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Why are Guide image requirements so strict?

I am honestly ready to quit my first attempt at a guide. If I do so, it may be my last.

Issue #1 is being forced to make the images 800x600 pixels. Sorry, the window sized screen images I am going to use are not, and never will be, that size.

The cropping option makes no sense in a screen shot image in a Guide. You want the user to get only part of the graphical info?

The other option being to force them to download a fatbits image when less than 800x600 are available? I don't get it.

Maybe I am doing something wrong? I am using the Image drawer at the bottom of the guide window to upload the images, and it requires that they be 800x600...

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Note to self, break the bottom half (#2) out into a separate question tomorrow...

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Issue #2: Text - Not letting me paste in my guide text in a big chunk and edit into steps! I could do that in blogger for cryin' out loud, and it is busted beyond belief.

Honestly, can I put in my own wiki text by hand for a Guide, it would be much faster and easier (for me).

And forcing me to use your dumb tool to input and order the steps will make me tear my hair out.

No wonder you have so few guides! This is why!

Note to self, put the image requirements in the FAQ.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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To clarify the requirements: Images must be at least 800x600, and you need to crop them to 4x3.

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OK, the HTML reference was a goof. I get the whole wiki text idea, I can deal. Pretend I said "my own wiki text" instead of HTML.

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Creativity loves constraints

We have two primary types of wiki content: guides that are required to be in a standard consistent format, and wikis that are very flexible.

The constraints we put on guides make creating a new guide very fast, as long as the type of instructions you're writing fit well into the format. If the instructions don't fit well, then you're better off using a wiki.

What are the constraints for guides?

Guides must be step-by-step. Each step has:

  • Up to three images
    • All images must be at least 800x600
    • All images must be 4x3. For layout consistency, we require all photos have a landscape 4:3 aspect ratio.
  • Up to ten text bullets
    • Each bullet must be less than 600 characters.
  • All text markup must be in Wiki.

What are the constraints for wikis?

  • Images must be at least 300x150. Aspect ratio is not constrained.
  • All text markup and formatting must be in Wiki.

High Resolution Photos

The guide requirements are very easy to work with if you're taking photos. They can be quite a hassle to take screenshots and get them into this format. The best way I can recommend is to take full-screen shots (rather than specific windows) and then crop them as you upload. If you absolutely have to adapt existing images, you can uprez the screenshots prior to upload (but only do this as a last resort).

High-quality photos are absolutely essential for communicating repair. Every photo we display on a guide is 592x444. Every image is a link to a higher-quality version (1600x1200 if it's available, 800x600 if it's not). I'm honestly a little surprised there's confusion by this— consistent, high-quality, and high-resolution guide photos are the biggest reason users love iFixit.

Consistent Aspect Ratio

The aspect ratio constraint is designed to be as painless as possible. We had to pick an aspect ratio to make everything look consistent. All of our guides line up correctly, and every step is a consistent height. Users need this consistency to trust that they can follow the directions. If we allowed non-4:3 images, things would look absolutely terrible.

Most people have cameras that shoot at 4:3 (almost every point-and-shoot in the world does this), so their images don't have to be cropped at all.

If you do have instructions that don't fit well into the rigid guide framework, you can always create a wiki page instead. I don't recommend this for step-by-step instructions, but it works well for certain kinds of photo documentation.

No HTML

We do require wiki text everywhere. You can't copy/paste HTML into most wikis, either. This is important for a lot of reasons, which I can go into if you post a followup question.

Confession: We actually cheated on this guide and took photos of the screen, but that was because Apple doesn't really let you take screenshots during the OS installation process. It's also hard to take photos

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+agree! thanks for the clarification. but 1 point isnt 100% right ;-) - i have a "point and shoot" (omg - what an ugly term for a compact camera) sigma dp1s - it has a dslr sensor in it - the regular picture format is 3:2, there are a few newer cmaeras on the market with dslr sensors in it - but the masses are still using 4:3 cameras

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I tracked down one of the Apple Marketing images for OSX, pasted it in, and the cropping requirement made it look very bad. No matter how I cropped it. It could have looked MUCH better if there was an option to add a black border INSTEAD of removing pixels to make the required ratio, like they do on TV. That is a superior solution 50% of the time, to cropping.

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I will try a wiki next.

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I agree, relax the requirements and quality control will go way down. I personally love those incredibly hi-res photos.

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Adding an option to pad the photo with black (when cropping isn't workable) is a reasonable request. It would be a lot of coding (the image code is complex), so there would need to be a lot of demand.

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800x600 ??

i never had any issue with uploading larger pictures the problem is, that the page reduces them to "large" (whats coming close to 800x600 - depending on the aspect ratio of the picture) - the "huge" option isn't available. i add those links in Answers as a simple link: CLICK for a HUGE picture

the problem could sometimes be simple, not everyone has a 32" monitor - many people are still surfing the web with their G3 iBooks or something older than 5 years - the screen resolution is sometimes still around 1024x768 (or 800x600) - if they click on a picture thats 1600x1200 - that would be on a clamshell 4 times the screen resolution - if you go on higher resolutions like 2560 x 1600 that would even make "problems" on many actual notebooks/MacBooks (it would be then 4 times the screen resolution of 1280x800).

larger images are ok, but only when there is a standard size like 800x600 and a option for the full size. the cropping is to correct the aspect ratio

about the html "problem":

WHY should ifixit want that ?

this page uses css - so everything should look the same or within the standard design rules of the website - own html makes no sense on those pages.

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800x600 images are required for repair guides. Answers allows you to upload much smaller images. If you want us to change the linked image to .huge (or the original file size), post that as a feature request.

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hi kyle, thanks for the info abot the request. but i think that most people don't need high-res. pictures in answers - and if i need to post something like that - i know how to post it ;-)

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Agreed, that's a problem with the unified image panel, I had the hardest time once posting an image i needed for a question, I had to crop it and all too to get the AR, I mean for all that trouble, i'd just upload to imageshack and link

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You shouldn't need to crop an image to add it to Answers.

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Too add it to the image panel it said it had to fulfill certain rec's

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Dave will be eternally grateful.