Facebook posts and article images

Just a suggestion, but one thing that might help with a future article editor is being able to select which photo that the site uses as the "feature" image.

I pick the images that match with what I'm writing, but you don't always write with a "feature" image in mind. For instance, the article I did on Stingray started by talking about creator Stephen Cannell. And so the first image is of Cannell. For tonight's Supergirl, I start talking about Lynda Carter and her character, President Marsdin. So the first image is of her.

To get a more suitable feature image in place, requires twisting the text to match a feature image. Or not putting in a first image until halfway down the article.

Although we seemed to figure out the reason for the image distortion and eliminated it, it would help further if we could pick which image is featured. If an image is problematic, then we could choose another one that isn't.

Surprisingly the image in the article about some show from the 80s looks much much better than the images from articles about any contemporary shows :D

Is there any limit to the number of images in the article? As long as the first image is used as the thumbnail for the article (both here and in social networks), is it possible to upload simply the best and brightest image from the episode as the first one, and start the "matching" images from the second one?

Happy to see this discussion, because it appears there are some misconceptions that need to be cleared up. :)

I doubt that the method used to submit articles to Facebook has an impact on the way they display the images.

First of all, which exact image should be used is in fact not random. Just like shows/episodes/etc, articles have a specific main image. If you upload the article's image through the text editor the first image will automatically become the article's main image, but this can be changed. Just go to the article, click "manage images", choose an image and click on it, then use the "edit" button on that page where you'll find the "Set as main image" setting.

If you use this method to set a specific image as main image, the site automatically updates the article's metadata to reflect this. Sites like Facebook (but also twitter, reddit, etc) should pick this up and use that specific image in their layout. Of course we can't force them to actually use the image we chose, but the odds are extremely small that their system chooses to use something different from what we've explicitly set.

It's also possible to upload a main image for the article that doesn't appear in the article body at all. Just go to "manage images" again and click "create new", then choose a file to upload and check the "set as main image" box. Feel free to use this if you think there's an image that should not be part of the article itself but would make a great image for external sites.

While we can choose which image is to be used as main image on external sites such as Facebook, we can't choose how they display it. Regardless of the image's original aspect ratio here, they might convert it to a portrait, landscape or even a circle version. For the best possible results, always (or at least for the main image) upload the highest possible resolution you can find, so don't do any processing on the image before uploading it here.

Thank you for clearing this. As I'm not the author, I haven't the slightest, how's the article editor is working :)

Considering all the facts I'd suggest to manually set the best image as the main. Also keeping in mind, that in the list of recent articles on the main page, the thumbnails are cropped from the center of the image, so It'd be good if this part of the image will be bright enough and contain something meaningful. And for dark (picture wise) shows the best approach could be to use something from the well-lit episode (there's usually at least one bright scene in any dark show).

Just an idea: since the main image is not necessarily should be included in the article text, maybe it's worth to consider to use some generic show-related image as the main. Something from the show's promo package for the current season for example. Those images are usually available in high resolution and looking good :)

david wrote:
Happy to see this discussion, because it appears there are some misconceptions that need to be cleared up. :)

I doubt that the method used to submit articles to Facebook has an impact on the way they display the images.

First of all, which exact image should be used is in fact not random. Just like shows/episodes/etc, articles have a specific main image. If you upload the article's image through the text editor the first image will automatically become the article's main image, but this can be changed. Just go to the article, click "manage images", choose an image and click on it, then use the "edit" button on that page where you'll find the "Set as main image" setting.

If you use this method to set a specific image as main image, the site automatically updates the article's metadata to reflect this. Sites like Facebook (but also twitter, reddit, etc) should pick this up and use that specific image in their layout. Of course we can't force them to actually use the image we chose, but the odds are extremely small that their system chooses to use something different from what we've explicitly set.

It's also possible to upload a main image for the article that doesn't appear in the article body at all. Just go to "manage images" again and click "create new", then choose a file to upload and check the "set as main image" box. Feel free to use this if you think there's an image that should not be part of the article itself but would make a great image for external sites.

While we can choose which image is to be used as main image on external sites such as Facebook, we can't choose how they display it. Regardless of the image's original aspect ratio here, they might convert it to a portrait, landscape or even a circle version. For the best possible results, always (or at least for the main image) upload the highest possible resolution you can find, so don't do any processing on the image before uploading it here.

I did try this with one of the articles (Black Lightning) it didn't work. Instead of getting the selected main image, it was the TVmaze logo. Something may need to be tweaked as I don't think anyone has tried to use that in the past.

LadyShelley wrote:
I did try this with one of the articles (Black Lightning) it didn't work. Instead of getting the selected main image, it was the TVmaze logo. Something may need to be tweaked as I don't think anyone has tried to use that in the past.

I see the black lightning article's main image is currently simply set to the first image from the article.

Can you try it again with a future article and let me know if/when it doesn't work?

One thing I should add is that it's best to set the main image you want before publishing the article or submitting it anywhere. When sites like Facebook generate a preview/thumbnail for our content they cache it, so if we change the main image after publication I don't know if/when it would ever update on their end.

david wrote:
I see the black lightning article's main image is currently simply set to the first image from the article.

Can you try it again with a future article and let me know if/when it doesn't work?

One thing I should add is that it's best to set the main image you want before publishing the article or submitting it anywhere. When sites like Facebook generate a preview/thumbnail for our content they cache it, so if we change the main image after publication I don't know if/when it would ever update on their end.

Hmm, it shouldn't be. Granted that first image is the one I set as main, but it should be selected as the "main" image. I'll try with the rating article next week and see what happens.

If you are using an image from the article as the main image but have made it smaller so it fits the article, I'd suggest also uploading the higher res original version of it and setting that as the main image instead.

Ah, wasn't aware of how to set a different image as the main image. Wish the editor came with a handy instruction manual. :) I typically put them in "right" the first time, so haven't used the Manage Image button much.

I can put in generic images for the main images, but that is going to make the main page and the Facebook pages look... well, generic. And is going to occasionally result in images that don't match the text. Let me know how you want to go. For now I'll see about uploading the generic image as the off-site main image per David's instructions earlier.

I have been keeping the thumbnailling in mind as best I can. Since I can't see how it's going to be a cropped, the best I can do is "center it and hope for the best". Is there a better way? The meaningfulness, I commented on earlier and it should be easier to address now that I know how to set the main image. As I believe Shelley noted, some shows are just dark. American Horror Story comes to mind. Last night for the Doctor Who article, I went with a dark background but a fairly light image of the Doctor's face in the foreground. The fact that the thumbnail is a bit off-center doesn't help.

So did that work any better for the Arrow review from last night?

I think I have the hang of uploading a "feature photo" image.

Gislef wrote:
So did that work any better for the Arrow review from last night?

I think I have the hang of uploading a "feature photo" image.

Looking very good here :)

Good. Thanks everyone for the feedback and help!

The Black Lightning article tonight should set the standard for what I do going forward. My only limits are the quality of the videos I get the images from, and my inability (?) to see what will be the front-page thumbnail.

Gislef wrote:
Good. Thanks everyone for the feedback and help!

The Black Lightning article tonight should set the standard for what I do going forward. My only limits are the quality of the videos I get the images from, and my inability (?) to see what will be the front-page thumbnail.

Thank you for your articles :)

I hope that eventually you'll find a way to get a higher quality videos. If this is your actual viewing quality, you're missing alot :)

tnt wrote:
Thank you for your articles :)

I hope that eventually you'll find a way to get a higher quality videos.

I doubt it. :( Most of the time I'm watching TV "live". I just use the video to get images for the articles.

And for older stuff, the quality just ain't that good. Heck, my Stingray DVDs say, "This DVD contains technical anomalies inherited in historical information" And that's stuff from the 80s. Unfortunately, everything isn't remastered the way that, say, Star Trek is. And I couldn't afford it even if it was. :) And sometime the images just aren't there. Newer premiering episodes are one thing: trying to find an online source for, say, by-episode images of Stingray or Have Gun, Will Travel just ain't possible.

And finally... there's still the fact that you seem to be the only one that is having issues, and if I understand things right primarily with the whole TVMaze-to-Facebook transition. It seems more like some weird mix of the videos I'm using, the transfer software that Shelley is using, and whatever Facebook does at your end. What I and others are seeing at Facebook doesn't seem to match what you're seeing. I don't know enough tech stuff to know why. I'm glad to try and minimize the problem with the steps we've worked like out, like not re-processing images. I'm just not seeing the image that you posted originally:

https://imgur.com/YA4nv49

I agree that it looks like garbage. But... it's not the image I posted, and not what I see when I watch: it'd give me a headache if I did. :) It seems to be at least twice as large as what I did, and as we both agree, blowing up an image like that is going to make it look like garbage. So if Facebook is blowing up images, there's going to be problems.

A week later I just wanted to say that the articles in the FB feed are looking much more appealing now. Most of them anyway :)

Thanks to everyone involved :)

Well, if there are any that aren't, let me know if they're mine and I'll see what I can do.

I'm still having trouble finding episode-specific AHS images in the 1024pixel size, for instance. Some of the images like the Stingray one are from DVDs where they say that they have "technical anomalies". And sometimes the best image from a variety and subject standpoint just isn't the "best" image quality-wise. There are plenty of decent mid/foreground shots for Nick Mancuso in the episode I reviewed. But none that "featured" the episode, so to speak.

There might also be images that have gone up since I posted the article. Since I typically try to get the reviews up immediately after the new episode airs. 24 hours later there might be an image out there that's usable that wasn't there before. But I've moved on to the next review(s) by then.