Every article needs at least one image. A plugin will automatically turn the first image into the thumbnail for the article excerpt. For that first photo, try to avoid using an image that is a vertical rectangle. Admittedly, that won’t be feasible when you’re writing a book review because the first image will often be the book cover. A square like the one at the top of this article is fine.

A horizontal rectangle is good and looks cinematic like a movie or TV screen. The plugin will take a square from part of the rectangle IF you have stored the image correctly.

RESIZE IMAGES. If an image is larger than 500 pixels wide, you must resize the photo BEFORE uploading it to NerdSpan. Larger photos increase load time too much.
MAXIMUM WIDTH for any image: 500 pixels.
MINIMUM WIDTH for first image: 150 pixels.
MINIMUM HEIGHT for first image: 150 pixels.

CREDIT THE SOURCE. You can do this by linking it to its original source (while setting the link to open in a new tab) and/or by text credit either under the photo or at the bottom of the article, depending on what seems appropriate for the particular story and its layout.

You might not have to credit the source when the article makes it clear what film you’re covering or when you’re asking readers to identify the source. Do YOU know which film this comes from?

DO NOT COPY AND PASTE an article from another website. That can create ridiculously long code in the article’s html, which will then slow the load time for both your article and our whole website. If you’re using an article from another website, download it onto your computer, make sure it’s the right size, and then upload it onto NerdSpan. I must repeat because people keep screwing this up: STORE THE IMAGE AT NERDSPAN so its url starts with https://NerdSpan.com

DO NOT VIOLATE COPYRIGHT. Do not use any image that has a watermark, logo, copyright notice, or other clear indicator of ownership, not unless we have clear, written permission to use it and can honestly say, “Used with permission.” Do not borrow an individual’s DeviantArt or other personally created image without explicit permission. Promotional images are great to use. For a book cover, get a copy from the publisher’s website. It’s a promotional image that exists to sell their book. Likewise, a screen capture is fine for illustrative purpose if it comes from a LEGAL (not pirated) copy of the material.

KEEP FILE NAMES SIMPLE! Complicated file names can cause the whole website to get stuck and fail to load completely. It has something to do with our thumbnail generator.
Bad image name: /growing-up-potter-300×186.jpg
Good image name: growing-up-potter1.jpg

Bad image name: LastStand.jpg.size-230.jpg
Good image name: LastStand.jpg

Bad image name: Image.shapx_-900×300.jpg
Good image name: shaprio1.jpg

Extra punctuation and numbers create problems.

These guidelines and other policies are works in progress and are subject to amendments, revisions, corrections, deletions, and other edits.

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