Introduction

Adding images to wiki articles brings clarity to the subject you’re writing about, and often helps you (as the author) explain something complex, in a simple way.

This article guides you through using the free online image editor, Pixlr (www.pixlr.com/editor), to format images for the Wiki.

Open an image in Pixlr

1. Open your browser and navigate to www.Pixlr.com/editor



2. Click “Open Image from Computer”, select an image and click Open

The Drawing Toolbox

Marquee Tool	Paint Bucket Tool	Drawing Tool

Draw a Box Around an Area

1. Click the Drawing Tool 

2. From the top menu, un-tick Fill Shape, and change the border size to 3



3. Open the colour pallet, and choice Red for the colour (type FF0000 into the # input box)



4. Click OK

5. Click on the top left hand corner of the image and, holding the mouse button down, move the mouse to the right and then down, to starting drawing a square. Release the mouse button to finishing drawing the square.

Draw a Straight Line

1. From the top menu, click the Line tool and change the size to 3



2. Click somewhere on the top left hand corner of the image and, holding the mouse button down, move the mouse to the right, to starting drawing a line. Release the mouse button to finishing drawing the line.

Highlight an Area, by Dimming Everything Around It

1. Now Click the Marquee tool (or press M to select it)

2. Click on the top left hand corner of the image and, holding the mouse button down, move the mouse to the right and then down, to starting marking out a selection. Release the mouse button to finishing marking out the selection.

3. From the edit menu, click Invert Selection



4. Click the Paint Bucket Tool (or press G to select it)

5. Open the colour pallet, and enter 0a0a0a for the colour. Click Ok to finish selecting the colour.

6. From the top context menu, set the opacity to 45



16. From the layers menu, add a new layer



17. Hover over the selected area, and click the mouse button to fill the selection

Resize an Image

The wiki supports images with a maximum width of 600px. If your images are larger than this, it's a really good idea to resize them before you upload them into a wiki article. This will make them faster to download, which means the page will load faster when someone views it.

1. From the Image menu, click Image Size

2. Make sure Constrain Proportions is ticked

3. Enter a new width (or height) value for your image, and click Ok

Save an Image

1. Click File, Save

2. Enter a new name for the file

3. For the Image Format, choose PNG (transparent, full quality)



4. Click OK

5. Choose a location to save the file to, and click Save