A typical picture can be inserted with a line "<code><nowiki>[[Image:...|thumb|...]]</nowiki></code>" as shown below. This generates a [[thumbnail]], a picture whose size typically differs from that of the original image. Several options can affect a thumbnail's placement and size.
A typical picture can be inserted with a line "<code><nowiki>[[Image:...|thumb|...]]</nowiki></code>" as shown below. ("<code>File:</code>" can be substituted for "<code>Image:</code>" with no change in effect; the choice between the two is purely a matter of editorial preference.) Using "<code>thumb</code>" generates a [[thumbnail]], a picture whose size typically differs from that of the original image. Several options can affect a thumbnail's placement and size.
This is a tutorial on how to insert pictures in Wikipedia articles using Wikiformat. It describes options for specifying placement, alt text, captions, sizes, and links, and contains advice about panoramas and avoiding image stackups. There is also a shorter technical document describing the syntax.
A typical picture can be inserted with a line "[[Image:...|thumb|...]]" as shown below. ("File:" can be substituted for "Image:" with no change in effect; the choice between the two is purely a matter of editorial preference.) Using "thumb" generates a thumbnail, a picture whose size typically differs from that of the original image. Several options can affect a thumbnail's placement and size.
On the left
By default a thumbnail is floated to the right of the page, with the text flowing around it. However, the tall "Style and formatting" box on the right of this tutorial might collide with a right-floating picture, so our first example specifies "left", and just below it you can see what the resulting picture looks like:
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|thumb|left|alt=A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.|The Wikipede edits ''[[Entomology]]''.]]
Although the above text may appear in multiple lines for formatting purposes, the actual image text should be on one line. The above text gives the image file name, the image type "thumb" and alignment "left", the alt text "A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.", and the caption "The Wikipede edits Entomology." A Wikipedia reader can click on the thumbnail, or on the small double-rectangle icon below it, to see the corresponding file page which will let the user see the image in its original size.
Alt text is intended for visually impaired readers, and should describe the gist of the picture's appearance; it should not attempt to explain the picture, as that is the caption's job. Because the caption typically should not bother to discuss things that are obvious from viewing the picture, alt text and captions typically have little in common. A thumbnail's alt text is empty by default, providing no help to visually impaired readers.
The caption is intended for all readers and explains the picture assuming that a reader can either see the picture or read the alt text. Unlike alt text, a caption can contain Wiki markup like "''[[Entomology]]''". The caption text is placed underneath the picture. Its dewikified form is put into the image's title text, which in graphical browsers commonly appears as a tooltip when the mouse cursor hovers over the image. A thumbnail without a caption has its title text set to its file name.
Here's the same example again, this time in the context of some colored lorem ipsum dummy text with asterisks (*) showing where the image syntax appears in the text:
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|thumb|left|alt=A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.|The Wikipede edits ''[[Entomology]]''.]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
On the right
Now that the tall "Style and formatting" box is out of the way, we can see what the default placement for a thumbnail looks like, on the right:
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|thumb|alt=A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.|The Wikipede edits ''[[Entomology]]''.]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Without flowing text
Although most thumbnails are combined with flowing text and are placed to the right or left, you can also place a thumbnail without text flowing around it. One way is to center it, using "center":
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|thumb|center|alt=A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.|The Wikipede edits ''[[Entomology]]''.]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
You can also place the picture to the left, without flowing text, using "none":
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|thumb|none|alt=A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.|The Wikipede edits ''[[Entomology]]''.]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Thumbnail sizes
Normally a thumbnail has a width of 180 pixels (px). This width is used by typical readers, who have not logged in or who have not changed their preferences. You can set a different default width for yourself in My preferences under "Appearance:Files". The options are 120px, 150px, 180px, 200px, 250px, and 300px. Any image narrower than the preferred width is displayed at the narrower width.
The default behavior can make a tall, thin picture come out too large. For example:
[[Image:Amun.svg|thumb|alt=Full length profile of man in ancient Egyptian clothing. He has red-brown skin and wears a helmet with tall yellow plumes.|The Egyptian god Amun, portrayed before the Amarna period]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
*
The Egyptian god Amun, portrayed before the Amarna period
*
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Fusce convallis, mauris imperdiet gravida bibendum, nisl turpis suscipit mauris, sed placerat ipsum urna sed risus. In convallis tellus a mauris. Curabitur non elit ut libero tristique sodales. Mauris a lacus. Donec mattis semper leo. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Vivamus facilisis diam at odio. Mauris dictum, nisi eget consequat elementum, lacus ligula molestie metus, non feugiat orci magna ac sem. Donec turpis. Donec vitae metus. Morbi tristique neque eu mauris. Quisque gravida ipsum non sapien. Proin turpis lacus, scelerisque vitae, elementum at, lobortis ac, quam. Aliquam dictum eleifend risus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam sit amet diam. Suspendisse odio. Suspendisse nunc. In semper bibendum libero.
Proin nonummy, lacus eget pulvinar lacinia, pede felis dignissim leo, vitae tristique magna lacus sit amet eros. Nullam ornare. Praesent odio ligula, dapibus sed, tincidunt eget, dictum ac, nibh. Nam quis lacus. Nunc eleifend molestie velit. Morbi lobortis quam eu velit. Donec euismod vestibulum massa. Donec non lectus. Aliquam commodo lacus sit amet nulla. Cras dignissim elit et augue. Nullam non diam. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aenean vestibulum. Sed lobortis elit quis lectus. Nunc sed lacus at augue bibendum dapibus.
Upright images
The "upright" option can help fix this by informing the Wikipedia layout system that the image should have a narrower width than usual:
[[Image:Amun.svg|thumb|upright|alt=Full length profile of man in ancient Egyptian clothing. He has red-brown skin and wears a helmet with tall yellow plumes.|The Egyptian god Amun, portrayed before the Amarna period]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
*
The Egyptian god Amun, portrayed before the Amarna period
*
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Fusce convallis, mauris imperdiet gravida bibendum, nisl turpis suscipit mauris, sed placerat ipsum urna sed risus. In convallis tellus a mauris. Curabitur non elit ut libero tristique sodales. Mauris a lacus. Donec mattis semper leo. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Vivamus facilisis diam at odio. Mauris dictum, nisi eget consequat elementum, lacus ligula molestie metus, non feugiat orci magna ac sem. Donec turpis. Donec vitae metus. Morbi tristique neque eu mauris. Quisque gravida ipsum non sapien. Proin turpis lacus, scelerisque vitae, elementum at, lobortis ac, quam. Aliquam dictum eleifend risus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam sit amet diam. Suspendisse odio. Suspendisse nunc. In semper bibendum libero.
Shrinking upright images further
The "upright" option normally creates an image that is 0.8 of the size of the default. If this is too large or too small, the factor can be specified explicitly. A factor of 1.0 uses the default thumbnail size, which is the same as not specifying "upright" at all; a factor less than or greater than 1.0 creates an image smaller or larger than the default. For example:
[[Image:Amun.svg|thumb|upright=0.56|alt=Full length profile of man in ancient Egyptian clothing. He has red-brown skin and wears a helmet with tall yellow plumes.|The Egyptian god Amun, portrayed before the Amarna period]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
*
The Egyptian god Amun, portrayed before the Amarna period
*
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Fusce convallis, mauris imperdiet gravida bibendum, nisl turpis suscipit mauris, sed placerat ipsum urna sed risus. In convallis tellus a mauris. Curabitur non elit ut libero tristique sodales. Mauris a lacus. Donec mattis semper leo. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Vivamus facilisis diam at odio. Mauris dictum, nisi eget consequat elementum, lacus ligula molestie metus, non feugiat orci magna ac sem. Donec turpis. Donec vitae metus. Morbi tristique neque eu mauris. Quisque gravida ipsum non sapien. Proin turpis lacus, scelerisque vitae, elementum at, lobortis ac, quam. Aliquam dictum eleifend risus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam sit amet diam. Suspendisse odio. Suspendisse nunc. In semper bibendum libero.
Short, wide images
Short, wide images sometimes benefit from "upright" factors greater than 1.0. Factors greater than about 3.0 can generate large images that cause problems with some browsers; for one way to handle wider images, see Panoramas below. Although many image types, such as JPEG and PNG, do not handle enlargement well, SVG images have no problem with it. For example:
[[Image:Köppen-vereinfacht.svg|thumb|upright=2.5|alt=Map of the world. A tan band stretches from northern Africa through central China; most of Australia and parts of south Africa and the western Americas are also tan. Dark greens dominte the northern hemisphere. Lighter greens cover much land near the equator. Polar areas are white, the north fringed with light blue.|Macroclimates of the earth. Tans represent desert, dark greens humid continental, and light green tropical rainforest. Light blue and white represent tundra and ice cap.]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
*
Macroclimates of the earth. Tans represent desert, dark greens humid continental, and light green tropical rainforest. Light blue and white represent tundra and ice cap.
*
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Width in pixels
You can also display an image of a particular width. Typically if you specify a width in pixels, it should be at least 300px, so that it's no smaller than the user's preferred width. Widths greater than about 550px cause problems with many browsers, as described above. Wikipedia articles are viewed on a wide variety of displays with different pixel densities, so an absolute pixel width, though easy to write, may have scaling problems that an upright factor would not have.
[[Image:Köppen-vereinfacht.svg|thumb|center|400px|alt=Map of the world. A tan band stretches from northern Africa through central China; most of Australia and parts of south Africa and the western Americas are also tan. Dark greens dominte the northern hemisphere. Lighter greens cover much land near the equator. Polar areas are white, the north fringed with light blue.|Macroclimates of the earth. Tans represent desert, dark greens humid continental, and light green tropical rainforest. Light blue and white represent tundra and ice cap.]]
Macroclimates of the earth. Tans represent desert, dark greens humid continental, and light green tropical rainforest. Light blue and white represent tundra and ice cap.
Height in pixels
To specify the exact height of a picture, letting the width scale to match, prefix the height with "x". The following example resizes the image to a height of 60px:
[[Image:Flag of Scotland.svg|thumb|center|x60px|alt=White diagonal cross over blue background|Flag of Scotland]]
Flag of Scotland
Width or height in pixels, whichever is smaller
If you specify both width and height of a picture, it is sized to whichever value would make it smaller. This will cause a picture to fit in a certain area, regardless of the image's actual size. Since the proportions of Image:Flag of Scotland.svg are 5×3, specifying a width of 120px generates a 120×72px image, and specifying a height of 60px generates a 100×60px image, so a size field of "120x60px" generates the smaller of the two, namely, the 100×60px image:
[[Image:Flag of Scotland.svg|thumb|center|120x60px|alt=White diagonal cross over blue background|Flag of Scotland]]
Flag of Scotland
Native size
Replacing "thumb" with "frame" causes the image to be displayed in its native size, that is, the size that it was originally uploaded with. This usage is mostly obsolescent as it does not allow resizing, but you may see it in older articles. For example:
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|frame|center|alt=A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.|The Wikipede edits ''[[Entomology]]''.]]
Very large pictures should not be put directly into articles, as they cause problems in some browser environments. Images wider than 550px or so are often better treated as a panorama, which can be created with the {{Wide image}} template. For example:
{{wide image|Helsinki z00.jpg|1800px|alt=Panorama of city with mixture of five to ten story buildings|[[Helsinki]] has many buildings.}}
One of the problems many users of floating pictures hit is that multiple pictures sometimes stack up vertically, particularly with large screens and wide images. For example, in many browsers the two pictures at the right of this text stack up awkwardly.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Often the best solution to this is simply to add more text, as is done below, but this sometimes is not possible. The following subsections show some other possible solutions to the problem.
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Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Fusce convallis, mauris imperdiet gravida bibendum, nisl turpis suscipit mauris, sed placerat ipsum urna sed risus. In convallis tellus a mauris. Curabitur non elit ut libero tristique sodales. Mauris a lacus. Donec mattis semper leo. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Vivamus facilisis diam at odio. Mauris dictum, nisi eget consequat elementum, lacus ligula molestie metus, non feugiat orci magna ac sem. Donec turpis. Donec vitae metus. Morbi tristique neque eu mauris. Quisque gravida ipsum non sapien. Proin turpis lacus, scelerisque vitae, elementum at, lobortis ac, quam. Aliquam dictum eleifend risus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam sit amet diam. Suspendisse odio. Suspendisse nunc. In semper bibendum libero.
Flag of Scotland
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Alternating left and right floats
Perhaps the easiest way is to handle multiple floating pictures is to alternate them left then right; this way they do not come into contact with one another, and so cannot stack up in an unattractive way. This has a disadvantage, though: people with very low screen resolutions (such as those using PDAs or netbooks) may find the result too awkward, albeit still readable.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Flag of Scotland
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Co-aligning
It is common to have two pictures that logically should be grouped together. The {{multiple image}} template is one way to do this. For example:
{{multiple image
| width = 100
| footer = Two cards used by football referees
| image1 = Yellow card.svg
| alt1 = Yellow cartouche
| caption1 = Caution
| image2 = Red card.svg
| alt2 = Red cartouche
| caption2 = Ejection
}}
Caution
Ejection
Two cards used by football referees
The same template can also align pictures vertically:
{{multiple image
| direction = vertical
| width = 100
| footer = Two cards used by football referees
| image1 = Yellow card.svg
| alt1 = Yellow cartouche
| caption1 = Caution
| image2 = Red card.svg
| alt2 = Red cartouche
| caption2 = Ejection
}}
Caution
Ejection
Two cards used by football referees
Galleries
Before making a gallery, read the image use policy for image galleries at WP:IG. There are lots of ways to make a gallery, including templates such as {{Image gallery}}. Perhaps the most flexible method is table syntax. For example:
scroll|{|
| [[Image:Philipp Veit 008.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Robed woman, seated, with sword on her lap|Philipp Veit, ''Germania'', 1834–36]]
| [[Image:Philipp Veit 009.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Robed woman, standing, holding a sword|Philipp Veit, ''Germania'', 1848]]
| [[Image:Niederwald memorial 2.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=Monument of robed woman, standing, holding a crown in one hand and a partly sheathed sword in another|Johannes Schilling, ''Germania'', 1871–83.]]
|}
Philipp Veit, Germania, 1834–36
Philipp Veit, Germania, 1848
Johannes Schilling, Germania, 1871–83.
Forcing a break
As a final resort, you can force the browser to insert a break, making all text and pictures appear below the bottom of the first picture. This can produce rather unattractive gaps, particularly in the accompanying text. Remember that text will flow and wrap differently for other users, based on their chosen browser, screen resolution, default font size, accessibility options, number of toolbars and sidebars (such as instant messaging panes) and more. Do not force page design just so that it looks pretty on your display. Hack only where absolutely necessary. Wherever possible, just use the simplest logical page flow.
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Flag of Scotland
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Plain pictures
Most pictures in articles are thumbnails, but sometimes more specialized needs require finer grained control. A plain picture with no formatting can be inserted with:
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.]]
In this plain picture the text "A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop." is not visible. Instead, it appears as the title text of the image, commonly displayed as a tooltip during a mouseover. In a thumbnail the alt text defaults to empty, but a plain picture's alt text defaults to its title text; this default can be overridden with an explicit "alt=Alt text" option. Title text, like alt text, cannot contain Wiki markup.
A plain picture can be placed anywhere in the article, and acts a big character in the text, so that nearby text does not float or wrap around it. For example:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
**
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Plain picture sizes
A plain picture defaults to the image's native size. This can be overridden with an explicit size. For example:
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|50px|A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.]]
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**
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The "frameless" option causes a plain picture to default to the same size as a thumbnail. As with thumbnails, the default can be adjusted with the "upright=factor" option. If you use the common default of 180 pixels for thumnail widths, the following example image will be about 180 × 0.2 = 36 pixels wide:
[[Image:Amun.svg|frameless|upright=0.2|alt=Full length profile of man in ancient Egyptian clothing. He has red-brown skin and wears a helmet with tall yellow plumes.|The Egyptian god Amun, portrayed before the Amarna period]]
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**
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Border
The "border" option adds a one-pixel border, which can be useful when it is important to distinguish image from background. Here is the same picture with and without a border.
[[Image:Flag of Japan.svg|border|30px|White flag containing solid red circle]]
[[Image:Flag of Japan.svg|30px|White flag containing solid red circle]]
This generates "".
Horizontal placement
Like thumbnails, plain pictures can be floated left or right with text flowing around them; or centered or put left without text flow. The only difference is that the "right" parameter is required to float a plain picture to the right, whereas floating right is the default for thumbnails. For example:
[[Image:Wikipedesketch1.png|right|A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
*
A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.*
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Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Vertical alignment
When a plain picture appears in text, it is aligned so that its vertical middle is roughly where the center of a lower-case "x" would be; if the image is larger than the line is tall, it sticks out both above and below. The vertical alignment syntax provides several options to adjust this. For example, the "baseline" option:
X[[Image:Flag of Hungary vertical.svg|baseline|7px|Vertical version of horizontal tricolor flag (red, white, green)]]X
generates "XX" instead of the default "XX". Available options for vertical alignment, next to the output that they generate, are
baseline,
middle (the default),
sub,
super,
text-top,
text-bottom,
top, and
bottom.
Normally a picture links to its image page, which describes the image, who created it, and links to the original image at full resolution. You can create a plain picture that links to some other location by using the "link" option.
To link to some other page, specify its name in the link option along with an appropriate caption that hints to readers what will happen if they click on the link. This caption serves both as title text for the tooltip, and as alt text for visually disabled readers. For example, "[[Image:Flag of France.svg|20px|link=France|France]]" generates a flag that links to the article France.
To link to an external site, specify its URL in the link option along with an appropriate caption. For example, "[[Image:Flag of Belgium.svg|20px|link=http://www.belgium.be/en/|Belgium government portal]]" generates a flag that links to the English-language portal of the Belgian government.
A purely decorative image, which conveys no information and does nothing when it is clicked on, can be specified with an empty link. No caption is needed; this is the only case where an image does not need alt text. For example "[[Image:Flag of the United States.svg|20px|link=]]" generates a flag that is purely decorative.
Linking without displaying
Let us say you want to link to the picture without displaying it. There are two ways to do it.
This says "Media:" instead of "Image:". When the user clicks on the link, the browser goes directly to the image. You can change the text so it says anything you want.
[[Media:Wikipedesketch1.png|A cartoon centipede reads books and types on a laptop.]]
This can be awkward if the image is quite large, for the full size image will be displayed when the user clicks the link. Instead of taking the viewer directly to the picture, you can take them to the image page, where it tells them who uploaded it, when, what the copyright status is, etc.:
When the link is clicked the image is displayed with other text information at a reasonable size. The user can click through the resulting medium-sized image to get to the full size highest resolution image.
Tips
When placing or sizing images, it's often better to edit the entire page, rather than just one section, to avoid unexpected overlaps with other sections of the article.
Before publishing any images, keep in mind that they can contain hidden data. This data can include comments that are not displayed, EXIF metadata, and messages hidden via steganography.
below it, to see the corresponding file page which will let the user see the image in its original size.
.jpg)
X" instead of the default "X
that links to the article France.
that links to the English-language portal of the Belgian government.
that is purely decorative.
