted to the screen but have its full 1720x2288 pixels. Only after clicking on the full resolution link (bottom left) it'll be fitted to the screen. Which is exxxeedingly strange. But as it's not my life's happiness, let's forget about it. Still thanks for the follow-up! -- Kavaiyan <°)))o>< 14:44, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

No Text in Page?

I just edited User:Huitzlipochtli III./First Steps for Annie IP and got, when saving, the message

"There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages or edit this page. It is possible it once existed but was deleted. Check for Huitzlipochtli III./First Steps for Annie IP in the deletion log" When checking, no result is found. What's this? —Annie IP 19:59, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Probably problems on server. Try to reload the page. --EugeneZelenko 20:04, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, problem is still the same. Might it possibly have to do something with me adding a videofile to a little gallerie? The preview seemed ok, and when trying to save, ... see above. —Annie IP 21:25, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

No, I meanwhile opened another page with same content, it works. Will have quickied the duplicate as soon as Original shows up again. —Annie IP 21:53, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

The page is there, and has been since you saved it. You don't see it because you haven't downloaded it. You haven't downloaded it because your browser has the pages stored in its cache. Try holding Shift and clicking on Reload. User:dbenbenn 22:15, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I did reload the page for surely half a dozen times during 1,5hrs - so, THAT was not it. Annie One knows that without reload you often keep old stuff. I came to that "is no text"... thing from wherever I could address the page, I found its historiy which I opened, but failed to save (I tried to revert last minor edit to see whether my bug might come from there). Just to let you know. —Annie IP 06:04, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Note that simply clicking on reload without holding Shift will have no effect. User:dbenbenn 10:11, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Non-commercial licensing

Is this a suitable license for Wikimedia Commons, here? If so, what tag do I use? --• Thorpe • 16:21, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

No, it is not. By policy, commercial use and derivative work must be allowd - see Commons:Licensing. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 16:41, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

{{Nowsvg}}?

Two questions:

1. I would like to upload some of my images from enwiki to here in svg format. They are currently PNGs. I figure I can just do that without needing to worry over GFDL attribution histories, especially given the different extension in the filename?
2. Some of my images have already made their way here as PNGs and I'd like to replace them with SVGs. I figure Commons doesn't just delete 'obsoleted' images since they may be in use in Wikis, but is there a tag such as {{Nowsvg}} to tell people there's an SVG version of this image available, or is there some other procedure that is normally the way to do things?

It'd be great if whoever responds could ping w:User talk:Splash so that I know to come back here and look. Thanks. -Splash 23:00, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Well...for #2 there is no clear policy on this. At the moment PNGs are being marked with {{Redundant}} (despite the wording, the PNGs should not be deleted). You could just handwrite, "Note: an SVG version of this image is available at Image:Foo.jpg." pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:32, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Take a look to {{Vector version available}}. --EugeneZelenko 00:47, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

That's much better. So PNGs marked {{Redundant}} should more properly be marked with this, correct? pfctdayelise (translate?) 01:11, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Excellent, thank you. (And thanks Pfctdayelise for the ping, too.) -Splash 01:21, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Old Faithful

what is the average tnterval between eruptions?what is the interval beteen eruptions of old faithful geyser? —the preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.141.89.245 (talk • contribs) 12:23, February 15, 2006

Try w:Wikipedia:Reference desk. Or just read w:Old Faithful Geyser. pfctdayelise (translate?) 02:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

On irregular filenames

I today tried to name a file Image:Annie IP's joke -2- wikiWölfchens Späßchen.png i.e. by using non recommended non-ASCII characters. I see that, although I set my preferences to English, the name reads as I wrote it, and the file loads. Will thre be problems for some other language settings? —Annie IP 14:20, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

There's no problem with other language settings, the problems are at the user end: if the file system on your computer does not use UTF-8, the filename may get garbeled when you try to download the image; Also, such "special" characters may not be on the keyboard of people trying to use the image, file names may look strange in the browser if the fon misses some characters (sanscrit anyone?), etc. MediaWiki can handle full UTF-8 in filenames (as long as the file system of the server can cope with it). But not all users can. That's the reason it's not recommended. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 18:52, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Please don't use the Commons for tests of this sort. If you want to test out the features of MediaWiki, you can use test.wikipedia.org. User:dbenbenn 20:15, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Won't do such any more, —Annie IP 04:39, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Admittedly, German "Bildertutorial" did not mention such before I did, and on similar was flamed for R.r.e.v.o.l.u.t.io.n.n.a.r.y edits. ;))

page renders weirdly in IE6

I just logged into the Commons in IE to check something, and I noticed that after I logged in, the top line that says 'pfctdayelise my talk preferences ..." suddenly "jumped" to the left and was half-hidden behind the logo. (I use the Monobook skin) Logging into en.wp didn't cause this problem. Is our CSS missing something? It's a pretty ugly error. pfctdayelise (translate?) 12:25, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

I have a very similar problem too with w:Konqueror since some days. The same tabs jump ocasionally to the left above each other and create wired redraw problems. Don't know what's happening there. Arnomane 23:02, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

I have tried to catch the bug I can only say what it is not:

• It is not caused by our Javascripts (happens also with deactivated scripting)
• It is not caused by our Customizations of MediaWiki:Common.css and MediaWiki:Monobook.css (have reseted them to Mediawiki default during a test)
• It only happens with Monobook skin.
• it must be a hover bug of IE (it only happens if you directly move the mouse over the box that inherits the li-element that itself inherits the link). The relevant code snipet can be found inside the div with the label id="p-personal".
• It only happens at first in Wikimedia Commons. After it happened on Commons you can reproduce it as well in Wikipedia until you reload your browser cache. Wikimedia Commons and all Wikipedias have the same software version and revision, see Special:Version.
• It does not happen with IE7-Beta (although this browser still has a transparency bug there, good morning Microsoft).

After many hours of testing I now can only say that I don't know what to do and why it is happening in Commons only. Arnomane 11:29, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Have added it in MediaWiki bugzilla now, see http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5907. Arnomane 10:15, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Ah we weren't the first ones... This bug did happen in several other wikis one year ago... See http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2134. Arnomane 10:27, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Picture upload

Hi,

I'm working on an article for the german Wikipedia (about the city Kempen). So I had to upload some pictures to commons.

Now I realize that two of them are wrong (the first one isn't rotated, the second one had a transfer error.

Please give me the right to upload them again, I don't want to wait several days because I want to do the work right now.

Thanks Philipp --Cletus 08:30, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

I did take a look at your upload gallery. [5]. I have deleted the broken File:Petersturm Kempen.JPG so you can upload it again. I rotated your Image:Kempen_Kuhtor.JPG so you don't need to upload it on your own. Please consider changing the license to a dual license with both {{Cc-by-sa-2.5,2.0,1.0}} and {{GFDL}} as GPL does not really fit to documents. See as well Commons:First steps and Commons:Licensing for details. Have fun, Arnomane 10:47, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

P.S.: It is beyond our power to give you the overwrite rights earlier so I needed to do it that way. Please also add the images to the right category/gallery (see Commons:First steps how doing so). Arnomane 10:54, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

To clarify: new users are blocked from overwriting files for the first four days, to make vandalism more difficult. This also applies to your own uploads - see bugzilla:5057 for a request to change that. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 11:03, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Picture vanishes

Hi, I've uploaded a small picture (Image:NoDateLinks.png, see Image:NoDateLinks.png). After a while (15 mins or so) the picture vanished (although its page still exists). I uploaded it again, and again it's gone within an hour. Any ideas why? -- H005 00:21, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Hm. The log shows that no one has deleted it, just your four uploads. What do you mean by it disappears? Can you see it now? (I can.) When you go to Image:NoDateLinks.png, are you able to see the image? Or maybe someone is removing it from your userbox, or wherever you're using it in Wikipedia? If it's the latter, then that has nothing to do with Commons. pfctdayelise (translate?) 02:46, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, interesting that you can see it, I still can't, neither in my userbox nor on the Wikipedia Commons page Image:NoDateLinks.png. I tried it now with IE and whoops, I can see it there (albeit IE is apparently unable to handle the transparent color setting, which Firefox did well). So it appears to be a problem with my Firefox. Just strange that it works for a while and then not anymore. Clearing the cache didn't help. :-( -- H005 10:28, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

PNG weirdness

Check this out: Image:Cartoon explaining how to orphan an image.png. Looks blank. But when you click through to the large version it's fine. And when you thumbnail it, as long as it's not 600px, it's fine. See [6]. What's that about? pfctdayelise (translate?) 03:16, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Same applies to the gallery-thumbnail, BTW. See Troubles. WolfgangW. 03:36, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Fixed, I think. User:dbenbenn 03:56, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. What exactly was the problem, or why did what you did (using pngrewrite and optipng) fix it? pfctdayelise (translate?) 05:18, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Obviously, my editing program has troubles with PNG. Sorry. User:dbenbenn has been consulted on this. WolfgangW. 08:47, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Population

I would like to know the population of the City of San Antonio TX. This is for a school project. Please let me know ASAP. Thanks Erron

w:San Antonio, Texas Please only ask questions about using the Commons here. Thanks, pfctdayelise (translate?) 03:19, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Preferences

Hi Commons Help, I seem to have screwed up my Commons "skin" preferences - are you able to change it back to the default please? Thanks. Nothing seems to work OK - I think something is corrupted... Most of the options now don't work. GrahamBould 06:05, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

No one here can fix it besides you. You have to go to Special:Preferences, click on the Skin tab, select the "MonoBook (default)" option, and save. Good luck! User:dbenbenn 07:04, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Since apparently enabling the Chick skin means you can't even click on the skin tab under Preferences, a workaround is to use &useskin=monobook to change it back. Should we disable this skin? Are we even able to do that, or do we have to ask the dev's? I think it is pretty stupid to offer options that fail so spectacularly (even if practically no one uses them). pfctdayelise (translate?) 10:52, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Saving animation clips as animation clips NOT pictures

How do i save an animation clip as the animation clip itself when it is a .GIF but it runs as an MPEG66.56.143.150 20:50, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

If it runs as an MPEG, isn't it an MPEG? "Renaming" the file won't be enough - you need to actually convert the format. pfctdayelise (translate?) 22:31, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Sitenotice

Could somebody alter Mediawiki:Sitenotice, so it does not contain anything, nog even that nsdb-thingy: it makes the title of the articles in Commons lower than in other MediaWiki-projects, so comparing images is made more difficult now. --Tuvic 13:41, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

• Thanks! --Tuvic 18:56, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

SVG problem

Hi. I uploaded this picture Image:Cavalier perspective 45.svg (SVG version) based on this one Image:Kavalierperspektive.PNG (PNG version). I've made it on Illustrator and saved in SVG 1.1 with "output with fewer <tspan> elements". But something is wrong. The image is invisible, but if you click on it, its ok, see here [7]. Can someone tell me why? Mosca2 21:43, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Hello. I got the same problem. Would be nice to know what options should one use when saving svg:s in Illustrator. I got frustrated trying and just downloaded Inkscape. I create the images in Illustrator & save in svg format, and then open and save them again in Inkscape. Works, but still I would like to know the answer and get rid of Inkscape. Jenson 11:26, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

I think this is bugzilla:2888 (see also Commons:Bugs) and the fact that Adobe Illustrator is putting lots of "junk" in your SVGs. You should try and strip out this junk before uploading SVGs (you can do it in a text editor) and then hopefully they will be fine. You can fix it by hand. I fixed Image:Cavalier perspective 45.svg. If you get the problem again report it again and we'll see what happens then. pfctdayelise (translate?) 13:42, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for reply and for correcting the image. Concerning Illustrator putting "junk", may be we should select other options on save dialog. If I find the correct solution on Illustrator I will tell. It seems most of the times, SVG images on Illustrator are smaller than Inskape, don't no why, but Illustrator got a lot of options on saving SVG files (14 options), Inkskape seems got no option. Mosca2 21:27, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Inkscape has two saving formats, "plain SVG" and "Inkscape SVG". I think Inkscape SVG stores information that Inkscape uses that isn't required for the SVG specification. Haven't tried uploading a "plain" SVG - it might be smaller.

Regarding the image problems, see also Bug 5463. —Scott5114↗ 20:30, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Inkscape SVG indeed contains information that isn't needed. It usually cuts the filesize by about 2-3 kb if you save as Plain SVG in Inkscape. NielsF 12:52, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I just uploaded a schematic symbol made with inkscape and have a recomendation for others - be sure to either center your image at 0, 0 or make a small sized boarder / image size instead of leaving it undefined, or else sometimes the image is off the edge of the image once uploaded. Since I learned this by trial and error, could someone who has had an account longer than I have please remove Relay.svg and Relay2.svg and rename Relay3.svg to Relay.svg. Sorry thast I made work for others, I was just trying to give back to the community.

Jamesh 02:43, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

SVG rendering problem?

I uploaded an SVG map (Image:City of Cape Town.svg), but it doesn't render on the image page (although clicking on it gives me the original SVG correctly). If I try to include a thumbnail in a Wikipedia page I get "Error creating thumbnail:" in place of the image (at least in the Preview; I didn't save the page). Is there a problem with SVG rendering in MediaWiki? It is a fairly large and detailed image (135KiB) - perhaps it is too big to handle? - Htonl 13:06, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

The file contains malformed XML:

     > xmllint City_of_Cape_Town.svg
     City_of_Cape_Town.svg:11: parser error : AttValue: ' expected
     475 L 65 475 L 65 474 L 66 474 L 66 473 L 66 472 L 65 472 L 65 471 L 65 470 L 66
                                                                                    ^
     City_of_Cape_Town.svg:11: parser error : attributes construct error
     475 L 65 475 L 65 474 L 66 474 L 66 473 L 66 472 L 65 472 L 65 471 L 65 470 L 66
                                                                                    ^
     City_of_Cape_Town.svg:11: parser error : Couldn't find end of Start Tag path line 11
     475 L 65 475 L 65 474 L 66 474 L 66 473 L 66 472 L 65 472 L 65 471 L 65 470 L 66

actually, i'm not sure if the XML is really malformed, or if the attribute value is just to long for some internal buffer of libxml and/or some other xml parsers. anyway, rsvg will not render it:

     > rsvg City_of_Cape_Town.svg
     *** attempt to put segment in horiz list twice
     *** attempt to put segment in horiz list twice
     *** attempt to put segment in horiz list twice
     *** attempt to put segment in horiz list twice
     *** attempt to put segment in horiz list twice
     AttValue: ' expected
     attributes construct error
     Couldn't find end of Start Tag path

HTH -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 16:20, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Let me take a look Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir

It looked like the SVG was going off the SVG box after I opened it. I had to edit it in Inkscape (Which I hated to have to do), but it looks great now. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 16:53, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

The problem was in the <SVG> element: width="100%" height="100%". I used Inkscape --query-width and --query-height to figure out the actual image size, and just set those two attributes correctly. I think xmllint was mistaken; the XML wasn't malformed. User:dbenbenn 19:39, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks very much, all of you! Now I can replace the other maps I uploaded as PNG with the SVG originals, which should improve my use-of-appropriate-graphics-format karma. :) - Htonl 01:24, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

SVG tagging

If we've created a new SVG image to replace an existing PNG image, as I've done here with Image:Biohazard.png and Image:Biohazard.svg, is what do we need to tag the PNG image so that people know that it's been replaced? Bas ^parler _voir 15:46, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Please read Category:Redundant. But there are lot, very lot images listed... A days or weeks later the .png will be deleted. --Raymond de 16:40, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

I'm more than happy to help out. I've already applied for adminship. Bas ^parler _voir 19:00, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Please be careful with deletion. Check-Usage doesn't check all Wikis, so you could broke articles in unchecked Wikis. User:RCBot/rename is better, but unfortunately is not active now. --EugeneZelenko 06:09, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

See Template:ConvertToSVG. Deco 01:06, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

It seems that Template:ConvertToSVG is good for items that need to be converted, but not for items that have been converted. But I see where Template:Redundant helps out at that point. Bas ^parler _voir 01:16, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, don't tag converted images with ConvertToSVG, but do read it — it talks about what you should do. Deco 01:23, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

system won't let me create an account

i've tried 3 times---it keeps telling me that there is no Heyjewde registered yet the my password is there...plz help asap..

e-mail address is www.heyjewde@yahoo.com

thanks jb

There is no such User:Heyjewde. You have to create your account first. At Special:Userlogin, click on "Create an account". User:dbenbenn 20:24, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

'

T-Z

Thumbnailing of svg image containing raster graphics

I tried to upload an svg version of an image I had previously uploaded as png (Image:Xserver and display manager.png). This svg image Image:Xserver and display manager.svg is shown correctly as an svg image but no png thumbnail is produced.

The problem seems to be that it contains a raster graphics in form of an image xlink:href link. The linked image is on commons. I have tried both with a local URI (old version of the image) and with a complete one (http://upload...., current version). Either way, the thumbnail is not produced. Suggestions? Paolo Liberatore 15:37, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Paulo, since we can't use xlink:href's in our SVG's that may very well be the problem. I will take a look at it and try to fix it if I can. —the preceding unsigned comment was added by Bastique (talk • contribs) Sorry!

We can't use external xlink:hrefs. That is, you can't include a separate file, even if it's a file on the Commons. Apparently a security precaution.

It is possible to include a PNG image directly in SVG. See the December 22 revision of Image:Flag of Haiti.svg, for example. Though for this specific image, I don't really see the point of doing a fake conversion to SVG. User:dbenbenn 21:46, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you both! I will try the base64 encoding of the png image as in the Flag of Haiti. While most of the image is the the head of the user, I suppose that the rest of the diagram may look better in svg (at least in theory). Paolo Liberatore 13:24, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

PS. The image is a diagram in which the head of the user is the only part that is raster. Paolo Liberatore 13:26, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Trouble finding images with searches

I have two images that I uploaded and used in Wikipedia articles, and they work fine there, but if I search for them here on the commons, they don't come up. What causes this and what can be done about it? (Ghostofgauss 02:29, 18 April 2006 (UTC))

You have to upload them directly to the Commons in order for them to be seen here. Images uploaded to an individual wikiproject will not be usabel at the Commons. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 04:43, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I DID upload them directly to WikiCommons! (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Thioacetamide.JPG) However I just noticed that their pages say that nothing links to them, when in fact their Wikipedia articles do link to it. And you can find the thioacetamide picture through the Orgainic chemistry category page (I haven't gotten around to putting the other picture, of a golygon, in a category yet). Ghostofgauss 17:13, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Commons does not know about usage in other projects. In fact, it's vital that you put all your uploads into category and/or on gallery pages, so they can be found by others looking for images about some topic. Look into Commons:Categories for a start.

As for searching: it takes a while (days, weeks) until new pages are indexed. Be patient. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 17:55, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the golygon picture (which is now in the geometry category) was uploaded over a month ago, and thioacetamide was uploaded a little over two months ago. Is that still a normal waiting period? Ghostofgauss 18:31, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Normal? no. but it happens. There have been server troubles, and some of the high-load tasks (like rebuilding indexes) where apperently stalled. I have asked the server admins to update it. But don't hold your breath. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 18:39, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Don't hold my breath? Now... you... tell me. *gasp* *thump* Ghostofgauss 23:00, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

FYI: <brion> Duesentrieb: i'm running a build now. the new indexes won't be visible until after this is done. they're made from the dumps, so won't all be up to date since some the dumps are still running. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 23:49, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Update: yesterday's crash caused another setback to the creation on dumps and indexes. The server dedicated to it did not come back after the crash at all. I hope this is fixed soon. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 11:24, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

UK query

I live in the UK and am considering adding three or four photos taken by me/with my camera. Those in the photos have given their consent (or said they don't care). The massive amount of instructions I have encountered makes me wonder how anythign ever gets on to the Wikipedia! Is there a very simple directory which outlines how can get these photos up or must I ask an IT expert? 81.131.117.82 19:07, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

You just create an account (which is free and only takes a few seconds), then upload your photos. User:dbenbenn 20:22, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Have you seen Commons:First steps? That should be a very easy step-by-step guide. If you find it is difficult to follow or missing anything, please let us know so we can improve it. Cheers, pfctdayelise (translate?) 22:58, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Uploading a different version.

I've recently uploaded Image:DiscreteLodAndCullExampleRanges.MaxDZ8.jpg but later discovered the "cull pattern" does not make it to a minified version. I need to upload now a different image but I don't know how to do this. Maybe I have to ask for deletion of the old and re-upload? Thank you, MaxDZ8 16:40, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

If you are registered more than four days, you can replace existing images by re-uploading under the same name. The delay is supposed to stop vandals.

Anyway, please do not use JPG for diagrams, use SVG (preferred) or PNG instead. You can upload that new, and tag the jpg for deletion like this: {{db|bad format, use [[:Image:new-image-name.svg]]}} -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 16:54, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe I'll just have to wait a few days than. Could you speculate a bit more on the format issue? PNG will take somewhat more (already tested it) and although I can understand the benefits of an open format, I'm not sure eating up server bandwidth is a good idea. SVG would be great but I'm not sure I have a program which outputs them. My version of The GIMP surely does not. I can install it however if you point me out one available on Linux FC4. MaxDZ8 10:56, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

The best choice for SVG under Linux is probably InkScape [8]. About JPG: JPG uses lossy compression, which is OK for photographs, but leads to artefacts and general degradation in quality when used for high-contrast images like diagrams (see en:JPEG#Usage and en:Lossy_data_compression#Example_of_Lossy_Compression). If JPG or PNG yield smaller file size depends on many factors, including (obviously) the compression settings and the contents of the image (see en:Image compression). Even if the PNG is a few K bigger, that does not really make a difference: the images are rarely loaded full-scale, the difference in file size of thumbnails is minimal. But, in any case, SVG would be best.

See also Commons:File types. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 13:23, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

I was already well aware of the lossy compression issue - I usually compare against similar quality images. Anyway I'll change my preference to PNG even if it takes somewhat more. I'm installing Inkscape now so the jpg version will not be useful anymore (I'm going to mark it for speedy deletion as soon as the new svg version is online).

Thank you, MaxDZ8 09:24, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Using commons in Wikipedia

I have uploaded a photo Image:Hotel New York.jpg. I now want to use that photo in Wikipeida. However, I have discovered Wikipeida already has a photo with the same name. If I create a link in the normal way then it shows the Wikipeida version. How can I create a link from Wikipeida to the commons photo? --MarkS 10:01, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

You cann't. One of the photos will have to be deleted and re-uploaded. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 10:07, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response. As a follow up: If I upload to commons and use a photo in Wikipedia, can somebody then upload a file with the same name into Wikipedia which would then automatically change the photos in articles without realising it? --MarkS 10:13, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

No - if an image exists at the commons, it can not be uploaded locally (or rather, it can, but only by admins). However, it can bereplcaed on commons itself... -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 10:28, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Thankyou. That answer was reassuring. I will try to ensure that a filename is not already being used in Wikipedia in future before uploading to commons. Thanks. --MarkS 10:39, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Using non-free program screenshots

Hello! I'm writing a wikibook about using Adobe Photoshop. I would generally prefer open-source software but it would take a couple of years for GIMP to compete with Adobe Photoshop for professional use. can I upload to commons screenshots of Adobe Photosho? Do I need their permission to do so? Thanks. Erez 85.250.69.164 15:20, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Screenshots of none-free software are copyrighted and not allowed on Commons. See Commons:Licensing#Screenshots for details. --EugeneZelenko 16:06, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Please notice the following adobe permission policy. I believe photoshop's screenshots can be published in wiki.

permission source can be found at http://www.adobe.com/misc/permissions.html Erez 217.132.255.53 23:39, 19 February 2006 (UTC) " Screen shots

Screen shots are individual print screens contained within Adobe software applications. For an example of a screen shot, click here. You may use screen shots in advertising, on documentation (including educational brochures), in tutorial books, in videotapes, or on Web sites, provided you adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Your use may not be obscene or pornographic, and may not be disparaging, defamatory, or libelous to Adobe, any of its products, or any other person or entity.
2. Your use may not directly or indirectly imply Adobe sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your product or service.
3. You may not use the screen shot in a comparative advertisement.
4. You may not alter the screen shot in any way except to resize the screen shot. Your use must contain the entire screen shot. You may not use portions of the screen shots and no portions of a screen shot may be included in your product user interface.
5. You may not use screen shots from Adobe beta products or other products that have not been commercially released by Adobe.
6. You may not use screen shots that contain third-party content.
7. You must include the following copyright attribution statement: "Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated."
8. If your use includes references to an Adobe product, the full name of the product must be referenced at the first and most prominent mention (Adobe® GoLive®). When referencing any Adobe trademarks, please mark with a ™ or ® as indicated in the Adobe trademark database for general distribution. If you are distributing materials exclusively in Japan, please contact Adobe for a copy of the appropriate Adobe Trademark information for Japan.
9. If your use includes references to any Adobe trademarks, you should include the following trademark attribution statement: "[List of marks used, with "Adobe" first, if used, followed by other Adobe marks used, in alphabetical order] are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries."
10. Screen shots must be reproduced in their entirety. Permission may be given in certain limited circumstances, however, to use specific portions of a screen shot. For permission to use a screen shot in this manner, click here.

If your use meets the above criteria, no further written permission is required. For use by the press in articles or other news reports, please go to the Adobe Press Room. All other uses require written permission from Adobe, including use of screen shots in or on a television program, movie, or commercial. If further written permission is required, please complete the online form and submit your request by e-mail . Please allow two weeks for your request to be processed. Please note that Adobe cannot give permission for use of any third-party content (artwork) that may be contained within an Adobe screen shot. To determine whether an image contained within an Adobe screen shot belongs to a third party, please refer to the guidelines on stock art, clip art, and photographs. "

4. You may not alter the screen shot in any way except to resize the screen shot. That's "non-derivative" in effect, which makes it incompatible iwth commons policy. Same for MS screenshots, btw, not to speak of games and stuff. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 00:15, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Is it possible to upload these screenshots with their license directly to the hebrew wikibooks site? in other words is it commons policy or wiki policy? if not do you have any suggestion as of how to write this wikibook without uploading the screenshots? EREZ 217.132.255.53 01:32, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

It is Commons policy to only accept free images. Some projects accept copyrighted images as "fair use", eg. en.wikipedia, but some don't eg. de.wikipedia. You need to check the policy of the individual project. pfctdayelise (translate?) 01:39, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

updated PPT files

(copied from "Checking CSS classes") I have users who are complaining that IE does not show updated PowerPoint docs from our mediawiki. In fact it appears that IE is not checking for new. Is there any way to force (like html no-cache)? Or to make a filetype (PPT)? no-cache? Reidmaynard 13:36, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't know the answer to this question. Is this also a problem at the Commons? But you have a non-Wikimedia wiki, right? Here are some helpful pages for people running their own MediaWiki wiki:m:MediaWiki mediawiki-l mailing list http://www.mediawiki.org/ MediaWiki forums also try searching for your bug in bugzilla:. pfctdayelise (translate?) 00:59, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

As Pfctdayelise pointed out, this is the wrong place for questions about MediaWiki. But as a hint: files you upload are not serves through mediawiki, but directly by the webserver. So, the issue is unrelated to mediawiki, you will have to tweak the server to get it right. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 09:36, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Uploading

I have searched the site but can't find the fact of how to upload. Please help me. Wiki06 february 1st 2006 19.14

on the left side, blow the search field, there's the "toolbox". In the toolbox, there's a link called Upload file.

Btw: you can sign your name with ~~~~, this is automatically replaced by a link to your user page and the current date and time. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 18:47, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

I have uploaded an image by name "John_Hancock.jpg" nearly 3 times. However I am not able to see it on wikicommons even if I search it or check the "Latest files" sections. Do I need to do something else other uploading it using "wikicommon upload software"? Gppande 09:58, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Image:John Hancock.jpg is there (but shows only one upload). You can find your uploads using your contributions page. It's true that it's not found by the search (the search index takes at least a few days, somtimes weeks, to pick up new entries), but you will find it when entering the full name Image:John Hancock.jpg into the search box and clicking "Article" (not "Search"). Since you did categorize your image (thanks!), you can also find it by visiting the respective categories. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 12:40, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Uploading an Announcement

I can't seem to upload a file, as I cannot locate the acceptable file extensions. I tried a .doc, but got a bummer message. Sorry to trouble you, but can someone give me a clue.

Thanks! Taffy Rice

Hi Taffy. At this time, Commons does not accept files in *.doc format, as it is a propriety format of Microsoft, and not free. If you have any further questions, please visit Commons:File types Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 19:31, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

uh, an announcement? what is it to announce, and to whome?... are you sure thsi is the right place for it?

Anyway, if you must, you can upload it as PDF. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 20:52, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

UserTalk pics

I am a long time user of wikipedia, the encyclapedia, and have decided to make a talk page. Do you know where there are the pictures that show random facts about yourself, i think they would be in commons. Pkazazes 20:56, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

If I understand you correctly, you mean personal pictures of you, that you want to show on your user page. Such images are wecome at the commons, but they have to have a free license (see Commons:Licensing). If you will allow anyone to use those images for any purpose, you can upload them to the commons. Please put them into Category:Wikipedians or one of the subcategories. -- Duesentrieb^(?!) 12:43, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Vascular tissue system (Roots)

Is there any slides on vascular tissues of roots. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.114.81.227 (talk • contribs) at 18:58, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Try searching Vascular tissues, or roots. Barring that, try looking at the other language projects. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 17:00, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Click here: Search for roots and check out the results. I came up with a lot of articles. Cary "Bastique" Bass ^parler _voir 17:01, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Venturi effects diagram image:Venturifixed2.PNG

Hi, i accidentally uploaded three times a wrong version of a venturi effects diagram i made under the name of image:venturi5.svg, Image:Venturi6.svg, Image:Venturifixed.PNG is there any way that those graphics can be replaced/deleted? to this one Image:Venturifixed2.PNG? --HappyApple 04:37, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

I think, best solution is to try to fix SVG file and leave only SVG. If you'll not able yourself too, try to ask help at Commons talk:WikiProject Flags. Leaving PNG is last option.

If your account is more the 4 days old, you could replace existing image with new version.

EugeneZelenko 13:38, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

when to use Template:PD-ineligible

I've read through the licensing page's section of public domain and I still don't get when to use Template:PD-ineligible (work that is ineligible for a copyright as it is in the public domain). I'm just trying to determine what specific license to use for an item that I know is in the public domain.

cheers Dr.alf 09:01, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Are you talking about Image:Alfred Adler.gif? If you are, then you've picked the exactly right template to use. Congratulations :) (Although, ordinarily images like sketches are better off in JPG form, but it doesn't really matter)

As for PD-ineligible, probably the easiest way to figure out what it applies to is to see what's in Category:PD ineligible. (although some things will be wrongly tagged, be warned!) There's things like very simple symbols, lots of chemistry diagrams, music symbols, as well as stuff like this... -->

HTH, pfctdayelise (translate?) 09:56, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

You should use {{PD-ineligible}} only if the image is not copyrightable, and the author claims copyright and won't release the image under a free license. Basically, "not copyrightable" means the image is very simple, with no creative elements. What counts as sufficiently simple is hard to determine, which is why you should avoid using this tag if at all possible. User:dbenbenn 16:23, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

why sudoku page deleted

I created a web page that contained information about different sudoku media. It was quickly deleted because "not needed". I don't know why the person who deleted decided it was not needed and I was planning on expanding the information. For example I added virus information prior to deletion. I sent a message to the person but I did not receive a reply. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sudoku http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=delete&page=Sudoku Suggestions please. Daniel.Cardenas 20:44, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I've restored Sudoku, and made it a redirect to Category:Sudoku, which is where all the Sudoku images are. User:dbenbenn 20:52, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

„Working-document“ for translation(s)

Re "Decision tree", I'd suggest

1. to upload a RTF table where Translators could write in correct translations. I did not upload such file yet, my first question is, would that be OK, and would there be someone to translate those few sentences? Even if, as Duesentrieb and Arnomane seem to imagine, someone (not me, for sure) would one day create a SVG for that purpose, replacing my "little baby", same translations could be used.
2. if 1=Yes, I'd call the document Decision_Tree_on_Uploading_Images_(Translations).rtf and we give it a try. Do I put that RTF in same categories as the pictures? If not, please tell me what to do. TX, WolfgangW. 08:40, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Q withdrawn, as meanwhile answered on German Commons:Forum - Commons can not handle RTFs. _w., T.P.B 10:34, 8 March 2006 (UTC)