Extension talk:Media Viewer/About

Please share your feedback about the Media Viewer.

Clarity

 * I like that I can see all the most relevant information about the image in 1 page only and the graphic display. --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I like that it is possible to watch more details present on a picture, exactly text explaining what a part or a component of some graph means, so eliminates some confusion of not being sure what is on that picture. Cornel24 (talk) 17:53, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Hello, it's a very good idea : now we can have a look on the picture without having to go to Commons and then click again to see it in a larger size. It is quite clear, also : we easily and quickly see the picture and the information, and all the links we need are there. Thank you for this new feature ! Best regards, --Daehan (talk) 10:06, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Context
The Media Viewer is a good idea for viewing pictures at a larger size without having to jump away from a page with their file description content. It loads rather slowly, which could be improved, but it is nice I can enlarge thumbnails wihtout having to go to another page to see the bigger picture. Arcane21 (talk) 06:34, 5 November 2013 (UTC)Arcane21


 * Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Arcane21. I'm glad you generally like the Media Viewer concept, and your feedback is much appreciated :) We are already working to improve the image loading speed, but your input is helping us give this task a higher priority. We are now fixing the most urgent bugs, and will be rolling out more tweaks and new features in coming weeks, with our next release due on 21 November, and more updates in December. If you have any more suggestions or questions, you are welcome to post them here, and/or on this Media Viewer discussion page. I am out of office until 19 November, but you can contact our community liaison Keegan (WMF) or lead developer Mark Homquist with any urgent requests. Thanks again for helping us improve this tool! Fabrice Florin (WMF) (talk) 03:09, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

What would you change in Media Viewer?

 * I'd make the initial view/popup show a larger image size. The full screen shot of the bird is a great size. Something closer to that without needing a second click would be great. Quicklinks to other image sizes are a must. MarkJurgens
 * I agree with MarkJurgens: it makes no sense to click two times, 1 click is enough. Moreover, I don't like the initial trasparent view, it is usefulness. --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The "created on YYYY-MM-DD" placed just above "by X" seem to imply that the user uploading created it on that day. That will be correct for images taken by the user, but for uploads of old images it will be strange, making it look like the user was alive hundreds of years ago. --Ainali (talk) 09:07, 2 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The smily face in front of "by X" is strange to me, especially with the word "by". Either have a upload symbol so the row can be interpreted as "Uploaded by X" or remove the "by" So it reads as "User X". --Ainali (talk) 09:07, 2 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I suggest to replace the smily face with an icon showing an arrow going in a box, similar to this one: File:Crystal Clear app ark2.png. --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I'd like to see all the main information in a summary that could be quickly copy/pasted by people willing to reuse the file. I think that author, license and source should be provided in an easy format that allows the license to be respected even if the reuser doesn't know, well, anything about how licenses work. --Elitre (WMF) (talk) 14:03, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
 * This is really important. Our readers are already struggling how to reuse files, please don't make it any harder for them. Note that the uploader is not necessarily the author! (cf. uploads from flickr by bots) --Church of emacs talk · contrib 12:55, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm quite a fan of the links which quickly allow you to switch among image sizes. Small or full screen are not exactly my favorite formats :) --Elitre (WMF) (talk) 14:15, 4 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Clicking outside of the modal should close it. Theopolisme (talk) 21:56, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 JamesA (talk) 23:27, 5 November 2013 (UTC)


 * "Use this file" menu should have the option to "copy to clipboard" or any other option that can be used together with the VisualEditor.--Micru (talk) 01:16, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, I also thought about this. +1 Micru :) Cornel24 (talk) 16:26, 12 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The resize arrow shouldn't change the size to full screen. It should have several size steps (2-3) before changing to full screen.--Micru (talk) 01:16, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I disagree: instead to have to click many times to see the full screen it, it could be easier to have some links to click to change the image in the desired format, like it happens in Flickr. See for example here, where you can choose the format of the picture in the section "Sizes". --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I prefer much better other color schemes and designs like the one used in "Picasa Viewer". Related images could be shown in a gallery on the lower part.--Micru (talk) 01:16, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 Shubhamkanodia (talk) 14:12, 6 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Give more room to the image. Other sites (500px, Flickr) are handling this far better. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 21:05, 7 November 2013 (UTC)


 * It loads photos sloooooowwwwly. For me (on a fast connection and a fast computer), images take between 3 seconds and about 25 seconds to load.--Ragesoss (talk) 03:40, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Me too. Way too slowly. --Another Believer (talk) 03:44, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Maybe we can solve it giving the possibility to change the image resolution. --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Or maybe have a preview with a lower resolution and only if user wants full screen load the picture in best resolution. Some users have slower connections, others faster, somebody access from smartphones, others from tablets and so on. I think it's appropriate to have a standard resolution for every category of devices. Cornel24 (talk) 17:39, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Perhaps whatever's loaded so far could be shown on the screen, like how loading images are typically shown? --Yair rand (talk) 03:46, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
 * yep, would a VipsScaler implementation help ? Slowking4 (talk) 03:09, 15 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The file information should be balanced centrally with the image, instead of jutting to the left. The layout seems to divide in the middle between the metadata (on the right) and the description (on the left), but the metadata is much more compact than a typical description, making the whole text area feel lopsided.--Ragesoss (talk) 03:40, 8 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The transparent background against the file information is distracting. I would prefer that the text have an opaque background.--Ragesoss (talk) 03:40, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Agreed. --Another Believer (talk) 03:46, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
 * The entire page should be overlaid with a darker semi-transparent color -- 80% black, for instance -- with the text in a white box. Lightboxes tend to work that way, for good reason. equazcion � 09:02, 8 Nov 2013 (UTC)
 * Totally agree, dark grey or black semi-transparent background would be the best. It's easier on the eyes and allows to focus on the image. Mayast (talk) 21:27, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I would prefer no transparency at all: just show it in another page. --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, I'm agree too. No transparency will fit better. Or why not let the user choose what he wants? Just to have a checkbox. :) Cornel24 (talk) 17:49, 10 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Each field has its own issues mostly due large variety of Commons:Infoboxes and how they are used. Some good galleries to try: Musée_du_Louvre:Inventory or Stroop_Report
 * Primary Info ( shown above the image):
 * File name - I think this one should link to the file itself so if other links fail (like for this image), this one should be always there.
 * Author - should work with creator templates like here, might need to distinguish between the photographer and the original artist, like here or here. It works here but not here. If author is "unknown" than it is hard to tell what is unknown about the image since nothing says that this field is an author. Some usernames can be also be confusing like User:Vsop.de. Another example: J. Stroop is not the author of this photo only the report this photo come from.
 * Source - source can have large variety of inputs, like here. Anything more complicated than "own work" or "self-photographed" should be skipped or replaced with "see image", so we do not get situations like with this. Source of this image seem to be too long and irrelevant.
 * License Info I think this one works fine: some licenses are recognized like CC-BY others are not and are linking to the page.
 * Secondary Info ( shown below the image): this image is missing all secondary info
 * Description sometimes like in this photo description was not found.
 * Uploader name is this the first or last uploader? I removed a lot of watermarks over the years, but some minor change like this should not make me the uploader. May be both?
 * Creation Date very few date formats seem to be recognized, like here, or here giving "Created on Invalid Date" message when date is quite clear.
 * Hope this helps. --Jarekt (talk) 17:39, 8 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I filed a few of these as bugs: 57307 (date formats), 57308 (multiple uploaders), 57311 (description missing). Will come back for more later. --Tgr (WMF) (talk) 16:56, 20 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The "Use this file" option should generate the proper attribution for use outside Wikimedia sites, according to the license of the file. Rsocol (talk) 19:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I think it would make sense if clicking a photo with the middle mouse button (MMB) would open it in a new tab, as opening it in the Media Viewer intuitively happens through LMB. For people editing Categories or looking for fast access to the full-sized file, this would avoid having to go through the right-click menu. (Browser tested: Chrome) Julian Herzog (talk) 19:05, 13 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The Close button (the 'X') should be on the opposite side of the image frame. It's counter-intuitive for it to be on the left side. FreeRangeFrog (talk) 04:54, 20 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Easier/clearer way to get the full-size image. I think that's what a lot of users click on an image for. At the moment, you do this by following the licencing link. I'd ideally like to see a link that does it directly, though. BTW, I basically like the feature. FormerIP (talk) 00:45, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Cool but don't force this to be the default setting without let the option to the user to deactivate it. I'm from the Wiktionnaire (french wiktionary) and on our project click on image redirect automatically to Commons, and it's kind of practical when we are contributors. Vive la Rosière (talk) 01:45, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I suggest to put a frame around the Media Viewer : as it stands now, it looks kind of messed-up, scattered, to me. --Daehan (talk) 10:11, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Closing the window
I feel weird that the "X" to close the view is on the top left and not in the top right. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with this. Barcex (talk) 17:58, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 I expected the closing X on the top right position too. Raymond (talk) 21:38, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * That's where it'll be in the next version, see Multimedia/About Media Viewer.--Eloquence (talk) 21:54, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I don't feel such discomfort, maybe because I'm left-handed and right-handed too. But, I'm agree that most users expect the closing X at right. Cornel24 (talk) 16:14, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
 * It probably should be consistent at least. For me that button is too flat. No hover highlight feedback for instance. TheDJ (talk) 09:15, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

I expected the window to close if I click on the empty space that is available very much in the surroundings of the viewer. Looking for an X is very slow and annoying (even if it was in the right corner, where I'd expect it to be). --2003:63:2F00:D800:98DD:D5CA:240B:868A 14:16, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * In most lightbox scripts the image can be closed by clicking on the "X", clicking on the background (my usual choice), or pressing "ESC". I think that those other options should be introduced here as well. When I used the Media Viewer for the first time, I spent at least a few seconds clicking on the background, until I noticed the "X"... Mayast (talk) 21:27, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 to close the lightbox by clicking on the background. I'm too lazy to move pointer over the close button and click, I just want to click Face-smile.svg -- LLM (talk) 21:33, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Description should be on the top
Hi! I'm Himanis Das of English Wikipeida, I find the Media viewer quite in-acceptable because when I opened a file through it, the Source info appears in the top between the close 'X' and 'View license' button; and the Description info is present in the left side in the bottom of the file opened.

No! The description info should be in the place of source info. It'll allow people to access easy understanding of the file rather than gaining knowledge where from the respective file has been derived.

Drew: Am I correct ?

Himanis Das (talk) 08:05, 14 November 2013 (UTC)
 * We decided to put the description lower because, while the description may better explain the image, it will often also be very long. It's hard to reserve enough space for the image when the description takes up a bunch of screen real estate. We are considering putting the caption in the interface, though - would that be better than e.g. the title of the image for articulating its purpose? --MarkTraceur (talk) 01:35, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I, personally, would prefer the description to be placed under the image. That's where it is usually placed in typical lightbox scripts, and after many years of surfing the Internet and seeing hundreds of websites and galleries, I got used to that. So I would think that many other users did, too. I also agree that descriptions are sometimes long. Image title should be at the top, not the description. Mayast (talk) 21:34, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

The "x"
The "x" should be at right and the full screen at left. No ? --SleaY (talk) 00:12, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I blame designers, who use Macs. :)
 * In all seriousness, the new version (on mediawiki.org RIGHT NOW) has the close button on the right side, inside the image. --MarkTraceur (talk) 01:22, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Media Viewer size problem
Hi, Trying the new Media Viewer & it doesn't all show up (see image), To browser zoom in & out would be a pain so hoping it could be fixed?

Thanks Davey2010 (talk) 00:35, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * This should be fixed in the second version coming out very soon, and already deployed on mediawiki.org - try opening the thumbnail you created on this page with the viewer (you may need to enable the preference in Special:Preferences), and let us know if it's better. --MarkTraceur (talk) 01:19, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Wow that's alot better definitely, Apart from this it's great! )
 * Thanks for your help, Davey2010 (talk) 02:14, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * No problem! That's what I like to hear :) --MarkTraceur (talk) 03:09, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Load image instantly
A thumbnail of the image has already loaded when entering the Media Viewer, so why not load the thumbnail first (it'll be big and blurry), and the higher resolution one will be displayed when it has loaded. Skalman (talk) 07:31, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1. It took 20 seconds to load the second image from Multimedia/About Media Viewer. Helder 14:14, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Licensing and attribution
I have several problems with the media viewer: --B (talk) 13:51, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * 1) The "Use this file on another website" has a relative link to the image description page - "/wiki/File:Donna Shalala - Knight Foundation.jpg".  That link is not going to work if you are using the image on another website.
 * 2) Many images are not suitable for reuse on every conceivable website.  For example, fair use images should definitely not have anything encouraging people to reuse them.  And even some of our licensed images - if it's not public domain and not creative commons, then we shouldn't encourage someone to use it without reading the detailed licensing information.  If you just embed a GFDL image, for instance, you are probably not in compliance with the terms of the license.
 * 3) It's not obvious which thing on the popup is the author.  Unless you already know who the author of a particular image is, you're going to think that the uploader is the author and would incorrectly attribute that person.
 * 4) We've been telling photo contributors that if someone clicks on an image, it will take them to the description page, which will show their license, attribution information, etc.  Now, that's not necessarily true any more.
 * 5) It doesn't actually do anything useful for the reader - they are already one click away from viewing an enlarged version of the image ... you've just made the click do something different.

What new Media Viewer features would you like to see?

 * In the Light box I think it would be nice if the image is a link to the Commons file-page. Ainali (talk) 08:52, 2 November 2013 (UTC)


 * In Ligh box mode, clicking outside the boundraries of the light box should return you to the article. Ainali (talk) 09:07, 2 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:34, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 Skalman (talk) 07:23, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Add left and right arrows to navigate to other media in the article.--Micru (talk) 01:16, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I agree to this proposal in the case you click on the image in a Wikipedia article. When instead you click the image inside a Commons category, the left and right arrows have to be used to navigate to other media in the category. I would really appreciate this function. --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:29, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 Skalman (talk) 07:23, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Support for multiple page documents (Djvu, PDF, PPT, etc). For some inspiration you can take a look to the IA Book reader.--Micru (talk) 01:19, 5 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Zooming would be useful. --FocalPoint (talk) 16:26, 6 November 2013 (UTC)
 * +1 --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:34, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Why not show license at the media page?--Zhangjintao(Connect to me at zh.wikipedia.org 04:41, 7 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Annotations, for images like File:1911 Solvay conference.jpg. See Commons:Help:Gadget-ImageAnnotator --Jarekt (talk) 19:33, 8 November 2013 (UTC)


 * It could be nice a function to see a slideshow of the images in the same Commons category or in the same Wikipedia page, showing the next image after few seconds. It could be great a tool to create a personalized list of pictures, then see the slideshow and to save it as a .ppt file, so it can be used to create easily and quickly some presentation to use offline (for example by the teacher in a school during a lesson). --Daniele Pugliesi (talk) 06:45, 9 November 2013 (UTC)


 * In the absence of zooming, a direct link to the raw file/full size image would help. --Duplode (talk) 01:15, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Close viewer when clicking on the large empty spaces around it and not having to search a tiny "X" somewhere. --2003:63:2F00:D800:98DD:D5CA:240B:868A 14:17, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Notes?
Is it possible to display the image notes like on commons? --Hans Haase (talk) 01:07, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * You probably mean annotations? If so, we have a bug open for that: 56666 --MarkTraceur (talk) 01:19, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Some more feedback
Please feel free to ignore/strike if I'm missing something obvious here.
 * Sunrise over fishing boats in Kerala is missing the license at the top right corner, and says date is invalid;
 * Lu3 TIFF file - missing license;
 * San-Francisco-Aerial-View-Photo-5 - invalid date;
 * Tropical Fish Aquarium - California Academy of Sciences - missing license;
 * Pentacle SVG file - missing license;
 * BetaFeatures-MediaViewer-Thumbnail - missing license;
 * Animated GIF - took a lot to load the first time, missing license;
 * 05 Micro-Macro - missing license;
 * Sydney Tower Panorama - missing license;
 * Nijkerk-grote-kerk-toren-2011- - missing license, invalid date. --Elitre (WMF) (talk) 14:15, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

There is no obvious interface for getting to a larger version or the original media file. This is particularly important in screenshots, for example, which may be unusable in the thumbnail or lightbox size and resolution. —Michael Z. 2013-11-06 15:49 z 


 * 1) It takes much longer (10 seconds or more) than normally to load/view an image. Normally i open files in a new tab which is quicker.
 * 2) The date given is wrong. For example "Erstellt am -2147483629. Dezember 1969" (=photo taken december 1969) when you view the photo commons:File:Hattingen - Rathausplatz - Rathaus 03 ies.jpg on Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. I don't know from where the media viewer could have taken this information. The photo was made in 2010 see its information template and the exif informations. Holger1959 (talk) 21:32, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

There is already a user script for that - Picture Popups
There is already a user script that displays images in larger sizes on the article pages - en:User:Zocky/Picture Popups. It's advantage is that it does not gray out the whole article when showing the images, instead they open in windows which you can move around the page and you can open multiple such windows. My suggestion is to allow this behaviour in Media Viewer as well. --V111P (talk) 21:37, 6 November 2013 (UTC)
 * media viewer hangs on large images (over 50mb) ? integrating VipsScaler would be a nice fix ? Slowking4 (talk) 03:32, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Sorry
Simply adjust the settings in preferences (appearance / file) for quick viewing and better than what is proposed by default. I use daily (1280x1024) and 300px for miniature; Its gives a result better and faster than what is proposed by this beta. The caption data is very fragmented and they are not directly accessible. This gadget is slow and I do not see the interest. --Archaeodontosaurus (talk) 13:36, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Invalid date
All my pictures have correct dates and times in the information template. The information template translates the dates correctly to different languages. However, this viewers says that the date is "Invalid". Barcex (talk) 18:05, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Same for me, all my images are tagged with the global standard time and date notation (2013-09-07 17:59:30). In the normal view, this is interpreted correctly, the Media Viewer regards it as "invalid". Julian Herzog (talk) 15:08, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Interestingly, as I just found out, it's interpreted correctly here: commons:File:Eurojet EJ200 for Eurofighter Typhoon PAS 2013 01 free.jpg, only the displayed format of the date is still wrong then (what's "6/19/2013"?). I have my date display preference set to "2013-11-10T15:11:17", but that seems to be ignored. Julian Herzog (talk) 15:12, 10 November 2013 (UTC)

The "x", again
So the X moved to the right side, good. But there are still problems (Firefox): Skalman (talk) 07:21, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Before the first image has loaded it is visible on the top right
 * While an image is loading, the X isn't visible (important if you're on a slow connection)
 * You have to hover the image to see the X (annoying for small images) (why can't it be in the very top right always?)
 * I imagine that people with poor eyesight will have problems seeing the X. Add more/darker shadow
 * It goes off the screen if I scroll down to view (I suggest position:fixed)

Jiggle when resizing the window
Resizing the window (e.g. by going to fullscreen mode) makes the UI jiggle around a bit (Firefox). Skalman (talk) 07:21, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Some tiny issues

 * The "x" still appears on the upperleft corner. I guess it hasn't been fixed yet. Btw I use Google Chrome.
 * When the there is a template on the space "author" it looks weird. (see Smit.Faces of Lorises.jpg).

--Andresisrael (talk) 14:31, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I believe that the update hasn't been rolled out to all wikis, but do you have this issue also on this wiki (example page with images). Skalman (talk) 17:12, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for your great feedback!
Thank you all for your wonderful feedback, everyone! Especially Daniele Pugliesi, Cornel24, MarkJurgens, Ainali, Elitre, Micru, Ragesoss, Jarekt, Holger1959, Barcex, Raymond and Julian Herzog, to name but a few. Your detailed feedback is absolutely invaluable to us -- and much, much appreciated :) We are passing on to our development team recommendations to address the issues you raised. Some of these issues were already on our to-do list, but your comments are helping us give these tasks a higher priority. We are now fixing the most urgent bugs, and will be rolling out more tweaks and new features in coming weeks, with our next release due on 21 November, and more updates in December. If you have any more suggestions or questions, you are welcome to post them here, and/or on this Media Viewer discussion page. I am out of office until 19 November, but you can contact our community liaison Keegan (WMF) or lead developer Mark Homquist with any urgent requests. Thanks again for your amazing suggestions, and for all that you are doing to help improve this tool as a collaboration between the community and the foundation! Fabrice Florin (WMF) (talk) 03:11, 12 November 2013 (UTC)