Support custom (per repository) og:image thumbnails.

[bvaughn]

Edit Please upvote this issue with a 👍rather than leave a "+1" comment. GitHub sorts issues by reactions and not by the number of comments.

Github currently sets the twitter:image:src and og:image meta tags for each of my repositories to be that of my main profile picture. This seems like a reasonable default. But it would be useful if there were a way to override this setting on a per-repository basis. (Perhaps a convention that uses a specially-named file in the root of a repository? Or something in the project settings?)

It's a minor issue but it would be nice when I share a link to a new version release on sites like Twitter, Reddit, etc. if the thumbnail was a project logo rather than my profile picture.

I realize that I can sometimes link to my own gh-pages branch and set any meta tags I want but I usually prefer the simplicity of linking directly to the GH repository landing page. Other times it's not even an option, like when linking to a wiki page with upcoming release notes (example).

[edgariscoding]

Great idea

[itaibh]

Not only this is a great idea, I don't think this is a reasonable default.

[zzgab]

Any update about this great feature request?

[edgariscoding]

Also wondering if there's been any development on this. I like having a profile photo of myself but it's a bit weird when I share a link to a repository and it shows a huge thumbnail of my face.

[zzgab]

All I could come up with, is making a gh-pages branch for my project uiwebagent This gh-pages contains an index.html file in which I declare the meta that I like (useful for FB og, Twitter etc.) but then the body only forces a JS redirect to the GitHub master repository... So, the link I provide in my Twitter posts for instance, is https://zzgab.github.io/uiwebagent Not happy with this workaround...

[housseindjirdeh]

I think this would be a great idea, and I agree, that is a bit much of a workaround @zzgab

[edgariscoding]

There really should be a place within the repo settings to assign a repo thumbnail just like you can for organization pages or profile pages.

[theiliad]

Any updates here?

[justinewin]

I guess a custom og: still isn't available. Tried creating a new website this week and put all those og: meta tags but nothing works :D Still hoping github considers this feature :)

[i-h]

Seconding this, posting with a collaborator's (who made the repository) face on Twitter feels kind of rude.

[edgariscoding]

Is there any development on this? Even a simple setting to disable the use of a custom thumbnail altogether would be sufficient in the meantime.

[ghost]

pls gitahubb do dis 4 us

[daattali]

Great idea!

[haideralipunjabi]

This should be added ASAP

[gregdotca]

Yes please.

[Almenon]

this would be a very nice feature.

[michaelashore]

This feature would be great and I suspect would encourage more sharing of repos across Facebook and Twitter.

[clarkbw]

Perhaps a convention that uses a specially-named file in the root of a repository? Or something in the project settings?

@bvaughn So you'd be ok to set a specific repository image? Perhaps it might default to your user image as it does now if not already set.

(this is a mockup, just wanted clarify; no promises)

[edgariscoding]

So you'd be ok to set a specific repository image? Perhaps it might default to your user image as it does now if not already set. (this is a mockup, just wanted clarify; no promises)

@clarkbw I'm not speaking for @bvaughn but yes, that would be amazing.

[bvaughn]

Hey @clarkbw! Nice to hear from you. 😄

Honestly, I would be okay with almost any way to do this. An option in the project settings area would be great. That seems the most backwards-friendly way of approaching this, and avoids bloating the repo with an unnecessary image file. 👍

[spcfran]

Can I have this for Xmas? Trying to add a link to a repo to my LinkedIn profile for showcase/portfolio purposes and my face is all over it! 😅

+1 for the project scoped setting rather than a file in the repo - it's a very 'meta' thing after all

[zzgab]

@spcfran All in all, despite its tweaky-tricky-hacky aspect, we've got nothing but my workaround here : https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/612#issuecomment-247837278 I've been using it successfully all this time, but it's a pain in the back.

[edgariscoding]

@zzgab that’s a pretty clever workaround. The bad thing is that it only works for the repo owner because other people sharing the repo won’t care to jump through hoops, they’ll just share the direct link to the repo.

Does anyone know if Github actually confirms when they’re working on a new feature before it’s released?

[zzgab]

@edgariscoding You're right.

[clarkbw]

Can this issue be labeled social or something similar? Categorizing these issues really helps with the clutter. kthx!

[valentinchrt]

It would be great @clarkbw, really. Tell us that this feature will be release soon! 🎁

[edgariscoding]

@clarkbw, is setting a label on this issue something that @bvaughn can do or were you commenting so that someone with admin rights on the repo can do it?

[clarkbw]

commenting so that someone with admin rights on the repo can do it?

It requires admin rights which I don't have and I don't believe @bvaughn has either. I emailed @isaacs about it a while ago but I never heard back 😭

[clarkbw]

And FYI, I don't have anyone actively working on this right now. I'm hoping to convince the marketing team to pick this up with some other work they are planning for the coming year. We'll see.

[KelvinShadewing]

Gah, marketing always gets in the way of useful development. Ironic here, since the target audience is developers. XP I, too, would love to have this feature. It would certainly help repos stand out from one another, especially if someone has a bunch of them in one account.

[shangyilim]

+1 on this idea as well. Would love to show some more interesting thumbnail pictures, rather than my profile picture.

[actuallyaswin]

@KelvinShadewing this is important for developers too! When sharing your Github projects with recruiters or employers, you'll want the metadata to look nice and fancy. Same goes with sharing projects on Facebook or Twitter!

[KelvinShadewing]

@actuallyaswin Which is exactly why we need per-repo thumbnails.

[edgariscoding]

Maybe we should go to different developer communities and forums and ask them what they think and to come comment if they agree.

[ahsouza]

We need this! My situation to have this feature is when we add our repositories on LinkedIn media and is boring see all links with same image (user avatar)

[lucasmafra]

This is a really important feature! Any updates on that?

[igalbn]

During write post on LinkedIn. When attaching the link to repository. LinkedIn show as thumbnail my big and streched photo. Instead prefer, use image of my program.

[izgeri]

Just popping by to join the chorus and say it would be great if this feature were added! I don't love seeing my face in my tweets about my gh repo - I wish I could set a repo-specific image to use instead!

[clarkbw]

Thanks for the feedback here!

Friendly reminder to always 👍 the first comment (I don't know if you also did that @izgeri) because I sort these issues by reaction and not by most commented.

[iamciera]

I also would LOVE to have this feature.

[edgariscoding]

Make sure to “like” the main post

Edgar Sanchez

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 23, 2018, at 4:15 PM, Ciera Martinez notifications@github.com<mailto:notifications@github.com> wrote:

I also would LOVE to have this feature.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/612#issuecomment-375800429, or mute the threadhttps://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALiHO29C7AT-4TpbfVe8DL1AHjDN90kjks5thWX3gaJpZM4HzixE.

[mikedeshazer]

PLEASE. To this feature

[rcmaples]

I wish we had thumbnails already.. Upvoting for thumbnails!

[jmarshall]

Perhaps a convention that uses a specially-named file in the root of a repository? Or something in the project settings?

:+1: but definitely via something in the project settings. Using a specially-named file in the repository would mean that your image was automatically propagated to other people's newly-created forks, which would often not be desirable.

[edgariscoding]

@jmarshall good point regarding the image being automatically propagated to other people's forks. I think a setting in project settings would be ideal.

[itaibh]

I don't see the problem with it being propagated to other forks. After all, the thumbnail needs to represent the repo, not the user, so copying the repo icon seems like a reasonable default.

On Mon, Jun 18, 2018, 18:05 Edgar Sanchez notifications@github.com wrote:

@jmarshall https://github.com/jmarshall good point regarding the image being automatically propagated to other people's forks. I think a setting in project settings would be ideal.

— You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/612#issuecomment-398086382, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAImtzP-eXJ8js0V_QsH37pwMdhvsYOYks5t98G6gaJpZM4HzixE .

[jmarshall]

@itaibh: There's a number of possibilities as to what different projects might want a thumbnail to represent:

• A customised personal or institutional avatar. Must not be automatically propagated to other forks, just as today's user or organisation avatar is not.

• A project logo with a firefox/iceweasel trademark situation. If it's automatically propagated to other forks, the original org will choose not to use this facility.

• An unencumbered logo representing the project. Propagation to other forks would be acceptable in this case, though make it harder to recognise the canonical source at a glance.

A file in the repo is pretty much all or nothing. A project setting allows for an implementation where (1) on forking, the new forker is asked whether to propagate the source custom avatar — provided (2) the source fork has not set the do-not-propagate-avatar option. That sort of complexity would be needed to handle all the possibilities I've listed.

[KelvinShadewing]

The only way to reliably verify canon is to look at the URL the project is hosted at, so you might as well leave the file in the repo. Though for browsing, you could have the user's icon appear in the lower corner for a quicker identifier. Maybe GitHub could generate a thumbnail with an icon overlay for use in OG tags.

[0biWanKenobi]

Please, pretty please do this GitHub team ❤️

[anthumchris]

What about specifying images in .gitattributes file similar to how we already configure Linguist using gitattributes? This could offer better scalability as preview image specs change:

images/logo-200x200.png preview-image=twitter-small
images/logo-600x300.png preview-image=twitter-large
images/logo-1200x630.png preview-image=facebook
images/logo-1200x627.png preview-image=linkedin