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Start with a consistent image box
Source images vary in aspect ratio and resolution. Your list’s layout can still give every card a shared image container, defined by fixed dimensions or a CSS aspect ratio. This is a design choice for your component, not a universal required thumbnail size.
Keep the image box stable across cards, then decide how the source image should fit inside it. The two common approaches make different trade-offs:
| Display approach | What it does | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
Fill and crop (object-fit: cover) |
Fills the entire box while preserving the image’s proportions. | Parts of the image may be cut off, but the grid looks uniform. |
Fit the whole image (object-fit: contain) |
Shows the complete image inside the box. | Unused space may remain around the image. |
For a photo-led grid, cropping often produces the tidiest row. For diagrams, screenshots, or images whose edges contain important information, preserving the full image may be more useful. You can give individual images a focal point when cropping so a subject stays visible.
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- Read Before You Buy — No Video Output: These adapters support charging and USB 2.0 data transfer, but cannot transmit video signals. Except for standard USB webcams (which use USB data only), they are not compatible with HDMI/DisplayPort cables, video-capable USB-C hubs, or docking stations with video output.
- Convert USB-A Ports to USB-C: Designed to connect USB-C earphones, cables, flash drives, card readers, and other USB-C accessories to standard USB-A ports. Plug-and-play with no drivers or software required.
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Use CSS to standardize the display
This framework-neutral example creates cards with the same 3:2 image area. Change the ratio to suit your design; there is no single required ratio for every curated list.
<article class="link-card">
<a href="https://example.com/article">
<div class="thumbnail">
<img
src="https://example.com/preview.jpg"
alt="A person reading beside a window"
style="--focal-point: 50% 35%;"
>
</div>
<h2>Example article</h2>
</a>
</article>
<style>
.link-card .thumbnail {
aspect-ratio: 3 / 2;
overflow: hidden;
background: #f1f3f5;
}
.link-card .thumbnail img {
display: block;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
object-fit: cover;
object-position: var(--focal-point, 50% 50%);
}
</style>The --focal-point value changes the crop’s position for an individual image; 50% 50% centers it by default. To show complete images instead, change object-fit: cover to object-fit: contain. Consider a neutral background for the space that may appear around contained images.
Rank #2
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Choose images that represent their destinations
Consistent sizing cannot compensate for an image that misrepresents a link. Google’s image guidance recommends relevant, representative images, avoiding generic logos and extreme aspect ratios, and using high-resolution images where possible: Google Search Central’s image SEO best practices.
When selecting images manually or extracting them from linked pages, check that each one actually reflects the destination and remains recognizable at the card size. A wide banner, a narrow portrait, and a square icon can all be valid source images, but may need different focal points or a different treatment to work in the same box.
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Set image metadata on pages you control
If you control the destination page and want it to supply an image when another service builds a preview, set an explicit Open Graph image. The Open Graph protocol defines og:image as the image URL representing the linked object, along with optional structured properties such as image width, height, MIME type, secure URL, and alt text. It says: “If the page specifies an og:image it should specify og:image:alt.” See the Open Graph protocol documentation.
Rank #3
- Sleek 7-in-1 USB-C Hub: Features an HDMI port, two USB-A 3.0 ports, and a USB-C data port, each providing 5Gbps transfer speeds. It also includes a USB-C PD input port for charging up to 100W and dual SD and TF card slots, all in a compact design.
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<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/article-preview.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:alt" content="A person reading beside a window">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="800">
<meta property="og:image:type" content="image/jpeg">Choose dimensions that accurately describe the image file. Metadata on a destination page and CSS in your curated list solve different problems: metadata helps a consuming service identify a preview image, while your CSS controls how an image is displayed inside your own cards.
Account for missing images and external previews
Some destinations will not provide a usable image. Decide how those cards should look rather than allowing a broken image or an unpredictable gap to disrupt the grid. A neutral placeholder in the same aspect-ratio box is a practical fallback; it is a layout choice, not a platform requirement.
Rank #4
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Do not assume your list’s CSS controls previews shown by messaging apps or other platforms. Apple says Messages generates previews from metadata available directly on the linked page and does not run JavaScript to produce them. Its recommendations for Messages previews include images at least 900 pixels wide, square icons at least 108 pixels on each side, and an associated resource-size limit of 10 MB. These are guidance and limits for Apple Messages previews, not requirements for an ordinary thumbnail component on your site. See Apple’s TN3156: Create rich previews for Messages.
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Check the layout with varied images
Before settling on a crop policy, preview the actual card layout with wide, square, and portrait images. Check whether the subject remains visible at the smallest size you display and whether cropping removes context needed to understand the image. Adjust the focal point on images where a centered crop fails; use the full-image fit for cases where cropping would remove essential content.
Best Value
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Also test a missing-image fallback and images with different intrinsic dimensions. This helps distinguish a source-image problem from a layout problem: the source may be representative but oddly shaped, or a uniform box may be cropping a useful part of an otherwise suitable image.
Or skip the browser setup
If you need to capture source pages as images for a link list, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server. One GET request can return a screenshot; this example saves a WebP capture of the target URL. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for options and response details.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpScreenshotNeo accepts cookie and consent banners before capture and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each step can be turned off. Bot checks and CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and responses identify the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for AI agents. The free plan includes 1,000 shots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots.
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