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Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:49 pm
by Stu
This thread is here to make clear what the position is on this forum regarding avatars and signatures, and help anyone who is having trouble with either of these.

1) Signatures

Each registered user in their profile has the ability to create a signature, which is displayed at the bottom of every post that member makes. This signature can consist of any combination of text or a URL with formatting such as bold etc.

Images are not allowed as part of your signature.

To make a URL or to apply text formatting, you need to use tags which get interpreted when you make your post.

Eg: to make text bold put [b] then your text and then [/b] to turn it off again. Equally, use [url]to make a link and then[/url] to turn it off.


2) Avatars

These are little pictures which appear under your name when you make a post. Any pictures have to meet the following criteria:

- No bigger than 100 x 100 pixels in size
- File size of no bigger than 25Kb
- Image has to be a gif, jpeg or png file
- No animated avatars are allowed

Once you have created your avatar, go to your profile and in the Avatar section, either click the Browse button to find the avatar on your local PC, or put the URL in the second box. Either method will upload the image to the forum.

Any problems with creating your avatar or signtaure, please use this thread to make them known and we'll try and get them resolved.

Stu

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:02 am
by ouroboros
Stuart Lee wrote:
2) Avatars

These are little pictures which appear under your name when you make a post. Any pictures have to meet the following criteria:

- No bigger than 80 x 80 pixels in size
- File size of no bigger than 25Kb
- Image has to be a gif, jpeg or png file
- No animated avatars are allowed

Once you have created your avatar, go to your profile and in the Avatar section, either click the Browse button to find the avatar on your local PC, or put the URL in the second box. Either method will upload the image to the forum.

Any problems with creating your avatar or signtaure, please use this thread to make them known and we'll try and get them resolved.

Stu


Quick question, it takes me forever to find a pic online that will fit the 80 x 80 pixels so many of them are bigger. Is there anyway to download a picture and then change its size? I've been trying to get an Eddie Izzard one for a while now :(

Mind you I am rather content with my current one for the time being!

Edit: Oh shoot ignore that I just found a similar post further down sorry :oops:

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:22 am
by Dorset Girl
ouroboros wrote:
Quick question, it takes me forever to find a pic online that will fit the 80 x 80 pixels so many of them are bigger. Is there anyway to download a picture and then change its size? I've been trying to get an Eddie Izzard one for a while now :(

Mind you I am rather content with my current one for the time being!


Ouroboros - are you okay with this now? In case not, or in case anyone else needs to know, it can be done with quite basic software. If you go to Start - Programs - Accessories - Paint, and open the program, you can then open your picture.

Use Ctrl + E to shrink the image, and the Ctrl + W to check the pixel width / length. That's how I did it anyway!

If you have Photoshop, it's even easier, if anyone needs to know how, let me know.

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:10 pm
by ouroboros
Marvellous! I'll have a play around later. Cheers DG!

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:43 pm
by ouroboros
Dorset Girl wrote:Use Ctrl + E to shrink the image, and the Ctrl + W to check the pixel width / length. That's how I did it anyway!


Ok when I shrink the picture it lops half of it off! It doesn't shrink the whole picture?

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:52 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
ouroboros wrote:
Dorset Girl wrote:Use Ctrl + E to shrink the image, and the Ctrl + W to check the pixel width / length. That's how I did it anyway!


Ok when I shrink the picture it lops half of it off! It doesn't shrink the whole picture?


There should be a stretch/skew option in the menu bar, which give you the option of reducing the whole picture by percentage.

Do you have picture manager? It should be the default JPG viewer for all fairly recent PCs. There's a canny little tool in the right-hand pane which lets you specify how many pixels you want to reduce your pic to (I think mine's 80x67 or something). That should be your easiest option. But 'Paint' should allow you to do the same thing, it's just a bit more of a faff.

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:58 pm
by CatNamedRudy
Beer Necessity wrote:
ouroboros wrote:
Dorset Girl wrote:Use Ctrl + E to shrink the image, and the Ctrl + W to check the pixel width / length. That's how I did it anyway!


Ok when I shrink the picture it lops half of it off! It doesn't shrink the whole picture?


There should be a stretch/skew option in the menu bar, which give you the option of reducing the whole picture by percentage.

Do you have picture manager? It should be the default JPG viewer for all fairly recent PCs. There's a canny little tool in the right-hand pane which lets you specify how many pixels you want to reduce your pic to (I think mine's 80x67 or something). That should be your easiest option. But 'Paint' should allow you to do the same thing, it's just a bit more of a faff.


If you do it in Picture Manager, all you have do is put 80x80 in the box and it will automatically adjust it to the correct dimensions. (80 x whatever)

I've never done it using Paint. I've only ever used Picture Manager or the Reduce to Avatar size in Photobucket. (I can't use that for FO though because it won't reduce it below 100)

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:14 pm
by ouroboros
Beer Necessity wrote:Do you have picture manager?


Alas no. I was trying the sketch/skew thing on paint but to no avail. I'll persevere.

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:33 pm
by ouroboros
:thumbup:

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:37 pm
by Dorset Girl
ouroboros wrote::thumbup:


Cool! I know exactly when that photo was taken too! He's saying:

"Did I leave the gas on? No, I'm a f*&^ing squirrel!"

Is that right? :lol:

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:43 pm
by ouroboros
Dorset Girl wrote:
ouroboros wrote::thumbup:


Cool! I know exactly when that photo was taken too! He's saying:

"Did I leave the gas on? No, I'm a f*&^ing squirrel!"

Is that right? :lol:


Lol - check out my sig miss observant! :lol:

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:53 pm
by Dorset Girl
ouroboros wrote:
Dorset Girl wrote:
ouroboros wrote::thumbup:


Cool! I know exactly when that photo was taken too! He's saying:

"Did I leave the gas on? No, I'm a f*&^ing squirrel!"

Is that right? :lol:


Lol - check out my sig miss observant! :lol:


:oops: :oops:

That'll teach me to think I'm clever. :oops:

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:58 pm
by ouroboros
:lol: an honest mistake. Just shows we both know his stand up routines a little too well! :D

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:03 pm
by Bee Gees Fan
There's also a website - http://www.myimager.com - that you can use to alter the size of pictures.

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:05 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
CatNamedRudy wrote:(I can't use that for FO though because it won't reduce it below 100)


:lol: Are you suggesting we're tight with the maximum avatar size permitted or something? :wink:

Glad you got it sorted, Ouro! :)

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:10 pm
by ouroboros
Beer Necessity wrote:Glad you got it sorted, Ouro! :)


Ta! Ah Ouro's stuck, cool!

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:15 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
ouroboros wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:Glad you got it sorted, Ouro! :)


Ta! Ah Ouro's stuck, cool!


I noted your earlier pleasure at the nickname. I'm good at ingratiating myself aren't I, Ouro? :wink:

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:16 pm
by Dorset Girl
Beer Necessity wrote:
ouroboros wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:Glad you got it sorted, Ouro! :)


Ta! Ah Ouro's stuck, cool!


I noted your earlier pleasure at the nickname. I'm good at ingratiating myself aren't I, Ouro? :wink:


That's an interesting new signature you've got too, BN?!

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:20 pm
by ouroboros
Beer Necessity wrote:
ouroboros wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:Glad you got it sorted, Ouro! :)


Ta! Ah Ouro's stuck, cool!


I noted your earlier pleasure at the nickname. I'm good at ingratiating myself aren't I, Ouro? :wink:


:lol: a natural charm

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:21 pm
by CatNamedRudy
Beer Necessity wrote:
CatNamedRudy wrote:(I can't use that for FO though because it won't reduce it below 100)


:lol: Are you suggesting we're tight with the maximum avatar size permitted or something? :wink:


Yep! That's it! This site sucks! I'm going to FM and I'm never coming back here again! :wink:

Seriously though, the only reason it bugs me is because for some reason when I take screen caps, my computer will ONLY save them in bmp files. I've tried a million times to get them to save in jpegs but they won't. So in order to get them to convert to jpegs, I have to save them to Photobucket. Then, in order to use said screen cap as my avatar here, I have to resave the image to my computer (because now it's been converted to a jpeg) and THEN resize it!

It's kind of a pain in the ass but I'll be ok! :cat:

I keep getting into disagreements about Bulldog over there at FM and it's not nearly as enjoyable as it is getting into "debates" here about Author, Author, Room Full of Heroes and now apparently..........Odd Man Out! :)

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:21 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
Dorset Girl wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:
ouroboros wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:Glad you got it sorted, Ouro! :)


Ta! Ah Ouro's stuck, cool!


I noted your earlier pleasure at the nickname. I'm good at ingratiating myself aren't I, Ouro? :wink:


That's an interesting new signature you've got too, BN?!


Yeah, I'm REALLY looking forward to tomorrow for obvious reasons...I finish work at 12:45pm and don't see this hell-hole again for two weeks! Yay! :lol: (Hell-hole=work, not this site, obviously!)

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:27 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
CatNamedRudy wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:
CatNamedRudy wrote:(I can't use that for FO though because it won't reduce it below 100)


:lol: Are you suggesting we're tight with the maximum avatar size permitted or something? :wink:


Yep! That's it! This site sucks! I'm going to FM and I'm never coming back here again! :wink:

Seriously though, the only reason it bugs me is because for some reason when I take screen caps, my computer will ONLY save them in bmp files. I've tried a million times to get them to save in jpegs but they won't. So in order to get them to convert to jpegs, I have to save them to Photobucket. Then, in order to use said screen cap as my avatar here, I have to resave the image to my computer (because now it's been converted to a jpeg) and THEN resize it!

It's kind of a pain in the ass but I'll be ok! :cat:

I keep getting into disagreements about Bulldog over there at FM and it's not nearly as enjoyable as it is getting into "debates" here about Author, Author, Room Full of Heroes and now apparently..........Odd Man Out! :)


Shit - how old is your version of Paint? :wink: I take screen caps all day for work and I always convert them from bitmaps to JPGs in Paint...

Image

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:36 pm
by Bee Gees Fan
Beer Necessity wrote:Yeah, I'm REALLY looking forward to tomorrow for obvious reasons...I finish work at 12:45pm and don't see this hell-hole again for two weeks! Yay! :lol: (Hell-hole=work, not this site, obviously!)


Will you be sending postcards?

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:42 pm
by CatNamedRudy
Beer Necessity wrote:
CatNamedRudy wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:
CatNamedRudy wrote:(I can't use that for FO though because it won't reduce it below 100)


:lol: Are you suggesting we're tight with the maximum avatar size permitted or something? :wink:


Yep! That's it! This site sucks! I'm going to FM and I'm never coming back here again! :wink:

Seriously though, the only reason it bugs me is because for some reason when I take screen caps, my computer will ONLY save them in bmp files. I've tried a million times to get them to save in jpegs but they won't. So in order to get them to convert to jpegs, I have to save them to Photobucket. Then, in order to use said screen cap as my avatar here, I have to resave the image to my computer (because now it's been converted to a jpeg) and THEN resize it!

It's kind of a pain in the ass but I'll be ok! :cat:

I keep getting into disagreements about Bulldog over there at FM and it's not nearly as enjoyable as it is getting into "debates" here about Author, Author, Room Full of Heroes and now apparently..........Odd Man Out! :)


Shit - how old is your version of Paint? :wink: I take screen caps all day for work and I always convert them from bitmaps to JPGs in Paint...

Image


I don't use Paint. But I have tried doing it that way and they'll show with a jpg extension but when I try and put them up here for my avatar I get the little nag screen that says I need to have my files in jpg format.

It's ok, I'll do it this way. It's easier now that I know that's what I have to do.

Re: Forum Avatars and Signatures

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:47 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
Bee Gees Fan wrote:
Beer Necessity wrote:Yeah, I'm REALLY looking forward to tomorrow for obvious reasons...I finish work at 12:45pm and don't see this hell-hole again for two weeks! Yay! :lol: (Hell-hole=work, not this site, obviously!)


Will you be sending postcards?


What's your address?