PikminFanon:File guidelines

Uploading files, including images and audio files, is possible at Pikmin Fanon although doing so is restricted to autoconfirmed users. This page is a set of guidelines for contributing files to the wiki. For help on how to place files in articles, see here.

Uploading
The most common files on the wiki are concept art and screenshots from the, but box-shots, maps, diagrams, and other relevant files are allowed too. The following are instructions and guidelines on how to properly upload a quality file, and failure to follow them could result in its deletion. Pikmin Fanon uses a custom script on the upload page that makes some steps automatic and simpler, amongst other improvements. Although unlikely, the script might not be running, but that should not matter.

Users may upload sound effects or parts of songs, but only if adding them improves the understanding of a subject. For parts of game tracks, they can not be over thirty seconds in length, and should not have sound effects. When adding an audio file to an article, use listen.

Additionally, users can upload images that are not related to the wiki or the series, especially if they only plan on using them for themselves. However, Pikmin Fanon is not an image hosting platform, and as such, users may only have five user images at a time.

Before uploading someone else's art, users should contact its original creator for permission to upload it. Users that see any art of theirs on Pikmin Fanon that they don't want it to host or aren't attributed as the original creator of should notify an active staff member.

Filetypes
Files must have a proper format. The most common filetypes used on Pikmin Fanon are:
 * PNG: for maps and diagrams, images with a transparent background, or images where it's very important to keep a high quality on the small details.
 * JPG: for screenshots and photos. All instances of "JPEG" become this.
 * GIF: for animations and simple images.
 * SVG: a vector format for diagrams and logos.
 * OGG: for audio files.

Images should always be kept at a smaller size to reduce any blurring that may be present in them or to minimize their file size. Additionally, images should always be neatly cropped, as to avoid having too much whitespace, and should preferably have rounded dimensions (ex. 100, 110, 120), to display more neatly on pages. Users that are ever unsure of how to handle an image should always save it as a PNG file, as it is a lossless file format.

File name
Files should be named after the article's title, even if the name of the subject differs from it, such as if the subject has a new name given to it by a game's creator. Please do not upload files with extremely long names, gibberish names, or names unrelated to the main subject. Users that think that somebody could upload a similar image in the future, or has already, should disambiguate their file's name some more, like adding the initials of a game's name to it. If one user's game has the same initials as another's, both users should include their full username after the game's initials.

Essentially, users that want to search for images with certain content should find those images in the search results. They won't display if their name is garbage or their description is lacking.

Description
Briefly describe what the image contains or what the audio file is for. Try to link to relevant articles, also.

Categorization
All files should be in the proper categories. If on the upload page, there are boxes asking for the image type, the game, and so on, that means that Pikmin Fanon's custom upload script is running, and manually categorizing won't be a problem. Otherwise, read on.

Users should place the file in the applicable categories. Whenever possible, it should be under the most specific, or deepest, categories available. Use the following checklist to decide what categories to use. See here, and in its subcategories, for a complete collection of file categories.

Uniquely, smaller pixel art should have its size doubled for easier viewing. Many visual editing programs allow resizing an image without blurring it. Larger pixel art should be left as-is.

Game
What game, if any, the file is being used for. Type "N/A" if none, or leave blank if a user or wiki image.

Source
Where the file originates from.

License
Each type of file requires a different licensing template. For most types of files, the license is chosen automatically upon selecting the appropriate type, but if given the question about what the license should be, please pick from these options, which could vary depending on some conditions:
 * "Video game screenshot" for when it's an in-game screenshot.
 * "Concept art" for official concept art or artwork made by the developers of a game.
 * "Audio" for audio files.
 * "User image" for an image that is irrelevant to the series, and is to be used by users only.
 * "Texture" for an image that comes directly from the game's files or is created specifically for a game.
 * "Public domain" for when the image doesn't have any licensing. Users should only pick this if they know what they're doing.
 * "Copyrighted" for files that belong to somebody else, but are meant to be used fairly on the wiki.
 * "Free licenses" for specific licenses, when users know what they are.

Videos
Videos from many sorts of hosting sites can be embedded on a page using the EmbedVideo extension. To learn more about it, click the provided link.

The entire skeleton looks like this:

Below is an explanation of each part of the entire code:
 * service: the platform the video is hosted on.
 * id: the raw ID of the video.
 * dimensions: the size, in pixels, of the embed container. Can be typed as,  , or.
 * alignment: horizontal alignment. Possible options are,  ,  , and  . Inline allows multiple videos to be embedded side by side without forced line breaks.
 * description: displays the provided description under the embed container.
 * container: specifies the container type to use for the embed. Inputting  wraps the embed in the standard MediaWiki thumbnail box.
 * urlargs: allows additional arguments to be appended to the generated embed URL.
 * autoresize: automatically resizes the videos when their size would cause them to break out of their container. To disable, input.
 * valignment</tt>: vertical alignment. Possible options are,  ,  , and  . Using this parameter forces the horizontal alignment parameter to be inline.

The number of videos used in articles should be kept to a minimum, and used only where necessary and useful.