John R. Owens wrote:
I don't know if this might have ever been suggested before already, but perhaps a change in software could allow us to set a maximum image size in our user preferences? Either in width/height, e.g. "always shrink images to less than 200 pixels wide or 150 pixels high, whichever is smaller", or in kB, e.g. "always shrink images to less than 10 kB".
This is absolutely brilliant. I love and support this idea.
Not because I have a slow connection (which I do, but I don't mind), but rather because I'm getting annoyed when people make images so huge because they have a 1280x1024 resolution and they think everyone else must have that too. (I even had one replying back to me saying "Not everyone has a resolution as low as yours, so please leave the image this big!")
And of course, you probably wouldn't want the rule applied to Image: namespace pages.
Yes, you do want it applied to Image:-namespace pages. The actual image above it is not part of the page. :)
But then again, you might also end up with weird formatting, when the author/editor inserting into a page doesn't know how large the image ends up being displayed.
People should learn that formatting is more than just looking at what it looks like on *your* screen. Pages must be formatted in such a way that they are readable on any resolution (OK, I guess we can assume a minimum resolution of 800x600, but not more!). Resizing your window is all it takes to check. Once this is done properly, varying sizes of images shouldn't have any adverse effect on the formatting.
Of course, if it was entirely up to me, all images and taxo-/infoboxes would be one big right-floating element and at the top of the article source text. They would form a neat column on the right, with the text entirely unaffected. This would solve pretty much all layout issues instantly, especially the one with the section edit links. There are a few special cases where this doesn't do, and in some circumstances you really do want left-floating images, but they can always be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Timwi