After tons of research into how our readers perceive intro images we have concluded that in most cases intro images are distracting, confusing or unhelpful to readers. These images detract from our goal of helping people actually learn how to do something. This research has been covered in previous forum posts, community hangouts and discussions so I won’t dive into it here. Big change:Around the time we transition to the new design (currently hoping to launch in October or November), we are going to remove intro images in most cases. By removing intro images we will help readers dive more quickly into the instructions that they need. What if you have a really awesome intro image you still want to show up?There still is a way to do that
We will continue to show centered, intro images that are 625 pixels or over in width that are in *landscape* mode. (FYI portrait mode eg taller rather than wider won’t work. It has to be landscape which is wider than it is tall.) So if you want to keep any intro image on any page on the site showing, simply transition it to a large, centered image in landscape mode at the very top of an article. Be sure to include the word “center” in the wiki text and remove the word “thumb”. Here is some example wiki code: [[Image:Name of your image.jpg|center|625px]] This is where your intro starts…. Here is an example of what this looks like on a live page: http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Get-a-Girl-to-Like-You&action=edit
What will happen to the old intro images?They are going to stick around. We will continue to use them as preview images in search results, related wikiHows, category pages, FA pages, etc. At some point we are going to have a bot go move them to the bottom of the page out of the way of most editors. By keeping them around it also will allow us to reverse this change if time proves this was a terrible mistake When is this going to happen?It will happen when we roll out the new redesign, which won’t happen for at least a month. I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to edit any images they still want to show up though. I hate this change! Will we roll it back at some point?Very possibly. Like all changes it will be really hard to tell how good it is till we have observed what the site looks like without most intro images for a while. Per our usual practice on big changes, I’d suggest we all observe the change for a month before making conclusions about whether we want to roll it back or keep it. We are going to preserve all the images so we will be able to reverse this change if necessary. I love this change! I’ve always hated intro images. What took you guys so long to do this?Better late than never
system
2
YAY! I can’t freaken wait for the new design!
EDiting will be much funner!
I agree that this change will help more readers learn how to do something without being distracted by the images, and I also want to add that there will be less work for patrollers (because they would have to revert or remove the unfitting image additions).
@jack
will the redesign have more awesome features for editors?
system
5
Waiting for the New design…They say you cant improve on perfection, But the wikiHow team seems to be doing just that!
Cant wait for a new design!! Really excited!
Hibou8
7
Thank you for giving us the option to keep them. I agree that most articles don’t need one, but they are nice for some articles.
So the intro will just be text? No images? Yeah I guess that would work, they’re not very helpful anyway in most cases
system
10
Any image in an article (I think), even @ the bottom, will at least provide an image for search, or for linking (to diaspora or FB, say), as per an earlier thread; hope you guys consider how this will affect search. http://forums.wikihow.com/discussion/6870/guerrilla-edit-a-wiki/#Item_3
system
11
So we are having a new design for new people?
system
12
Ok obv y’all considered the virtual void where a thumbnail would be in search, or in linking–maybe consider an article image somewhere
in the article for these?
At the beginning the redesign is going to really be about just a new look and feel, instead of new features. We will continue to add new features over time, but our initial focus will just be improving the look and feel. If we nail it, we hope to make editing feel more “fun” and reading “easier” without actually changing any features. ONce the design stabilizes, we can start adding new features again though
Glad that folks are looking forward to the redesign. We’re working hard here to reward that anticipation
Yes, we do plan on continuing to make a thumbnail image available for search engines, Facebook, Diaspora, etc even after we remove the intro image. This is a good reminder for me to double check that it will work thoughI’m on that now.
