Commons talk:Featured galleries

Archives /Archive 1

THIS PAGE IS FOR COMMENTS RELATED TO THE CONCEPT OF A "FEATURED GALLERY". ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT GALLERIES SHOULD BE PLACED ELSEWHERE, FOR INSTANCE AT Commons:Galleries

Guidelines proposal

Here's my proposal for some featured gallery guidelines: I just typed it up in an hour or so, so any feedback is more than welcome!

Requirements

All images in the gallery must meet the Commons:Image guidelines, with 2 exceptions:

• Borderline noncompliance with up to 2 of the quality guidelines (for example, resolution 1.8MP and slight noise).
• It is one of fewer than ten images that can be used to represent an aspect of the subject.

Appropriate naming per Commons:Galleries#Naming conventions: "Galleries should be named in the language most associated with the subject. This applies to people, places, art, culture, etc. For general subjects and ones not tied to any specific language, the name most likely to be searched for (usually English) should be used. An exception to this rule is the naming of galleries of organisms and subjects where Latin names are considered universal."

Categorization per Commons:Galleries#Categorization: "Every gallery should be categorized. Add the gallery to at least two categories:

1. with the same name, or if there is none, to relevant categories (see Commons:Categories).
2. at least one subcategory of Category:Gallery pages."

The Template:Gallery page template must be present; usually at the top of the page. The Template:Translation table (or Template:VN for taxa) template must be present at the top of the page.

Guidelines

Multiple different aspects of the subject should be featured: each aspect should generally be placed under its own heading or subheading.

Video and audio sections should be present if there is media of sufficient quality; featured media is automatically sufficient and should be present.

There should be links pointing to various subcategories where applicable; whether inline using the Template:Maincat template, or otherwise (e.g, a "categories" section or a table of related categories). Categories with 5 or fewer files should not be linked. Categories only featuring images already present in the gallery should likewise not be linked.

Voting

Potential featured galleries should be voted on at Commons:Featured gallery candidates. LetmeEditit (talk) 12:52, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

(Discussion)

Some galleries may not be enhanced by showing "multiple different aspects". For example, Romanian Orthodox churches in Bucharest is basically one-of-each exterior shots of the churches that meet the criterion, chosen to make identification easy. While it would be great to add more churches, I don't think it would be enhanced by showing courtyards, interiors, etc. It is precisely a gallery systematically showing one aspect over a large domain (and is quite useful for identification purposes, especially because most of these buildings each hae their own category, so there is probaly nowhere else on Commons you can see more than one of these on a page). - Jmabel ! talk 18:43, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

Interesting point. I'm not very good at wording things, so maybe a different term would better convey the intended point. I would say something like "provide a complete overview of the subject", however that begs the question of what is "complete". Perhaps that guideline is better scrapped entirely.

The issue is, the reason I added such a point in the first place is that I feel like featured galleries need a certain minimum number of guidelines. If there are too few guidelines, there would be not be much at all differentiating featured galleries from normal ones, and thus there would be little point to the whole endeavor.

Perhaps the round of voting in of itself is enough to differentiate? LetmeEditit (talk) 08:00, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

I think the latter. Not everything good has to be similar. Unusual, creative solutions are often good. - Jmabel ! talk 17:55, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

Good point. I've crossed it out (at least for now). LetmeEditit (talk) 18:02, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

Model galleries

Here's my list of galleries I personally like, mostly based off galleries listed in Commons talk:Featured galleries/Archive 1#Some possible model galleries and Commons:Galleries#Examples:

Culture

• Art
• Artesanía (crafts and folk art) of Mexico
• Children's book illustration
• Seattle and the Orient

Locations

• Denkmäler der Stadt Schwelm
• Floating the Skagit River from Marblemount to Rockport
• Innere Stadt (Wien)
• Nyhavn
• Ostia Antica (archaeological site)
• Romanian Orthodox churches in Bucharest

Nature

• Dog
• Felis silvestris catus
• Herbs
• Rosa

People

• Leo Tolstoy
• Mohandas K. Gandhi

Systems

• General phonetics
• 数字手势

If anyone has any of their own favourite galleries, they can list them below. I think these galleries should be the first to be voted on. LetmeEditit (talk) 10:19, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

Gallery mode=packed?

Should this be a requirement, or just a suggestion? I personally much prefer packed mode; I think it looks cleaner and more modern. Plus the images are displayed larger than default mode, which I think is better for getting an overview of the available images at a glance. LetmeEditit (talk) 10:53, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

I prefer it too, for most purposes, but I think it's optional. It can always be suggested as an improvement in the FG discussion if someone thinks the wrong choice was made. Easily done after the fact.

Also, while my example here is not even in gallery space, consider things like what I did at User:Jmabel/Archival#Archival panoramas, which does not even use the "gallery" element, and would probably not be improved by using it. - Jmabel ! talk 18:00, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

Wow, nice work on those panoramas! Maybe there should be a "tips" section, for things that generally tend to look good, but aren't hard-and-fast rules. LetmeEditit (talk) 18:07, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

More likely, the tips should just go in COM:Galleries. This page should refer to that page as a "read that first" and then should focus on what is specific to being "featured." - Jmabel ! talk 22:29, 3 May 2026 (UTC)