Uploading an Image

When you upload an image, it is placed in its own page. Then, when other pages in the Museum want to display that image, they just reference the image's page name.

Pages in the Museum should only display an image as a thumbnail. That gives the visitor a reasonably good idea of what the image looks like. If they want to see it full sized, then all they have to do is click on the thumbnail image and they will be taken to the image's page.

Important: The instructions given here are general instructions for uploading an image. Please see the editing instructions for the specific page you want to add the image to in order to ensure that you use the proper format and template. See How To Edit Pages for detailed instructions on how to edit each type of page in the Museum.

That said, there are two methods for adding a new image to the Museum:

Method 1: Link first, then upload

Edit the page(s) where the image will be displayed and add a thumbnail image link at the appropriate place(s). The format for a thumnail image link is:
```
[[Image:IMAGE_PAGE_NAME|thumb|center|100px]]
```
where IMAGE_PAGE_NAME is the "destination" name of the image you want to display at the given location. See below for the recommended naming convention for image file destination names.
Preview the page. All new image links should show up as a red, clickable link. If an image shows up instead, then you accidentally used a destination name for an image that was already uploaded and you need to go back and change it to something unique.
If all the new image links show up properly, go ahead and save the page.
Upload the image by clicking the red link. You will automatically be taken to the "Upload file" page. Fill in the name of the image file you want to upload from your machine (Source filename). You can use the "Browse" button to help locate the file on your disk. The Destination filename value should already be filled in and will be used as the name of the page that will hold the uploaded image. Please provide a brief description of what the image is (this is where you can also describe anything special about the cover). Finally, click the "Upload" button. If all goes well, an Image page will be generated showing the image and summary description. Then just use the browser Back button to go back to the page where you added the images and click the next red link, if any. To see the images, you will probably have to reload the page.

Method 2: Upload first, then link

This is basically the reverse of the other method. First you upload the image by clicking the "Upload file" link in the toolbox area near the bottom of the left hand navigation bar. Once the image is uploaded, remember the destination filename as this is the page name that you will have to reference (ie, this is the value you use for IMAGE_PAGE_NAME). Next, edit the page where the image will be displayed and add the thumbnail image link at the appropriate place (see above for the format of an image link). When you preview or save the page, the image will be displayed.

Naming convention for image file destination names

Note that the destination name must not already exist in the Museum site. If the destination name is already in use and you try to upload another image to that name, you will receive an error message and you must give your image a different destination name. This means that once you upload an image, nobody except the Curator can replace it or delete it. Not even you! If you need to replace or delete an image, contact the Curator.

In order to avoid such name collisions, we request that you use the following naming convention for the destination name:

<USER_NAME>_<SHIP_NAME>_<DESIGNATION_and_HULL_NUMBER>_<DATE>_<SUFFIX>_<TYPE>.jpg

Where:

<USER_NAME> is your Museum userid

<SHIP_NAME> is the name of the ship, location, or whatever name best describes the image

<DESIGNATION_and_HULL_NUMBER> is the ship's designation and hull number, if applicable

<DATE> is the date associated with the image in YYYYMMDD format

<SUFFIX> is an additional suffix number needed to make the name unique (just in case you have already uploaded an image for the given ship with the given date

<TYPE> is either "Front", "Back", "Postmark", "Cachet", or some other word that describes the image.

Yes, it is a bit involved but since there are potentially tens of thousands of covers that might be uploaded, we need some way to prevent name collisions. It also has the benefit of giving a reasonable description of the image and who contributed it just by looking at the file name.

For example, if your Museum userid is XYZZY, the image is the front of a Naval Cover related to the USS Enterprise CV-6, and has a postmark date of December 25, 1940, then the recommended name would be

XYZZY_Enterprise_CV6_19401225_1_Front.jpg

If you then upload the image with the back of the cover, then the recommended name would be

XYZZY_Enterprise_CV6_19401225_1_Back.jpg

If you upload another image of a Naval Cover related to the USS Enterprise CV-6 that also has a postmark date of December 25, 1940, then just increment the suffix value:

XYZZY_Enterprise_CV6_19401225_2_Front.jpg

If you upload a closeup of the postmark on the cover, then use "_Postmark" as the <TYPE>.

XYZZY_Enterprise_CV6_19401225_2_Postmark.jpg

If you upload a closeup of the cachet on the cover, then use "_Cachet" as the <TYPE>.

XYZZY_Enterprise_CV6_19401225_2_Cachet.jpg

Uploading an Image

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