Board Thread:Consensus Track/@comment-25356303-20161017204154

Hi all, Atvelonis here. I have a proposal to make regarding image sizes for NPCs, something that has popped up on a number of occasions in the past. Currently, all NPC images have to be exactly 600x1000 pixels in size (a ratio of 3:5). While this is perfectly fine for anyone using a 1920x1080 monitor, it makes upload difficult for everyone else.

On screen resolutions higher than 1920x1080, uploaders have to downscale images from their original size to 600x1000, which will decrease their quality. Furthermore, users who have displays smaller than 1920x1080 cannot even upload properly-sized NPC images.

As you would expect, this makes progress in the NPC image department very slow. By the time The Elder Scrolls VI comes out 2+ years from this moment, it's very possible that 1440p or even 4K will be the standard among gamers, just as 1080p is the standard now. Obviously, we should prepare for this switch in advance so that we do not have to deal with it in the future.

The solution? Allow any image (above a certain size) that is the same ratio as our current standard (3:5) to be used in NPC articles. If you follow this new standard, your image can be as large as you like and still fit beautifully in article infoboxes. The infobox will scale down the image to a width of 270px (the Portable Infobox standard) just like it does with 600x1000 images. In other words, the infoboxes will not be stretched by the higher-resolution images; they will remain identical, but the images within them will simply be higher quality.

I would suggest that the minimum size of an NPC image be made 432x720―the lowest an image with these proportions can be while remaining "HD" (1280x720 is considered "HD").This way, it is not an arbitrary number, and more importantly it accommodates all common resolutions among uploaders. There should not be a maximum size; anything big enough to slow down page loading times will be blocked by Wikia's file size limit on Special:Upload.

As I said earlier, any 3:5 image will be allowed, as long as it is above 432x720. Some examples:


 * If your resolution is 1280x720, you could crop your image to 432x720.
 * If your resolution is 1600x900, you could crop your image to 540x900.
 * If your resolution is 1920x1080, you could crop your image to 648x1080.
 * If your resolution is 2560x1440, you could crop your image to 864x1440.
 * If your resolution is 3840x2160, you could crop your image to 1296x2160.

Of course, you don't have to stick to these exact numbers. If you're on a 1080p monitor, there's no problem with making your new uploads 600x1000. Just choose a size that looks good and is easy for you.

As long as the ratio is 3:5 and above the minimum size, it will be allowed. I'll make a chart here on the wiki giving all acceptable sizes as soon as I can.

What are your thoughts on this? I will answer any questions you have as quickly as possible. Please do not vote at this time, this thread is for discussion only. And of course, accompany any support or opposition with adequate reasoning, or your comment may be discarded in the final decision. Thanks! 