I've re-enabled avatars on the site. However, please be certain to abide by the following:

Avatars are meant to be simple visual cues, not overwhelming distractions that compete with the text. Thus, I am imposing the following restrictions. First, avatars may not exceed 40 x 40 pixels in size. Second, distracting animation is disallowed.

Avatars that are too large or are animated will be removed in the coming weeks, so if your existing avatar does not meet the new requirements, you should change it as soon as possible.

I tried changing my avatar but it would not let me. All I could do was disable it. Once disabled can you reenable it?
Also, once upon a time, wasn't the size of avatars 60x60 (Note: That was just a question, not a complaint)

Does it work now? And yes, at some point the size was 60 x 60. That seems a bit large for the current layout, though.

Ah yes, it does work now. Thank you. I shall change it when I get home. And thanks for the swift reply.

Harr, I have an avatarr

I took away my animation and made it 40x40. It looks shite now. I guess I will have to make a new one.


edit - I just took my website favicon. Can't be bothered to make another one. It is ony 32x32 pixels even. And don't worry it is linked to my own domain. Sorry if there are cookies Goofy.

If possible, please host your avatar on an external website rather than uploading it to sciforums. Avatars waste a lot of bandwidth and it's easier if you help share the pain.


When I choose my avatar I choose an external link (the original was under my domain). But if I check the avatar properties it seems it is located under sciforums.

So, I wonder if you actually benefit from chosing an avatar from an external link. Should I do something differently?

It is all a bit confusing for a simple monkey.

But if I check the avatar properties it seems it is located under sciforums.

Ah, cripes. OK, never mind then. Apparently this forum software is incapable of being intelligent.

I hope it is a comforting thought then that mine is only 271 bytes. I probably wasted more bandwidth by replying.

alternatively you could set the limit to 16x16 pixels.

It is still possible to make nice avatars at this size. Just needs creativity.

Well, I'll probably spend some time optimizing the HTML itself, which ought to reduce bandwidth consumption considerably. The new layout already has some substantial reductions by removing unnecessary crap. This helps the server, but it also helps you because sciforums loads faster.

40 x 40?!!
grrrrrreat!

a whole file of boombastic avatars.....all un-useable.

jee thanks.

Downsize your existing ones or make a new one.

a whole file of boombastic avatars.....all un-useable.

But so much more usable than they were yesterday when you couldn't have an avatar. So I'll accept your thanks even though you didn't provide any.

oh spurious I wish I was techy as you.

If you think the downsizing proceadure would be simple enough for me to grasp then sure by all means PM me.

for now....this will have to do.

....it's OK I guess.

porf:

"jee thanks"

...it's there in black and white.

;)

OK then, I accept your very sarcastically spoken thanks. :)

Porfiry

I get a script error on every page I click - what happened?

Can you be more specific about the error?

I posted it in the "error warning" thread.

Thanks Porfiry!

Yes, Thanks Porf. But I can't get my avatar to work.

whooooooah!
just hold on a sec!
No animation right? Well what about james R's avatar??

Yes.... Finally the avatars are back.....wait, what is the catch... :bugeye:

mine is so small

Mine works just fine! :)

whooooooah!
just hold on a sec!
No animation right? Well what about james R's avatar??

(psst! Keyser Soze)

Okay - I am sure it is me, but I see no place to change my Avatar
on the Edit Avatar page. The options are to not use one, Reset
or Save Changes. There is no place to input changes.

:m: Peace.

Okay - I am sure it is me, but I see no place to change my Avatar
on the Edit Avatar page. The options are to not use one, Reset
or Save Changes. There is no place to input changes.

:m: Peace.

That's bizzare. I was able to edit my first one and then replace it with something else. And I just did all that in the 'avatar' page without any problems.

And thanks porf :D..

Okay - I am sure it is me, but I see no place to change my Avatar
on the Edit Avatar page. The options are to not use one, Reset
or Save Changes. There is no place to input changes.

:m: Peace.

this is what I see at that particular place. I attached the image to avoid much feared cookies.

Hmmm I have the same thing as well spurious. Easy to change or edit it.

Is suffer the same fate as Goofyfish,
I guess it's cause we are mod's in the DB that it's a little different.

swede:

heh! thanks!!

I did have the "e" the 1st time round, then realised The "k" wasnt in caps...so I changed the "k"....then.....oh never mind........

wait,

"Keyser" doesn't seem right somehow, Im sure it's "Kyser", no???

confused now.

Okay - I am sure it is me, but I see no place to change my Avatar on the Edit Avatar page.

Ha! I apparently failed to enable avatars for moderators. It should work now. Cheers.

Ha! I apparently failed to enable avatars for moderators.

:D !!!!!!

...oh c'mon, surely it's just not me that found that midly amusing??.

I think mods should be restricted to just 20 x 20 pixels, and no colour.

...kidding :bugeye:

uh.... *points to first post* no animation?
Don't tell me nightmares......

The software allows animation, but I do not. That is, unless the animation is sufficiently subtle to not be distracting.

okay..okay, I'll go with that...
< pun >
But I wonder if if flashing black n white animation's allowed :)
< / pun >

check imdb
http://imdb.com/title/tt0114814/

However another survivor tells an extra story – one involving master criminal Kyser Soze. Kint reveals how the gang were forced into the fateful job by Soze – however who is Soze and why did the men try to steal what appears to be a ship load of drugs that didn't exist?

so! I was right.
now I have to change "sose"........

Ha! I apparently failed to enable avatars for moderators. It should work now. Cheers.Nope. :bugeye:

goofy, your AV is up and running man!!

time to change those specs........

The avatar is up, but there is no means of editing it in my CP.

:m: Peace.

outlandish, that's a user review. who said they could spell? here, plot summary: http://imdb.com/title/tt0114814/plotsummary
All goes tolerably well until the influence of the legendary, seemingly omnipotent "Keyser Soze" is felt.

i care about it being right because it's one of my favorite movies

Ha! It's because you're a super moderator, and I left you guys to the very last. I'm really on the ball today.

Top work Porfiry :)

...cept i couldn't quite get the grey to match on mine...

Don't try to get a match - make the background transparent.

:m: Peace.

Eh, by the way, thanks for the forum upgrade, now we're not directed to the very abyss of the page everytime we post a reply. That's GOOD!

goofy dont listen to porf.

you're on the slippery slope man!

today can't edit your av. Tomorrow...can't log in........

swede:

I prefer "Kyser" it looks better. Phonetically "keyser" isn't quite right, and looks rather effeminate.

If I had my way I'd propably spell it "Khyser"

Don't try to get a match - make the background transparent.

I tried, whenever I try and save the picture as a jpeg or gif my program (paintshop pro 7) automatically converts the transparency to the selected background colour! F**k it! I know there's just some option or box I haven't ticked that will change that, but I cant find it... You couldnt just give me the colour stats on that grey could ya porfiry?

Hey, how is it that some people have avatars larger than 40x40?

I tryed shrinking my avatar but it just looks to degraded (can't even make out what it is anymore) guess its just going to have to go. :(

Hey, how is it that some people have avatars larger than 40x40?

who????
(damn minimum character limit)

limit?----

Aaaaah ok I got a fetus avatar to look OK at 40x40 but I had to remove the jar, bummer. I can see why Porfiry is doing this (save space) and it is nice of him to at least let use avatars again but these restrictions I find harsh.

Ok ok lets try this new fetus avatar... I like it makes me feel... cute :m:

<font color="FFFFFF">hahahahaha</font>

Well I managed to generate a minime :D

However, I can understand why some people see Porfiry's Avatar restrictions harsh but you can see why Porfiry asks for these restrictions can't you?

Every image is extra load on the server, and most notibly the bandwidth, that means if you have large images housed on the server then Porfiry's bandwidth is chewed up all on images which then starts causing errors like "Unable to connect. User has used all their allocated bandwidth for the month." (Not that this has ever occured with sciforums.com)

However when images are housed at other sites (other servers) then the bandwidth is being shared, in the sense that the main site is loaded and the images are coming from elsewhere on someone elses bandwidth (Thats why so many free website providers stop people from "Leeching files")

I can guess that Sciforums bandwidth is heavy, because way back when we could add signatures at the bottom I had an image appended to my posts that was only shown at sciforums. It was served from a server with a 3Gb per Month limit. However always by about the 15th of each month, the limit was reached and the provider wouldn't serve my image up.

It provides a clue that if my image (something about 40kb) was hitting a 3Gb Limit per month, then you can imagine what a site with all the avatars uploaded to it was getting.

[Notibly the number of Searchengine caches made of Sciforums also probably helps inflate the running costs]

Well, the bandwidth thing cuts both ways. It's bad for the server and me, but large avatars also slow down the site for users. I'm thinking of you guys.

But it's mostly motivated by aesthetics (as should all decisions in the world, but that's another discussion). Larger avatars are just visually distracting and often annoying. They disrupt the aesthetic of the site itself. This is, after all, a discussion site, not an image gallery nor a reflecting pond for the narcissists of the world.

Btw, the only reason the avatars a pick of me, is because I'm rubbish at drawing, otherwise I would have drawn something.

I tend to agree with Stryder. Of course, I couldn't make a Rygel avatar look that attractive, but I guess it works.

I, however have a simple and stylish self-made avatar. Go me, I rock.

My squestion still stands. how is it that some people have avatars larger than 40x40? Maia for instance has an avatar that's somethnig like 43x47 pixels in size. http://www.sciforums.com/avatars/avatar7487_0.gif To see how large an image is just right click it and go to properties. . . if you're using a mac. . . well. . . who cares about you? Go get a computer with a friggin' mouse wheel.

I also have a self-made avatar, and It's much more stylish than Mystechs if I do say so.

Mine is simpler and better suited to be a small logo like image. It also has the slightly suversive quality of containing five extruded points.

Mines just much modification on a original image

who????
(damn minimum character limit)

Some older users. Wraith, for example, still has the same, large, animated one.

Some people who had defaults set and then left now have an oversized avatar, because even though it fit the restrictions then, it doesn't now.

SpyMoose's and Mystech's get props from me. Very cool stuff.

For reference the color of the header bars that your avatar will be on have an RGB value of 233 233 233 In hex I believe that in hex that's E9E9E9

I tried to just make a png with transparent backing, but for some reason that didn't seem to want to work, maybe it's my copy of PhotoShop, but I also noticed that right clicking my avatar as it shows up in threads says that it's a gif, so maybe it's just something to do with the bizarre inner workings of the sciforums which are not known to me.

yes, that is interesting. i uploaded mine as a plain old JPG and when you check its properties here on the form by right clicking it it claims to be a gif.

its says that about all of them

It might say they are all .gif but if you look at the extension when you try a "Save Picture as" command, it goes to the right one (gif, jpg, png)

...whenever I try and save the picture as a jpeg or gif my program (paintshop pro 7) automatically converts the transparency to the selected background colour...Here you go...

http://users.adelphia.net/~goofyfish/images/scramble.gif

...transparent background. Save it and upload it if you want.

:m: Peace.

It should be noted that Jpegs don't save an alpha channel. In other words, no transparansy. If you want a transparant backing it's got to be gif or png.

Hmmm . . . we can't upload animated avatars. . . can we upload animated or interactives SWF files for our avatars?

Cheers Goofy, you're a legend!

mystech:.
if you're using a mac. . . well. . . who cares about you? Go get a computer with a friggin' mouse wheel.

lol, enjoy taking tiassa's foot outta your ass! ;)

...oh, and what's so subversive about 5 extruding points??(!)

if you're using a mac. . . well. . . who cares about you? Go get a computer with a friggin' mouse wheel.

Actually, I just right-click and go to properties.

...And my mouse has a scroll wheel.

There are still people that have oversized avatars! What gives??!!!

76 posts to go!

Well, they still have avatars from the time before the size limit was established. But you could ask Porfiry if you can have a bigger avatar, but I doubt that he will give you one. :p

Dreamwalker, read the last paragraph in the first post in this thread.

61 posts to go!

So? Looks like they did not get deleted...

And I'm wondering why!

49 posts to go!

why not?

2 post to go!

t'is not so bad
40x40
still can put in smthing that looks good
for instance -> mine :p => 209 bytes

True, true.

235513562222941828767275967352112341 posts to go!

t'is not so bad

Obviously ya don't get it.

235513562222941828767275967352112341 posts to go!

Sumwun iz un utenchun ho!

I want to alter my avatar a little bit. When i right click, its says its 624 bytes, and underneath that it says "size on disk 4K "
When i went to the control panel to change it, it said that it was to large. I have no idea how many pixels mine is at the moment, and the change i want to do is just to add another arm doing the same as the current avatar. So could anybody help/ guide/inform me how to change it ? Would the extra arm make it above the 49x40 limit? and how do you measure how many pixels are used. cheers :confused:

maybe the second you uploaded it here it was just the face and because it was the second only the face was showing it was under 40x40

I want to alter my avatar a little bit. When i right click, its says its 624 bytes, and underneath that it says "size on disk 4K "
When i went to the control panel to change it, it said that it was to large. I have no idea how many pixels mine is at the moment, and the change i want to do is just to add another arm doing the same as the current avatar. So could anybody help/ guide/inform me how to change it ? Would the extra arm make it above the 49x40 limit? and how do you measure how many pixels are used. cheers :confused:

could somebody reply to me about this please :confused:

Slotty, I think an extra arm would make it slightly larger than the limit. I'm assuming the one arm is half of the avatar. Yer avatar is 28 pixels wide. Half of 28 is 14. Adding 14 to get another arm in there would make it 42 pixels wide.

Dudn't it just suck?!

If ya wanna check the dimensions in pixels, right-click on the icon of the picture, then go to Properties. That's where ya found out how many bytes it takes up. Click on the "Summary" tab at the top. It will tell ya width and height in pixels.

Glad to be of help. Tell me if that helped.

Thanks mate. Thats a bit of a bummer, oh for just 2 more pixels ! :(

I'm fighting to add at least 10 pixels to both the width and height of our avatars.

Well i hate some forums where the page takes for ever to load , and when it does load it looks like Las Vegas has arrived on the screen. Bloody awful.

Mind you i still want mine a little bit bigger :o

Well, a 45x45 limit won't make everything look like Las Vegas. In fact, neither would the 60x60 limit that the poster formerly known as WellCookedFetus wants back.

pixel whores :p

Just cuz ye'r content with the current limit, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be reconsidered.

I'm not pixel whores. I just want the limit changed so I can actually have a good picture for my avatar.

:rolleyes:

Porfiry is not reconsidering anything for the sake of some little newbie. He won't consider anything for a dozen little newbies and a dozen fat oldies. So you may quit whining.

How am I a newbie? Elaborate on how my 1,126-postcount doesn't qualify me as an oldie.

Join Date: 06-18-04

6-17-04, according to my time zone. And ya know how long ago that was?!

a few months

Oh wow. I'm so new. My complaints mean nothing cuz I've only been here four-and-a-half months.

:rolleyes:

No, your complains mean nothing because almost nobody else is complaining (damn, democracy, eh?), besides, Sciforums is a private venture and the administration doesn't have to comply with any requests. You leave, a 100 new ones will move in.

I think your cmoplaints mean nothing for reasons such as:
1) this is technically a dicatorship
2) Porfyry probably has a life.
3) There may be issues with server space etc.
Or of course none of the above. But seeing as I dont have an avatar and probably wont get one ever, it doesnt matter to me. :Cheesy grin:

this is technically a dicatorship
:cool:

Why do ya guys even come to this thread if ya think my complaint means nothing?! If ya don't care, don't read my posts. Ya know how simple that would be?

Ya just seem so content on attacking my complaints cuz I've only been here a few months and cuz ya don't care about yer avatars. What the fuck?!

You leave, a 100 new ones will move in.

Actually, registration is disabled.

Porfyry probably has a life.

He's also running this forum. Yer point is?

If ye'r content with the current avatar limit, good for you, but stay out of it. I'm not gonna let ya two silence me.

. . . Why am I even wasting electrical impulses by typing a response to ya people? OMFG.

It shows you care, its a good sign.

Thanks, guthrie.