Help:Introduction to images with VisualEditor/All

Inserting a new image can be done while you're editing the article. You can either insert images that are already stored on Wikimedia Commons, or upload a new image of yours. Images are stored on Wikimedia Commons so that they can be used in multiple articles, across many languages, and are even free for anyone to use outside of Wikipedia (with some conditions). This tutorial introduces you to the process of uploading and inserting images, including the relevant rules and guidelines.

Uploading images

Wikimedia Commons stores images so that they can be used on different language versions of Wikipedia, as well as by sister projects of Wikipedia.

To upload a new image, first activate VisualEditor by clicking "Edit" at the top of an article.

Once the VE toolbar has appeared, click the Insert  menu and choose the "Images and media" option. That opens a dialog box which allows you to upload and use images.

Click the "Upload" tab and select an image on your computer (either type the file name or drag an image into the box).

You need to add a description so that someone else who might want to use the image on another page can understand what the image is about. This description can be more detailed than you'd use in an article because it's just stored with the image on the Commons. You can also assign categories to the image, to help people find it.

Clicking "Upload" will upload your new image onto the Commons and then insert it into the article!

Important caveat: Images on Wikimedia Commons must not be copyrighted by anyone other than the uploader, and when they are uploaded they become free for anyone to use when attributed (Creative commons license). If you don't own the copyright for the image, but believe that uploading it would be 'fair-use', the image should instead be stored on Wikipedia using the File Upload Wizard, not on the Commons. For more information, see Help:Introduction to images with Wiki Markup/2.

Editing the details

When you insert a new image, or double-click on an existing image in an article, a dialog box will open, where you can add details about the image and change its settings.

A good caption explains the image so that readers understand what they're looking at. Captions can contain wikilinks and formatting, just like the main text of a page.

Alternative text is used to describe the contents of an image for users who have visual impairments, and use a text reader for web pages.

The "Advanced" tab contains various additional parameters. These include the alignment, the display type, and size of the image. It is usually best to leave the defaults as is, but sometimes a larger image may be more useful.

Galleries

Images are usually located throughout an article, individually, near the text that is relevant to the image. In some circumstances, however, a gallery of many images together may be appropriate if the collection illustrates aspects of a subject better than individual images can.

You can edit existing galleries by clicking that gallery and selecting the gallery icon that appears by it. To add a new gallery, click the Insert  menu and choose the "Gallery" option.

The gallery editor has two tabs, one to add images and their captions, the other controls display options.

The order of images can be rearranged by dragging the images on the left, and more can be added using the "Add new image" button at the bottom of the list.

The "Options" tab allows size and layout to be edited. The default display options are preferred in most cases.

See also

• Wikipedia:Uploading images
• Wikipedia:Picture tutorial (how to add images to an article)