User:Trig Jegman
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A user most known for file management. Founder of the TMWA and lead developer for Sourcemageddon. See also: The talk page, The sandbox, Project Clean-Up, TMWA Discord.
Terminology
- Caps = Capitalization
- FNC = File Name Change - I usually use this on any changed talk pages
- RFC = Renamed for Consistency - Like files, such as character icons, should be similarly named. These are usually minor fixes.
- TR = Technical Rename - removing or changing things like punctuation, unnecessary numbers, or files with weird issues in them. Files should have no punctuation other than a sparingly used hyphen.
- RFA = Renamed for Accuracy - Spelling errors, wrong names, poor formatting, or lack of specified game. More-specific-to-the-image naming. This is about 85% of when the main file name is changed. These are usually major fixes.
- NCR = Naming Conflict Rename - Files that are almost identically named that are renamed to avoid confusing the two. Hypothetical examples: Kirby.png vs. Kirby.PNG, or Dedede1.png vs. Dedede 1.png
- RIF = Removed Image:/File: - Using <Gallery> means you don't need to use "Image:" (which shouldn't really be used anyway) or "File:". If I'm passing through a gallery, I'll try to remove any I see. It may also mean changing Image: to File: for single images.
- UPI = Unused Personal Image
- ECE = Edit Conflict Error
Additionally, because autofill is an evil tool from evil town, I add a symbol in each edit summary so it doesn't save forever.
Notes
If a note below has sufficiently been addressed, it can be removed. See also: My sandbox, Project Clean-Up
General/Miscellaneous
Nothing at the moment.
What Does That Mean? (FAQ)
This section is a semi-dedicated FAQ to both questions related to files and general wiki editing. Have a question? I would be happy to answer it on my talk page instead.
Why do we have different types of files?
JPG/JPEG is a lossy type of image. While compressing, the file may lose quality in order to have a better file size. They are less preferred than other file types, but that is not to say they are bad. Usually, JPGs are used for artworks or Wii U/Switch screenshots. JPG files cannot and should not be converted into other file types.
GIF is a lossless types of image, revolutionary for supporting animation and transparency. It can only display 256 colors per frame, however. These files are most recommended to be used for animated images only, as the successor file type is much more effective at displaying images. Additionally, gameplay GIFs should be avoided because too many colors at once causes dithering, a process where color values exceeding GIF's 256 are replaced with a "best guess", usually, reducing the overall quality or accuracy.
PNG is essentially GIF 2 electric boogaloo. It was designed to improve on the lossless format to be both more compressed but also have more color options available to the viewer. A majority of wiki files are in this format. PNG is also transparency supportive, and is usually the smallest file type available. The main distinction between PNG and GIF is that PNG does not necessarily have animation support. There were several attempts to add it on later down the line, such as MNG (creator:png group) or APNG (mozilla), but they do not hold universal value. While the wiki supports APNG uploads, it is not heavily suggested as it is not quite available to all users and are usually large in size.
SVGs are interesting lossless files. They are universally supported, and essentially run images off text files. The two reasons that these files may be used over PNG is because they are much much smaller, and because that they can be displayed at any size without a change in quality. You want a 9000 by 9000 pixel SVG? It'll go there and look just as good as 152x152. They are only effective when it comes to line art or very simple artworks, however.
MP3 is the primary audio format. While this format used to be license only, it has since expired and is free for anyone to use. It is a lossy audio format, meaning some quality is lost on creation. This helps keep the file size small for use. Everything should be able to play this file type.
OGA is another audio format that might be seen, using Vorbis encoding. This was the main file format used before MP3 was widely available, but otherwise should generally be roughly similar for quality. The main difference is these files are not universally supported and will not work on all devices. Sounds on OGA files should be re-recorded/exported into MP3 files—not converted—when possible to allow a wider audience to be able to see them.
Notably, there are not any good universal video formats for the web. While an H.264 MP4 file is generally your best bet, it's also not very well supported on MediaWiki. It's probably better to link to a YouTube, Vimeo, or Odysee video.
Is there a difference between JPG and JPEG?
Short answer: No. Long answer: Noooooo.
JPG and JPEG are entirely interchangeable and have absolutely no meaning over the other. That said, files should use always jpg to avoid issues when auto-filling parameters and to avoid duplicate naming issues.
For example, the files "TheoRules.jpg" and "TheoRules.jpeg" would be considered two different files, and therefore show two different pictures. This could lead to a lot of confusion.
Why isn't this gif moving?
Chances are, it is a single frame gif. If possible, try and convert to a PNG before uploading, as they are more optimal to utilize and it generally does not affect visual quality.
I thought PNGs were supposed to be transparent
PNGs can be transparent, but they might not be. Sometimes the source uses a white background and that is ok. Transparency should not be artificially created just because an image is a PNG. Images should never be made transparent in systems like GIMP. Only official transparency should be used.
What's the deal with "inter-file periods"?
Interfile periods, periods that are in a file name that aren't for the extension, are not really great to have. While other punctuation found in a subject is usually okay, sometimes systems freak out as to when the extension starts when it comes to periods. For example, it may read a file named "Mr. T Artwork.jpg" as it should be, Mr. T Artwork, with an extension of jpg, OR it might read the file as Mr T with the extension of Artwork.jpg
There doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason as to when one happens over another, but typically it messes up in galleries over anything else. It's better to be safe and avoid them entirely. If anything, it is simply easier to read.
What's the deal with hyphens?
Hyphens are a difficult middle ground when it comes to naming files. While they should be used for anything with a hyphen specifically in the name, they should NOT be used in place of spaces. The reason for this is generally because it's easier to type without a space, and the use of hyphens simply creates more opportunities for files to be almost identically named. KSSU-Moon.png and KSSU Moon.png could be two different files, and it is not the most effective to name them so similarly.
A hyphen (-), found on most keyboards, is not to be confused with a dash (—) or a minus sign (−).
For example, the following could all be be different files:
- Kirby-Sword.png
- Kirby - Sword.png
- Kirby- Sword.png
- Kirby -Sword.png
What's an NCR?
An NCR is a term I use to describe files that are almost identically named. Some examples would be:
- Capitalization. (EX: File:KEY Dream Land.png and File:KEY dream land.png)
- Extension difference. (EX: File:Marx being cool.jpg and File:Marx being cool.png)
- Hyphens (EX: File:Meta Knight.png vs File:Meta-Knight.png vs File:Meta - Knight.png vs File:Meta- Knight.png vs File:Meta -Knight.png)
Why do you have symbols all over your sandbox?
I usually use them to be able to reference different types of images. Often, I will use the at sign @, dollar sign $, percent %, ampersand &, and dead key grave ` (and rarely asterism, usually for lists ⁂) to self categorize groups of images. For example, if I am going to need to fix the aboutfiles on a set of images, I might add % to them and do all of those images at the same time. Generally, they don't mean the same thing for the same section. Relatedly, symbols are added to edit summaries to avoid autofill taking up my screen space.
What are Smart Quotes? What are Smart Apostrophes?
Smart quotes and apostrophes are a type of quote that is not on a universal keyboard. They appear like this: (“|”|‘|’). They were essentially created to add style to the regular straight quotes (sometimes jokingly called dumb quotes) as seen here: ("|'). Since Smart Quotes do not appear on most keyboards as a standard, we try to avoid them the best we can. Some browsers/OS have automatic correction to smart quotes, especially apple products. These settings can be turned off in various settings pages. Notably, smart punctuation does not allow MediaWiki functions like italicize and bold to work.
Since some people may only be using smart quotes, pages that utilize quotations and apostrophes should have extra redirects made that utilize them.
Why do I keep seeing "Optimized" on files?
Image optimization is a LOSSLESS process in which an image has its metadata removed. Metadata is more text based, hidden information attached to files. Generally some metadata could include the date of capture, the file's dimensions, or type of camera used. While maybe useful for personal use, it's not necessary to have on the wiki. Hence, the emphasis on optimizing files.
There are a number of programs available to optimize files. The most popular are PNG Monstrous (formerly PNG Monster), which is universal in download and is extremely effective. Running command line optimizations, Zopfli and PNGOUT are very useful as well. The other is ImageOptim, which is generally a mashup of a bunch of optimizers. The pro to using ImageOptim is that it has support for four file types to be optimized: PNG, JPG, GIF, and SVG, with a con of being MacOS exclusive. An online alternative is EZGif, which is not the most effective method, but is a great "nothing else works" method.
Before uploading a new image or revision, images are encouraged to be optimized as it helps the user load the image more effectively and saves server space. Extremely frequently used icons and images, such as ones on high use templates, may also benefit from optimization to save on load time--though this is primarily for images that do not generate thumbnails.
As mentioned before, optimizing is a lossless process. Compression, which is sadly used interchangeably with optimizing, could mean either regular optimizing or the use of LOSSY compression. Lossy compression is where the image quality is reduced (by any varying amount) to make the file size smaller. LOSSY compression should not be used.
What's Gamma Brightening?
Gamma (Brightening) is a type of metadata stored on image files that change the way certain colors are displayed. Usually, it reduces the contrast amongst colors and is typically found on PNGs. While generally unwritten, the policy on gamma brightened photos is to optimize the file only if the original source does not use gamma brightening. If the source image contains gamma brightening metadata, it should not be optimized.
Why use OGA and OGV instead of OGG?
Way back yonder when the OGG format was introduced by Xiph.org, the only extension was .ogg; Since it became wildly much more popular in the later 2000s, they realized that the ability to have almost any type of file use OGG, they formally headlined the creation of different extensions such as OGA (Lossy Audio), OGV (Video), OGX (applications), and XFPF (weird code stuff that I don't understand). Per the creators suggestion, we should use the distinguished naming scheme.
Why can't I play this OGA/OGV file?
Unfortunately, while popular in the days of 2010, the global standard has dropped universal OGG support for reasons that have yet to really be explained. Some theorize it was because apple was trying to replace it with .mov and .m4a files, but this is conjecture. Generally, google chrome is a good browser to try and view this type of file on. If possible, it may be acceptable to re-rip as MP3 files.
Gallery of example images
Important to note: when using the <gallery> tag, the "File:" part does not need to be added.
Example of a JPG file
Example of a PNG file with a background
Example of a PNG file with no background
Example of a GIF file
Example of an SVG file
Other
Additionally, please don't ask me about my personal life, I'd greatly appreciate it. I do make cool music for fun though
last seen doing:
November 1, 2024
- 15:4015:40, November 1, 2024 diff hist +76 m File:Ivory Candypop Bud P3 puffs.png No edit summary current
Today's fortune: People still use the Opera browser?