Talk:National insignia

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Naming standards[edit]

I think we're already seeing some duplication going on with these insignia, and this is one area which some standardization seems to be very useful. I think we need consistent naming and formats, so that these are easy to find and use in all of the Wikipedias. Here is my proposal:

  • Country Name flag.png - Flags are simple graphically, and lend themselves to png format. Also, we don't need multiple sizes, since thumbnailing is automatic.
  • Country Name coat of arms.jpg - Since they are more elaborate, coats of arms should be jpg.

I like this because all of the insignia for a country are together alphabetically. -- Netoholic 18:57, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I agree whole-heartedly that standardization will be very beneficial. All flags that I have contributed have the file name Flag of Country.png and have a uniform height of 800 pixels, which I hope is enough for all purposes. (Please see my user page for more information.) I must admit that it hadn't occurred to me that the alphabetical order of file names would matter much. Where would such a grouping be seen? I'm open for any suggestions, of course. -- Sebastian Koppehel 03:36, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Naming alphabetically will help, for instance, when searching for flags or even by country name using Special:Imagelist. My suggestion also eliminates ambiquity with some countries which "the" has to be inserted. "Flag of the Netherlands" is sorted alphabetically far removed from other N countries, so using "Netherlands flag" works better. Otherwise, there is an unnecessary tendency to make the file names sound "grammatically correct". This makes the file names longer than necessary, and doesn't add value. -- Netoholic 21:29, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Well, the very page on whose Talk page we currently are collects national insignia, as do the specific categories (e.g. Flags and its subcategories). These pages group and sort images in the proper way. To use the file name for grouping purposes seems inelegant to me, plus, does it really solve your problem? The images that would conform to this standard would be the ones that are correctly filed anyway, and in the search list you'd still have to deal with careless uploads. -- Sebastian Koppehel 15:41, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
While grammatically correct file names may seem unnecessary, I like how they fit into the overall Wikipedia scheme of giving articles grammtically correct names. -- Sebastian Koppehel 15:41, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
By the way, PNG might be useful for arms too. Image:Bundesadler.png or Image:Herb_Polski.png would not benefit from being converted to JPG. -- Sebastian Koppehel 03:36, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I think there are few exceptions to the general rule .jpg would be the best format for arms. My suggestion of a standard format in this case is more to prevent duplication. -- Netoholic 21:29, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)
JPG is good for photographs and paintings with relatively large, but not exactly uniformly coloured areas. Coats of arms, however, will often consist of uniformly coloured areas with more or less sharp edges. Take Image:UK_Royal_Coat_of_Arms.png for example, an image that you would probably see as JPG material - it gets bigger when I encode it as a JPG with quality setting 0.85 (using the GIMP). I think each image should have the appropriate format, and to prescribe a certain format for a whole class of images - based on content, not on the actual data - is unreasonable. -- Sebastian Koppehel 15:41, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Should we also agree that only one version of each flag and coat of arms is necessary? I am finding here that some of the same insignia have been uploaded as "medium" and "large" versions. I suggest we keep only one, under the standard file name, which is sufficiently large, detailed and well-rendered for all uses. Automatic thumbnails at the local wiki will handle sizing. -- Netoholic 21:29, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

ACK -- Sebastian Koppehel 15:41, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)


There is a typo in the name of Bosnian flag. Instead of "Flag of Bosnia Herzegowina" it should say "Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina". Can this be corrected? (re-upload under new name and delete the old name or...?) E.B. 05:55, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Well, one could i guess, but note that this is not a typo but simply the german transcription of the name. Many image names here on commons are in different languages - that is not ideal, but saves a lot of work when you move images to the commons. Also, when "renaming" an image here, one would have to find out all wikis in which this image is used - sadly, the software does not (yet) allow this. So I would suggest to leave it as it is. But thanks for correnting this in the article, where indeed the englisch name should be used. -- Duesentrieb 12:33, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Moving COAs from english wikipedia[edit]

Can someone with the ability, tools and rights possible move or copy all the Coat of Arms from the English wikipedia (en:List_of_national_coats_of_arms) to the commons? This would be huge boon to all the non-English wikipedia which are all including these in their country pages. I would do it if I was more proficient with scripting but alas... Laurens 08:13, 6 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Anyone can do it, but most of these coats are fair use, which is not accepted here. Sanbec ✉ 13:03, 20 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright problems[edit]

The following coats of arms are marked as having no licence or no source information. They should probably be removed from this list and from the pages they are linked to until the copyright is cleared up.

I didn't check flags yet.

PeepP 15:07, 21 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Addition of the new emblem.[edit]

{{edit request}}

The emblem of Nepal has been changed. The new emblem is under the name "New Emblem of Nepal.svg". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ogranesson (talk • contribs) 11:41, 14 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

OK @Ogranesson: this emblem is already used at this gallery--Estopedist1 (talk) 17:53, 23 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
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