Browse Wikimedia Commons for photos to insert into new posts

[brainwane]

Title:
Browse Wikimedia Commons for photos to insert into new posts

Area:
entries

Summary:
On the New Post and Edit pages, give the user the ability to browse freely licensed photos from Wikimedia Commons to insert into their posts. Use the MediaWiki API https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:FAQ and the example of http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/PhotoCommons as a prototype (it's a WordPress extension).

Description:
It would be nice to give users the ability to dress up their more text-heavy posts with graphics. Wikimedia Commons is a useful source of freely licensed graphics.

I don't know how this should be implemented in the UI. I imagine there would be some kind of search functionality, to search Commons for photos matching a keyword and then to display thumbnails and then choose them for insertion. Inserting the photo should probably also automatically add a caption with attribution.

Poll #8850 Browse Wikimedia Commons for photos to insert into new posts

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 64

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This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
5 (7.8%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
4 (6.2%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
26 (40.6%)

(I have no opinion)
27 (42.2%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (3.1%)

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Thinking about this bit, if the image already has thumbnail-sized versions of it available from the source, it could be really shiny to have a placeholder setting which is "use thumbnail versions for placeholder image when available" -- I am not suggesting that globally, since one very valid use of placeholders is to block images of unknown provenance for possible content issues, rather than size issues -- but for people whose use of placeholders is strictly for size, and the image is hosted from somewhere Known that does thumbnails in a way acceptable to DW, I think it could be very useful.

[matgb]

Ooh, I like this. I had to use placeholders when I was on dial up, but really hated it (and there's someone on my reading page now that's posting full screen size pics and force reducign them, thinking that it's a good thing, need to mention how bad it is at some point).

Auto thumbnail use could be really cool if it's workable, and it ought to be.

[musyc]

Now that I would like. I am one of those "placeholders for size not content" people, so auto-thumbnails would be awesome for me. (And save some swearing every time I forget and have to research how to use the thumbnail from PB as an anchor, which is every time. Which goes first a href or img src ahhhhhhhh;lkajsd;fkjasdf.)