[Project] Pictures and pictures pages improvement 🖼️

This is an older topic where image usage and policies were discussed. I am dusting this off to have a dedicated space to discuss pictures issues to match our To-Do list in SWDb 3.0 dealing with pictures pages, galleries and so on.

Some things to consider when uploading pictures
a) file size: several megabytes should give you pause. Web-optimized Jpegs or PNGs should be better. Resolution is more important than DPI, so for example what you upload should ideally be 1000px or so in width, but doesn’t need to have the quality of a raw file from a digital camera.
b) file types: jpeg is best, png also works, we’re working on making the SWDb webp compatible.
c) image dimensions/size for 1) dvd covers 2) posters 3) screenshots 4) people pictures 5) soundtrack covers: aim for 1000px wide minimum, but don’t have to be too much more than that in most cases. Better safe than sorry: feel free to upload larger versions, where you use the pictures scaled down versions will be used, until we need them in bigger.
d) copyright matters: don’t upload what was made by others. This applies especially to photographs of people. Cite sources or photographers. It’s harder with stills, posters, lobby cards, etc. In most of these cases a clear copyright owner can’t be identified, we’re rolling with our educational mission to make these accessible…
e) image descriptions: this is where it gets tricky, see dedicated post(s) further down.
f) File names: very important to not put special characters in there, and ideally also avoid spaces. Pick a descriptive name and add numbers, that is best, e.g. MovieNameLobbyCard003germany.jpg

Also:

  • We need to clean up unused images (see below)
  • We need to make better use of galleries and more convenient ways to look at bigger versions of images
  • We need descriptions

http://www.westernposterpage.com/italianpage.htm

we have been allowed to use their pictures, so lets see which ones we already have and which ones we can really use of those

Unused pictures:

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Special:Unusedimages

we should see which of those we don’t need, and which ones we have to add to pages.

So:

  • if it’s a duplicate and the same or a better version is in use somewhere else: delete
  • if we can still use it and it’s not used anywhere, add it to where it belongs. Then it shouldn’t pop up in the UnusedImages page anymore

Digging this up, just in general as we (or some of us) are adding more and better pictures to the database.

Here is a great resource btw: https://monnomestpersonne1973.blogspot.com/

Also thinking of a different way of displaying galleries of images in the database.

A few things I am doing and some others:

  • adding posters, lobby cards, stills, etc
  • uploading better quality versions of dvd covers, etc…
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Dusting this thread off.

I still need to figure out how we best deal with galleries, picture descriptions and categorization. This is an area of highly overdue improvement in the SWDb but also something I have not the best experience with

Cleaned up Wanted files - The Spaghetti Western Database

Working on an update to the database that will make the invidual pictures’ pages more useful and prettier. Will keep you posted.
What it means: It will make more sense to give pictures descriptions that have links and much more, because it will be more prominently placed.

@Mickey13 has been doing a great job adding tons of pictures to the database, and throughout or other improvements we keep uploading more and better pictures. The agove items are still an open question, so they may follow us into the post-3.0 era.
Whoever has pictures (posters, covers, lobby cards, stills etc) that aren’t in the database, please let us konw or point us to them.

Not exactly a pictures thing, but neary completion of a little cleanup project: moving all VHS covers from pictures pages to where they belong: VHS subpages…
Edit: done.

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