Wikipedia:Tip of the day/June 13, 2006
Inserting a picture in an article
The syntax used for displaying an image is:
- [[File:{name}|{type}|{location}|{size}|{caption}]]
Only [[File:{name}]] is required. The other details are optional and can be placed in any order. They are:
- Type
- 'thumb' / 'thumbnail' or 'frame'. This causes image to be displayed with specific formatting. "thumb" is normally preferred.
- Location
- 'right', 'left', 'center' or 'none'. Determines placement of the image on the page. "Left" or "right" is the norm, but large panoramas or timelines can be displayed in the center.
- Size
- {width}px or {width}x{height}px (e.g. 50x40px, would limit width to 50 and height to 40). Normally only one variable is used. Use common sense when determining the sizes; you can use the "Show preview" button if you need to.
- Caption
- Any element which cannot be identified as one of the above is automatically treated as caption text. It is traditional to put this last. The caption should identify what the image is, and ideally be a complete sentence that adds to the article by pointing out something a casual reader wouldn't have noticed otherwise, or add information that pertains to the image.
If you have a picture that isn't already in Wikipedia's image collection that you want to include in an article, you will need to upload it first.
Read more (includes examples): Image link syntax