Help:Add New Stamps
Contents
Intro
If you've landed on this page then you're considering adding to Stamps of the World - We thank you! Adding stamps and information is easy once you know how. To keep the site uniform there are a few steps we need to follow.
The Title
All pages on Stamps of the World have to have a unique title. This becomes a problem because various countries issue sets of stamps with the same name, because of this we have to start our title with the country/area name. It is not enough to distinguish between countries, there are countries that bring out sets with same title but at different years. So our our final title will have the following structure.
Name of Country _ Year of Issue _ Set Name
Alright you've decided on your title for a new stamp set to be added, and you're ready to go. Type your title in the search box on the left and click the go button - its important to click go and not search as this will take you to the page if it exists or allow you to create the page.
Creating the Page
On Stamps of the World we dont want a separate page for every stamp, miniature sheet, fdc, error etc. This would leave us with millions of pages, so we collect all information for a particular issue on the same page. (There are exceptions but in general commemorative sets this will apply)
Sections
To define a page we divide it into sections using the == Section Name == and then further divide it into sub-sections using === Sub-section Name ===. Notice two equals signs for Sections and three equals signs for sections within sections.
A typical page divide will look something like this:
- Stamps
- Formats
- First Day Cover
- Miniature Sheet
- PHQ Cards
- Control Blocks
- Errors/Varieties
- Usage - Used Examples
Lets tackle each one:
Stamps
Stamps, yes thats why we are here, each set starts with base information that applies to the whole set
- Date of Issue :
- Watermark :
- Perforations :
- Number of Stamps :
- Design :
And any other information that might apply to the whole set. Don't worry if you miss something - someone else will know it and can edit the page later.
Once the base information is complete comes the image place holders and unique information for each stamp.We say image place holders because even if you do not have an image its best to put the placeholder with the correct name to allow other users to upload easily. As with page titles every file uploaded to Stamps of the World has to have a unique name. We use a similar naming convention to the title but add either the value or image type.
Eg. Image for a stamp: Transkei_1993_Dogs_35c.jpg
Eg. Image for a FDC: Transkei_1993_Dogs_fdc.jpg
Eg. Image for a MS: Transkei_1993_Dogs_MS.jpg
If you use the correct placeholders to start with, uploading will be a breeze - you wont have to worry about renaming files on your computer as the site will automatically give your uploaded file the correct name according to the image placeholder.
Through trials we have found having four stamps per row looks the best visually and we use a table to allow this. In the table we place the image of each stamp and the extra info below the image.
Here is an example:
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The easiest way to get this layout is to copy one of the layouts from our Help:Stamp Layout. Follow the link and then select edit at the right of the layout you need and then copy into your new page. Or you can edit any of our current pages and copy the code from within it.
Now the stamps are done we can look at formats.
Formats
For the most part formats might be just one line of text and an image.
Remember to put the section Formats and then the Sub-Section for which format - First Day Cover, Miniature Sheet, Booklet, Used etc.
To put an image holder for a sub format use the following:
[[Image:Transkei_1976_Definitive_FDC.jpg|border|400px|First Day Cover]]
Using the same structure as title names with the addition of the type of format, in this case an FDC. The "border" part tells us to put a thin border around the image, the "400px" tells us the width of the image followed by the label for the image.
Here is the above image:
Until an image becomes available the following will show File:Transkei 1976 Definitive FDC.jpg - If you want to upload a file click on this link and you will be taken to the upload page for this image. Browse for the image on your hard drive and upload.
Categories
Now that we have added the information for the set we need to categorise the page. The first category you need to add is the country category. Do this by adding [[Category:CountryName]] at the end of the page. You may also want to add categories for themes -- add additional categories on a new line.
Feel free to discuss any additional items by clicking on the on the discuss tab at the top of this page - after your question/note put four tildas in (~~~~) this will display the date/time and your username eg. Admin 20:31, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
