Portal talk:Dogs

message: WikiProject Portals is back!
The project was rebooted and completely overhauled on April 17th, 2018. Its goals are to revitalize the entire portal system, make building and maintaining portals easier, support the ongoing improvement of portals and the editors dedicated to this, and design the portals of the future.
As of May 2nd, 2018, membership is at 60 editors, and growing. You are welcome to join us.
There are design initiatives for revitalizing the portals system as a whole, and for improving each component of portals.  So far, 2 new dynamic components have been developed: Template:Transclude lead excerpt and Template:Transclude random excerpt.
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From your friendly neighborhood Portals WikiProject. Hope to see you there. Sincerely,      — The Transhumanist    07:27, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Notice from the [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals|Portals WikiProject]] 

message: I've done a quick redlink fix by adding the Fading puppy syndrome article, but it probably needs some help both in content and styling. I'm only recently returned to active Wiki-ing, and have very little real knowledge of canines, so some help in refining this article would be appreciated. :) - Kenneaal (talk) 11:22, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Added [[Fading puppy syndrome]] 

message: Recent portal improvements include:
* Overhauled portal with modernized wiki markup using transclusion from articles to display content, which provides readers with current, up-to-date information. A consensus approving the usage of transclusion templates in portals was formed at this Village Pump discussion.
* Many high relevance new article selections have been added, including Featured-class and Good-class articles.
* A new general images section is now present.
* A new image banner atop the page was added.
* A new topics section was added.
* Additional updates, cleanup and layout changes have been performed. North America1000 01:30, 4 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Portal improvements 

message: At the WP Dogs talk page here (perm link), there has been discussion about changing the image/graphic that appears in portal links. This can easily be performed at Module:Portal/images. Below is a synopsis.
* The image that was in place for some time is the low-resolution, low quality and blurry :File:Aussie-blacktri.jpg.
* To improve the quality of the image, I replaced the above with :File:Dobermann handling.jpg.
* At the Dog WP talk page, another user objected to this, and the notion to add :File:Dog Paw Print.png was brought forward, so this was then added to replace the dobermann image.
* Later at the Dog WP talk page, a user objected to the paw print image. So, for the time being, I have reverted the image back to the :File:Aussie-blacktri.jpg image (diff). 
* As I stated at the WP Dogs talk page discussion, an idea is to use an icon, such as those here at Commons. 
* Ideas about how to move forward are welcome here. Pinging those at the WP Dogs talk page discussion who were involved in the portal's link image: . North America1000 02:05, 4 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: To be fair, I think the pawprint is better than either of the other options on offer, a similar option is :File:Dog.svg which is used at Template:Dog-stub. As suggested by Kusma here, I too think icons for the dogs portal within dog articles is an unnecessary distraction and a simple link would be better. Courtesy ping to other members of the discussion at WT:DOGS  & . Cavalryman (talk) 04:09, 4 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: The "portals icon" might represent WP:PORTALS, but it certainly doesn't represent anything dog-related. I am against both the paw-print icon and the "scottie-dog" icon, because these are human representations and not a dog (in the biological sub-family sense). I have no position on the deployment of either a link or an icon. William Harris (talk) 05:18, 4 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  I agree that no image is probably best. Link is enough, it is in a box, so it is visible for the users anyway. Any picture with a particular breed of dog is inadequate because does not represent other non-related to it articles. The paw is sort of universal, but still looks like a sticker in a kids book. I suggest no picture just link, or if all the other users agree there should be a picture, then a paw. LoraxJr 06:41, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

text: As I said elsewhere, a main purpose of the icon is to distinguish Portal:Dogs from other pages.  The best choice depends on context.  If it's alongside other portals, we need an image to suggest dogs; if it's alongside doggy non-portals, we want an image to suggest portals, such as the puzzle piece icon.  (Nothing so far is specific to dogs; I'd make the same point about cats or Canada.)  Pictures of actual dogs look good when occupying most of a PC or phone screen but aren't ideal at 36×27 pixels.  A distinctive silhouette of a dog would identify it well amongst other portals.  The pawprint also works but might be mistaken for a different animal.  Certes (talk) 10:19, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

text: *That works for me. Below is a cropped version I published at Commons. This cropped version is now my #1 choice, and it's a real dog. North America1000 09:09, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: 
* Support cropped black Lab, I was going to suggest it myself. Cavalryman (talk) 09:33, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Portal link image