So there's a little-known feature of the custom definitions and mnemonics that you can link to images in them, using syntax like this:
img:http://www.byzanti.co.uk/s/anquancuoshi.jpeg

Here are some examples of it in action:
http://www.byzanti.co.uk/1.png
http://www.byzanti.co.uk/2.png

Now, we've been content to let it be a personal thing, since we didn't want to go through the hassle of grabbing pictures for all these thousands and thousands of words. But Byzanti has offered to seed it with his image collection, which he's been working on for a while and which now has over 1500 images. You can check some of them out here:
http://www.byzanti.co.uk/s/

My two questions to Skritter users are these: how helpful do you think it would be if Skritter were to integrate small pictures into its definitions? Would you help populate the definitions with images?

Let me know what y'all think of the idea.

Also, as a footnote, as I've said to Nick, some of the images are a little haphazard at the moment. Around 80% are 140*50, but a bunch of the older ones aren't a regular size (they also get shrunk and look bad etc). If people like pictures generally, I can always clean them up before they're used as a starting base..

I'm personally not interested in them

I would like to try it for a week or so...

Can we have a square picture? Make it spans two lines and aligns to the left or right? I’m thinking of including a picture of the character in small seal script (小篆).

This would be genius. I've added a couple of my own but have been too lazy to go at it hammer and tongs.

The few of byzanti's that I have used have been helpful (I can picture his tree and a yellow horizontal line for 横)but, like James, I have not spent the time to find my own. Right, the size and scale are important to convey something useful but I have been impressed by what I have seen so far of byzanti's set... and 1,500 already!

Sarac, these are for definitions, rather than mnemonics.

The thing is, while I will of course continue making them as I add words, those I've added at the moment are still a drop in the ocean. Also few newbie words will be covered, if any. So if it's ever going to be comprehensive, or work on a large scale, people would have to add their own too.

Still, I think it's worth the effort. It helps with recall and separating similar words. It's also more fun...

Customability and extra features is NEVER wrong! I think this would be a great help.

I think this is a great idea. In fact, within the past week I've started my own set, after watching Byzanti's screencap video. Be glad to contribute the tiny set that I have.

Worth having for all the users.
Is this you in the middle Byzanti? :) http://www.byzanti.co.uk/s/renyao.jpeg

yes i would be interested - adding images takes time and being able to share images would be good -

excellent work Byzanti!

would you be able to change an image if it didnt suit?

could you share them (like sharing mneumonics) and pick the one that suits most?

I have added images to my daughter's character list (because she can't read yet!). Even though they are only a few basic characters I have found finding the right image can be hard for some characters eg for measure words. So for measure words up to now, I have an image of 'Bob the Builder' holding a tape measure! It works for us at the moment, but it might not work for everyone - so being able to change the image would be good...

but i think it is a great idea - seems silly for individual users to repeat the work unnecessarily...

my tuppance worth,

DOnna

I'd be for it -- I think the little pics on nciku are a nice feature.

I would like to be able to turn them off for the mobile version of Skritter as my connection speed is a little slow.

I'd love to have some pics.

Can't hurt having them right? That way one could visualize the vocab better...

sure I don't see why not?

Skritter team and fellow skritterers,
I have skimmed this thread, though not tried anything. I am also not sure I completely understand how this would work and how beneficial it would be. However, I have two related questions.
1. Would it be technically feasible to let the user sketch a picture into a box from within Skritter, that is part of the character or word entry for the user. The user could look at a character and then click to draw the image in their mind that is either an illustration of the definition or some wacky image that serves as mnemonic.
2. Would the act of making the picture by itself help to learn the character, and would users find their own sketches useful? In the case of illustrations I could imagine that doing the drawing would be good for getting more of the brain involved. For mnemonics I am less sure, since the point is to have a vivid image in one's mind, not on paper / computer screen.

I think adding pictures/photos would be fine, as long as it doesn't come with a performance hit.

Please not if they can't be switched off.

Thanks for the input, all. I've got this on the list to try out later, although not at a high priority. When we try it, we'll make sure to make them optional.

podster: no, that wouldn't be feasible. You'd have to make or find pictures elsewhere and then upload them. Making the picture might be helpful, but I doubt it would be efficient compared to doing normal spaced repetition study or making mnemonics.