avatars

[Mansella]

I'm not very good at technology. How do I upload an image from my pc rather than from a webpage for my avatar?

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi Mansella<br /><br />just e-mail me the image and I'll post it on our server and provide you with the link to pull it onto the forum pages.<br /><br />... I need to write a image upload script for forum members.<br /><br />jeff<br /><br />

[Mansella]

how many pixels does it need to be?<br />

[Jeff Tirey]

no more than 100 pixels wide should be good. Send it to me at jeff@textkit.com<br /><br />j

[mariek]

[quote author=jeff link=board=6;threadid=277;start=0#1699 date=1058788825]... I need to write a image upload script for forum members.[/quote]<br />That would be super cool! I had tweaked a picture and put it on Tripod, but the picture stopped appearing after a while for no apparent reason (maybe they don't allow linking to it?). So ever since then, I've been hijacking another image from someone else's webpage.

[Jeff Tirey]

(maybe they don't allow linking to it?). <br />

<br /><br />I bet that's the case, its generally considered a no-no to pull images from servers that are not your own. <br /><br />The image upload/resize feature is not what's holding me back, I have been putting it off because I would want to have the upload featured bundled with the forum interface.<br /><br />Also, image resizing can only work on .jpg and .png - another issue.<br /><br />jeff

[Jeff Tirey]

[quote author=jeff link=board=6;threadid=277;start=0#1721 date=1058802278]<br />

(maybe they don't allow linking to it?). <br />

<br /><br />I'm not really sure with Tri-Pod. I bet that's the case. <br /><br />The image upload/resize feature is not what's holding me back, I have been putting it off because I would want to have the upload featured bundled with the forum interface.<br /><br />Also, image resizing can only work on .jpg and .png - another issue.<br /><br />jeff<br />[/quote]

[Carola]

Jeff, why don't we just scrap them, apart from the member's detail page? Mostly they just take up a lot of space and make it harder to read the messages. Some are funny, but not all!<br />Perhaps you could pick some very small icons (a bit bigger than the smilies) and members have a choice of of of those to use. Either that or use a graphics program to shrink them all down to about "smilie" size!

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi Carola,<br /><br />Yes, I do agree that as the forum grows there's a need for better 'avatar management'. When the forum was less active it didn't really matter but now it does matter - especially for dial-ups and images being pulled from slow or busy servers.<br /><br />I'll look around at some other forums I like and see how they handle it in terms of avatar image width and file size. <br /><br />jeff

[mariek]

[quote author=jeff link=board=6;threadid=277;start=0#1721 date=1058802278]<br />The image upload/resize feature is not what's holding me back, I have been putting it off because I would want to have the upload featured bundled with the forum interface.[/quote]<br /><br />I underestand that a requested feature may seem "easy" to implement, but in reality can be "hairy" to make the necessary changes under the hood.<br /><br />I didn't know that resizing only works with .jpg and .png files. I don't think I've ever seen a .png file??<br /><br /><br />

[mariek]

[quote author=jeff link=board=6;threadid=277;start=0#1774 date=1058874296]<br />I'll look around at some other forums I like and see how they handle it in terms of avatar image width and file size.[/quote]<br /><br />I believe some forums have the capability for a members to suppress those images, but I don't see that toggle in the Profile page.<br />

[Jeff Tirey]

[quote author=mariek link=board=6;threadid=277;start=0#1799 date=1058888018]<br />I didn't know that resizing only works with .jpg and .png files. I don't think I've ever seen a .png file??<br />

<br /><br />It does for the technology I would write the scripting with. I handle image manipulation with some functions from the GD Library. This libary comes standard with newer versions of PHP. Now I don't know exactly why a gif can't be resized. I think that it could but the library doesn't handle .gifs because of licensing. A .png is basically a .gif without licensing issues and it has a few other minor compression differences that I can't recall. <br /><br />I'm going to fist upgrade the script to the lastest version and check and see if there are new avatar features. If no luck on the new version, I'll add that hack.<br />[/quote]

[Raya]

[quote author=jeff link=board=6;threadid=277;start=0#1774 date=1058874296]<br />I'll look around at some other forums I like and see how they handle it in terms of avatar image width and file size. <br />[/quote]<br /><br />At the other forum I used to work for, it was a simple matter of stating the maximum dimensions allowed and the maximum filesize. Moderators and other staff members would be on the lookout for members whose avatars didn't meet the rules, and the usual disciplinary action would follow...<br /><br />Mind you, most of the members at that forum were quite skilled with digital graphics (in fact, the site had a section dedicated entirely to GFX). For here, it might be a good idea to have someone on hand (with the skill and software, obviously) to help with avatar and other image-related issues.

[Episcopus]

Plenty forums allow custom avatars after a certain, usually significant, amount of posts! <br /><br />But avatars be the best! <br /><br />My references to anna kournikova would be limited to a smiley face revealing textkit teeth. <br /><br />No! :'(

[mariek]

Speaking of Avators, Episcope, your avatar isn't coming up at all. Just a big fat red X.

[bingley]

By the way mariek, you've gone back to to the pretty girl rather than the character mortally offended at being called a llama, who I preferred.

[mariek]

[quote author=bingley link=board=6;threadid=277;start=15#1852 date=1058930460]<br />By the way mariek, you've gone back to to the pretty girl rather than the character mortally offended at being called a llama, who I preferred.<br />[/quote]<br /><br />Kenshin-en percussor amäs. Nön amäsne Kaoru-am puellam dulcem? Ëlixï Kaoru-am quia pictura Kaoru-ae est pärvior Kenshine. And I don't want to scare away new members with the scary picture of Kenshin, the assasin. ;D<br />

[Episcopus]

anything's better than that freak evil girl

[mariek]

<br />Grrr...<br /><br />Amäsne haec pictura nova Kaoru-ae?<br />

[Episcopus]

nõn amõ. alii feminãs putridãs miserãsque, alii pulchrãs puellãs amant.

[Keesa]

I really like your avatar, mariek-the cute little girl winking. I don't quite understand the reference to "llama", though. (Actually, a friend and I have a longstanding joke about llama-alpaca, which is why I picked "I'm an alpaca!"). <br /><br />Keesa

[Puella Parva]

I like your avatar too-she's really pretty.