Forum:Image reorganization

Greetings,

Quality and organization are the foundations of any wiki and, to put it bluntly, the CnC Wiki is sorely lacking in both departments. My impression that the wiki's contributors have been hampered not by lack of enthusiasm, for which there is abundant supply, but rather by a lack of direction. Without such direction contributions have been inconsistent in both the aforementioned quality and organization.

The state of image management unfortunately reflects this lamentable state. Currently auditing the image repository is not possible without significant labour. Lack of comprehensive categorization and inadequate descriptive file naming makes it impossible to check for duplicates, among other things.

I propose the following policy and plan to rectify this. It will require preserverance to implement fully but it will give those who have an interest in seeing the wiki's foundations strengthened for future growth something to work with.

Step 1: Categorization

Every image must be categorized. The image category structure will be something like as follow (incomplete example):
 * Images
 * Allied images
 * Allied unit images
 * Allied Rifleman images
 * Allied Medium Tank images
 * etc.
 * Allied structure images
 * Allied Construction Yard images
 * etc.
 * Allied organization images
 * etc.
 * Allied character images
 * etc.
 * Chinese images
 * etc.
 * Empire of the Rising Sun images
 * etc.
 * GDI images
 * etc.
 * GLA images
 * etc.
 * Nod images
 * etc.
 * Soviet images
 * etc.
 * USA images
 * etc.
 * User images

I'm not sure if you want to group the factions by game or what have you, but this is basic idea. Not the capitalization. Categorization of existing images can begin immediately as it is the easiest thing to do.

Step 2: File Naming

Some files have incredibly undescriptive names, like being just a string of numbers which doesn't tell us what the image subject is. The basic filename should look like:

For example:

This ensures each image has a unique name, makes auditing ludicrously simple, and allows us to group different iterations of the same unit in the same category. For example, for the Nod Stealth Tank we could have:

and  and   and   all in the same category for easy reference.

The source ID would be something like the following:

The type string would be something like the following:

Step 3: Sourcing

As you go through the images categorizing, and renaming the worst offenders, try to figure out where it came from and add that to the image description. This would be a good time to look out for unofficial art ("fanart") which should be purged along with duplicates.

Step 4: Profit? This should get things rolling. Suggestions and comments are of course welcome. - Meco (talk) 03:54, 21 May 2009 (UTC)