Wikimedia Apps/iOS Suggested edits
Welcome to Suggested edits
Suggested edits is a new way to edit Wikipedia on iOS. We appreciate that you are giving it a try.
What is Suggested edits?
Suggested edits presents opportunities for small but vital contributions to Wikipedia. We would like to raise awareness of the various ways people can edit Wikipedia while making quality contributions easier and more accessible.
Get started with Suggested edits
Contribution opportunities are the central element of Suggested edits. Here you can find ways to contribute to Wikipedia. At the moment we offer a task to add images to articles We have also created a prototype for adding Alt text to images, which is available to select users. We are going to add more contribution types soon, stay tuned.
Suggested edits available to you will be displayed as a card in your Explore feed. Suggested edits are available to logged-in users with more than 50 edits on in that language.
Suggested edits are available for the language that is set as your primary or default language in the app. If you would like complete suggested edits in a different language, change your default app language.
More about the project
To stay informed about new developments to Suggested edits on iOS, add Wikimedia Apps/iOS Suggested edits project to your watchlist.
Add an image
What is the article images task?
Wikipedia articles are written and edited by thousands of volunteers from around the world. Unfortunately, many articles lack images. 'Add an image' is a type of Suggested Edits task that will show logged-in iOS users articles and images along with its associated information, so that users can determine if the image is a good illustration of the contents of the article displayed. For more information about the Add an image task, check out the Add an image hypothesis. The images will be suggested to you using an algorithm. The algorithm will pull images from other sources and suggest a match with an article that does not have an image.
Tips for adding images to articles
To best determine if an image is the right match for an article you should review:
- Image (click to review more details)
- Image file name
- Image description
- Image suggestion reason
- Article content
Dialog options
In the task you can select Yes, No or Not Sure, to the question of if you would add the image to an article.
- Yes indicates the image is a good illustration to help readers understand the topic of the Wikipedia article
- No indicates the image would not help readers understand the topic of the Wikipedia article. Reasons the image would not help be a good fit for the article includes:
- Not Relevant, which indicates the image depicts a topic that is not associated with the article that is being shown
- Not enough Information to decide, which indicates the metadata shared with the image does not provide enough details for you to confidently indicate the image would help readers better understand the article
- Image is offensive, which indicates the image is inappropriate
- Image is low quality, which indicates you can not see the image well enough to confidently say it is a good illustration of the article being shown and help readers understand the topic
- I don’t know this subject, which indicates you do not feel you have the needed expertise to determine if the image would help readers understand the topic of the Wikipedia article
- Other, which indicates there is another reason the image is not a good match for the article
- Not Sure indicates you are not certain whether or not the image would help readers understand the topic of the Wikipedia article.
Tips for adding article captions and alternative text
Image captions
A caption is a text that appears below an image. Most captions draw attention to something in the image that is not obvious, such as its relevance to the text. There are several criteria for a good image caption. A good caption:
- Clearly identifies the subject of the picture, without detailing the obvious
- Is succinct
- Establishes the picture's relevance to the article
- Provides context for the picture
- Draws the reader into the article
Read more on image captions here: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Captions
Alternative text
Alternative text (or alt text) is text associated with an image that serves the same purpose and conveys the same essential information as the image. If someone can't see the image because they turned off pictures on their web browser or they're using a tool to read the screen due to bad eyesight, the alternative text makes sure they don't miss out on any information. Good alternative text:
- Is descriptive and clearly describes the main point of the image.
- Is short and limited to about 125 characters
- Is context-aware and considers the article or page’s content when described
- Is functional, e.g. if an image is also a button, mention its function
- Is relevant and describes crucial parts of the image that is pertinent to the content
Read more on alternative text here: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility/Alternative text for images
If you’d like to learn more about images on MediaWiki and its syntax, check out this resource: Help:Images
Add Alt Text
What is the Add alt text task?
An invitation to complete the Add alt text task will be shown to you after you have made a related edit. It lets you know that an image is in need of alt text, and allows you to complete a guided task to write alt text for that image and publish.
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Prompt to add alt text -
Adding alt text to an image
What is alt text?
Alternative text (or alt text) is text associated with an image that serves the same purpose and conveys the same essential information as the image.[1]
What is alt text used for?
In situations where the image is not available to the reader, perhaps because they have turned off images in their web browser or are using a screen reader due to a visual impairment, the alternative text ensures that no information or functionality is lost.
Absent or unhelpful alternative text can be a source of frustration for visually impaired users.
On Wikipedia, alternative text is typically supplied through a combination of the image caption and the text supplied for the image alt parameter in the MediaWiki markup.
Tips for creating alt-text
Keep it short and clear
1-2 lines of plain text with no acronyms, abbreviations, or jargon.
Describe what can be seen
Don’t add your own research, interpretation, or point of view.
Focus on what is relevant to the article
But don’t repeat text that is already in the caption.
Transcribe words and graphics
Write out any words in the image, in quotation marks, and summarize the main idea of maps, diagrams, and charts
Type of image
Do not start with ‘This is an image of…’ but describe the medium or style, if relevant
Take care with people
Only identify public figures and make sure any description is relevant, apparent, and verifiable
Tips for navigation
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Minimize the half-sheet to review the image in the context of the article -
Click on the image's filename to view image information on Wikimedia Commons -
Review entered alt text and existing caption before publishing. Imagine them being read aloud one after the other, and ensure they are not repetitive
More on alt text
Additional documentation about alt text in the context of Wikipedia can be found at:
Alt Text Examples
Additional examples and guidance can be found:
| Example Type | Article | Image | Caption | Alt Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Furniture | Frankfurt Kitchen |  |
The Frankfurt kitchen (view from the entrance | Black and white photograph of a narrow kitchen with a window over the sink, plus a stool, built-in storage, and adjustable lighting |
| Insects | Attacus atlas |  |
Female with reduced antennae | Atlas moth on plant. Reddish-brown wings are open, revealing a wide wingspan and wing tips that resemble cobra snake heads |
| Trees | Eucalyptus camaldulensis |  |
Trunk and bark | Close-up of two Eucalyptus camaldulensis trunks. The bark is peeling, with gray, brownish-red, pink, and yellow patches |
| Images with text | Road signs in the United Kingdom |  |
Try brakes after crossing a ford or before descending a steep hill | Red triangle road sign advising “Try your brakes” |
| Graphics |  |
Bounding boxes are drawn around both a physical and an on-screen banana as a metaphor for computer vision. | On an office desk, 3D-printed frames labeled “BANANA” surround both a fresh banana and a banana displayed on a computer screen | |
| Graphics | Top 25 Report (May 2021) |  |
Wheelchair moving black and white accessibility icon | Black icon of person in wheelchair. They are shown in motion, leaning forward with an arm extended back |
| People | Wheelchair Racing |  |
Brazilian athlete Wendel Silva Soares in the 400m wheelchair race at the 2007 Parapan American Games | Brazilian male athlete competes in a wheelchair race. He is moving at speed so the stadium in the background is blurred. |