UrlAvatar

[Demon of Light]

Quote[/b] (Dramicus @ Aug. 06 2003,07:05)]
Quote[/b] (Kraellin @ Aug. 06 2003,00:50)]also, dramicus, if that picture is meant to be your sig, it's really annoying in its size. and if it's not meant to be your sig, then it's really annoying that you would post it in every post. please either reduce the size considerably, or remove it. it's a nice pic and all; it's the size that is annoying.

K.
errm...

what pic? I dont have any pictures in my sig.....
Kraellin: While Dramicus' signature is disturbing in its own way, it doesn't have a picture. Might you be talking about plz help?

[TosaInu]

Picture guidelines:

-10 kb max.
-no sound.
-max 500 pixels wide, max 150 pixels high.

These limits were made a while ago to both offer people enough room to add their personal bit while also keeping the downloadtimes for slower modems acceptable and keeping the forum tidy in 800*600 screenresolution. Sounds in pictures can interfere with sound played at computers (audio CD), so that isn't always appreciated either.

plzhelps signature picture meets all these criteria.
Neither does the picture contain disturbing content.

Plzhelp can use this picture as long as he/she wants, until there are circumstances that would require an update of the guidelines (I don't see that happen).

[plzhelp]

Quote[/b] (TosaInu @ Aug. 06 2003,13:36)]Picture guidelines:

-10 kb max.
-no sound.
-max 500 pixels wide, max 150 pixels high.

These limits were made a while ago to both offer people enough room to add their personal bit while also keeping the downloadtimes for slower modems acceptable and keeping the forum tidy in 800*600 screenresolution. Sounds in pictures can interfere with sound played at computers (audio CD), so that isn't always appreciated either.

plzhelps signature picture meets all these criteria.
Neither does the picture contain disturbing content.

Plzhelp can use this picture as long as he/she wants, until there are circumstances that would require an update of the guidelines (I don't see that happen).
Well, if you were on the forums a month or so ago, my sig would have been considered disturbing content. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

And I'm a he, just for future reference. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

[Edit] And I see no reason why Storytime Corner shouldn't have been on the poll http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[Kraellin]

ok, apparently dramicus is using a giant picture in his custom avatar skin. that's why some of you cant see it. you have to be using that skin to see it. the properties on the pic are 782 x 1122 pixels. WAY too big.

dramicus, this is WAY out of line for size limitations. remove it.

K.

[Kraellin]

dramicus,

thank you.

it's a nice pic, btw. if you'd like me to resize it to something more in line with the avatar sizes, let me know, and i'll post it up for ya.

K.

[TosaInu]

The custom avatar:


..This option is a bit primitive at the moment, max size is 100 * 100 pixels. Smaller sizes are possible too. Please keep the forumrules and 56k modem users in mind. No sound and max 10 kb. Flash images are supported too. ..

It wouldn't be so much of a problem if it were just a popup, but it's also used as avatar in the custom skin. Screenfilling damages forumview there. Thanks for removing.

[TosaInu]

I was just checking the customskin to see how it looked, it was 149 pixels high but under 10 kb. A larger picture would be fine in the popup, I may look into that (though I don't know yet how to accomplish that).

[Rob The Bastard]

You mean you get my ugly mug showing up every post when you have customskin selected... whoops

You poor bastards http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif ( Why didn't someone tell me?)

[TosaInu]

100*100 max Rob.

Moderators, please split these avatarpost into a new topic and move to the Watchtower, this doesn't really belong in story and we need to review it. Dramicus, please move the 149 one back so we have some stuff to look at.

[Demon of Light]

Quote[/b] (Dramicus @ Aug. 06 2003,11:13)]
Quote[/b] (Demon of Light @ Aug. 06 2003,13:15)]While Dramicus' signature is disturbing in its own way, it doesn't have a picture...
lol.... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif
Well, suffice to say that I'm not really sure what you're trying to say about Mein Kampf but I'm not encouraged.

[TosaInu]

Thanks Dramicus,

The 100*100 was a bit of arbritrary thing. It hurts the portrait(?) sized ones like you and Rob use.

It doesn't matter much how large it is (yes there will be a limit) as long as it doesn't mess up the looks nor hurt slower connections (yes this is an option, but slow modem users may want to use it too, I'm sure someone wants to use a 10 mb animated avatar).

Looks like Robs is the largest of all: Rob post a one liner please.

[TosaInu]

One line post.

[Knight_Yellow]

this is my sig on the battlefield 1942 / Desert Combat forums

Is that ok? i think it is size wize... im thinking about making it my new sig here.....

http://www.defencepicturelibrary.mod.uk/thumbs/45142/45142572.jpghttp://www.defencepicturelibrary.mod.uk/thumbs/45136/45136431.jpghttp://www.defencepicturelibrary.mod.uk/thumbs/45142/45142348.jpghttp://www.defencepicturelibrary.mod.uk/thumbs/45141/45141495.jpg
BRITISH ARMY: Be the best

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

[Rob The Bastard]

Sorry Tosa... I wasn't aware that the customskin used that picture... it's gone now.


edit ...at least I am trying to kill it... die you bastard picture, die

[TosaInu]

100*100 may be too small. Purpose of this topic is figuring out whether a larger pixelsize would be fine. Yours was 130*175?

[Knight_Yellow]

in most other forums the avatar size is 60/60

seems to look good on them

[Rob The Bastard]

Yes, it was 130*175...

[TosaInu]

Normal avatars are 50*75 here. This one is a custom extra.

[Demon of Light]

Quote[/b] (Dramicus @ Aug. 06 2003,14:11)]
Quote[/b] (TosaInu @ Aug. 06 2003,16:43)]...Dramicus, please move the 149 one back so we have some stuff to look at...
lol...

take it off, put it back make up your minds already... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

DOL: I am not saying anything about the book, as you can clearly see that the quote is not from me...

What are your trying to get across? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
The point is that I want to know what you're trying to get across. You didn't say it but you do repeat it every time you post. Why?

[TosaInu]

Any thoughts about the dimensions?

[Kraellin]

for avatar pics, i'd say anything that doesnt move the text fields over is ok and isnt too large of a file size. now, what 'too large' might be would have to be decided. i also dont know how much long pictures would increase the size of the entire post, forcing it to be longer or not. that shld be tested. if a pic was 200 x 2000, being really extreme here, would it move the post length or just chop off the pic at some point?

i think 10k pushes the limits a bit. i've recently posted up 19, 100 x 100 new avatars for use and whereas most of them fall within the 10k limits, a few go slightly over. and these are .gif images. if one did an animation, even a flash or a longer .gif, it could easily climb up pretty fast at even just 100 x 100.

i think at some point you're going to have to decide what each skin is being used for and then let this more or less determine file size and pic size for you. i like the 100 x 100 pic size, but as you point out, 56k'ers may not, yet they may want to use custom avatars too. so maybe we have 2 custom avatar skins, one with larger limits for broadband and another for 56k'ers or those that just dont like the bigger pics.

at times i do use a 56k modem for web browsing. i have little trouble with the avatar and sig pics. the trouble i have with 56k is threads like soly's babes, picture time, and gallery iii. these have nice big 600 x 600 pics with file sizes in the hundred thousands. but, even with that, i can load them within a minute or so, normally.

now, i do understand the need to consider the future. if we start having hundred thousand pics in sigs and avatars, the 56k'ers are going to have trouble. every thread, every post, every time they post and refresh...yeah, it could get pretty bad. at the moment, 10 or even 20k isnt too bad at 56k.

if you have a full page of posts, which amounts to about 30 posts per page, and everyone on that page had a 10k avatar and a 10k sig, that's the equivalent of about 2, 300k pictures, or 600k. at 56k, that's about a 2 minute download, i believe. this stuff adds up quick. at max, i wouldnt want a page going over 1 meg at 56k and even that is pushing things a bit. bear in mind that you're also pulling from multiple sites at once, which does speed things up a bit. so, my 2 minute download would be if it were all coming from the same source. with multiple sources, it's faster. try it if you dont believe it.

K.

[Lehesu]

I miss my dancing Kikkoman. Can I have just one? Juuuuussst one little dancing Kikkoman? PLLLLEEEEEaaaassseee? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Lehesu]

Holy shit Ignore that last post, my Kikkoman dude is humongous Way to high, even though I still love him. In the mean time.......

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Sunnyvale/8639/img/walk_kikko.gif

[TosaInu]

Hello Lehesu,

This topic serves to investigate which sizes would be acceptable for the URL-Avatar.

The Url-Avatar is displayed when a user clicks on the System-Avatar or when he uses the Custom skin. So, very slow modems don't have to be 'bothered' by it. Yet, it should be somewhat acceptable in size and dimensions because quite a few people use 56k modems or 800*600 resolutions, they should be able to use and enjoy this feature too, shouldn't they?

So it's a 'conflict' between an user to display his avatar (I don't care much what it is, as long as it isn't really offensive, 18+ or something that's going to create a nasty argument) and the browsing comfort of other patrons.

A picture shouldn't be so wide or high that it destroys the topicviews and it shouldn't be too much kb so a 56kb modem-user needs minutes just to load a page (a page can contain many different images).

The 100*100 was a size that looked large enough to me and didn't cause problems with topicviews. There is room and need for larger. We'll have to find out how big a picture can be without causing 'serious' browsing problems.

Walk-kiko.gif would be fine for the URL-Avatar. I guess you found a larger one?

The same is true for pictures in signatures.

[TosaInu]

180 pixels width pushes the message out of 'line'. -> too wide.

170 pixels still seems sligthly too wide, 160 seems fine.
I'ld like to make that the maxwidth if no one has comments on that.

[Admintestc3]

Small avatar, 67 width.

[TosaInu]

1 line.

[TosaInu]

Filetypes are something to look at. A 'standard' PSP save in GIF is some 30 kb, PNG some 70 kb, BMP 110 kb and jpg some 10 kb.

12.7 kb Standard save, about 3 secs on 56k.
http://www.totalwar.org/tosa/BoyFace160.jpeg

Optimized (options in save as menu), progressive 27% compressed 9.9 kb, 2.4 secs on 56k:
http://www.totalwar.org/tosa/BoyFace160Opt.jpeg

Optimized (options in save as menu), progressive 50% compressed 6.60 kb 1.6 secs on 56k:
http://www.totalwar.org/tosa/BoyFace160Opt50.jpeg

Optimized (options in save as menu), progressive 75% compressed 4.31 kb 1.0 sec on 56k:
http://www.totalwar.org/tosa/BoyFace160Opt50.jpeg

Optimized (options in save as menu), progressive 99% compressed 1.08 kb 0.3 secs on 56k:
http://www.totalwar.org/tosa/BoyFace160Opt100.jpeg

These tools also show how long it takes for various modem speeds to download the file. Take into account that each pageview can have 25 different images, together with other stuff that needs to be downloaded. 1 second per avatar can already result in 30 seconds extra to open a page (more than a full minute for the 12.7 kb one).

A google search jpg optimizer will result in quite a few ( http://www.fileheaven.com/123-Gif-Jpg-Optimizer/download/2239.htm , http://www.xat.com/?r63 , http://www.spinwave.com/ ) there are also free ones, and PSP, PS and the like have this build in. I'm not a pro here, Solypsist, Barocca, Kraellin and others may learn you more here.

Try here. (http://www.spinwave.com/crunchers.html)
You can do a free crunch there and drag and drop the result to the desktop. You can also do a save as, but you may have to change the extension then. When you crunch a jpg the extension of the crunched will become something like .123, just change it to .jpg .

My picture is crunched from 13,032 bytes to 9,202 bytes (this is done very fast). It's possible to bring 'huge' 51256 bytes images back to 14927 bytes. This would be great for pic heavy topics in the Tavern.

[Rob The Bastard]

Just a thought on file size ( not dimensions ) ... they should be able to be read.

Some pictures show the size as being unavailable or -1 bytes... which seems to be just a way to avoid having to remove a pic.

A picture should hold up to being scrutinised. If it cannot be confirmed that it is less than the maximum file size then it should be removed.

Opinions???

[TosaInu]

-1 shows up when there's some mechanism to prevent hotlinking. The picture won't be displayed at all then. So one doesn't download anything either, which is the whole point as I personally don't care whether it's 1 kb or 1 gb. These inhuman limits are here for your browsingcomfort, not mine (your = all users).

Not sure whether it's possible to show a picture and still have the property box claim it to be only -1 kb.

[TosaInu]

I'll post more info later, size is limited to max 160 width and max 240 height. The popup will show the actual size of the image.

[TosaInu]

This option is in your control panel/edit profile and is available to all Junior Member accounts and 'up'.

http://www.totalwar.org/tosa/Cp-ep.jpg

The max width is 160 pixels, the max height is 240 pixels. Those max sizes are used when the fields for width and height are left blank. Your picture may not look good then.

It's possible to use a large picture and display it as small avatar, the popup will show the real large picture, or a small picture and display it as big avatar. Your choice.

The reset button will remove the URL for the custom picture, it won't delete/reset your normal avatar or other settings.

The reason to keep the filesize [kb] low is to prevent very long download times for slower modems. I feel that it's pretty easy to make (photo)avatars of less than 10 kb, even at the max sizes. So, the limit will remain 10 kb.

I hope that these new bounderies will give you some more elbowroom.

[Shahed]

Hello Tosa

So does this mean that if we add a custon avatar, it will show directly on the left part of our posts, or do we have to click it ?

Thanks.

[TosaInu]

Konnichiwa SeljukSinan san,

Click works for all skins. The CustomAvatar Skin (Control Panel/Account Options) will also show them, instead of the avatars you used to see, directly.

I use a 90*135 'preview' in CustomAvatar Skin and a 180*270 picture in a pop-up when I click on it (it's one picture, the avatar uses set sizes, the pop-up uses the actual picture dimensions). The pop-up window can be resized and may contain a 1,000*2,000 picture if you like, as long as it's 10 kb or less.

[Shahed]

Hai TosaInu San

Hmm that's clever. Cheers. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Oyasumi Nasai.

[Sjakihata]

when I click edit my profile, I get some kind of error message?

[TosaInu]

Thanks for pointing this out Sjakihata Akechi. One of the skins didn't accept the modified files. It should work now, please try again. I apologize for the inconvenience.

[Sjakihata]

Your welcome TosaInu.

It works now, thank you for solving this

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[MILITARYMAN]

Thanks guys one less post to go i suppose.........lol
MILITARYMAN *bows* then retires. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Nigel]

hmm, I may be a bit slow, but how do you change the avatar pic that appears next to your post (not the one you get when you click the one next to your post http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-confused.gif )

And is there a gallery of MTW or VI portraits? I would like to stay within the theme of this forum, but maybe would like a pic somewhat more personal.

Cheers,
Nigel

[TosaInu]

Hello Nigel,

The UBB forums required 1,000 posts to be made and then you might get a custom avatar. This was put to a halt, IIRC, as the source of theme avatars for STW was quite low.

People still wanted a kind of reward system (the topic about that is still here and I'm fine with any change), so one needs 500 posts now. Then it's possible to select one out of some 1,000 theme avatars. The alternative is to get a promotion to Senior Member.

Most of the avatars can be found in MTW/Campmap/Portraits.

[TonkaToys]

Quote[/b] (TosaInu @ Sep. 06 2003,22:21)]Click works for all skins. The CustomAvatar Skin (Control Panel/Account Options) will also show them, instead of the avatars you used to see, directly.
Hi TosaInu

I've just come across this thread and it makes quite a difference to the personalisation of the forum when you switch on the CustomAvatars skin http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif
Nice to see the creativity that some members have, and to see their choice of avatar.
What is a shame though, is the fact that people that don't have custom Avatars are left with no avatar at all... kind of leaves their posting unfinished, if you know what I mean. This is especially a problem for people that aren't allowed custom Avatars (*ahem*). http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif
Is there a way of showing their default Avatar if there is no custom Avatar set?
Or should this happen anyway and I'm just missing it? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[TosaInu]

Hello Tonkatoys,

It's a while ago that the code for the Urlavatars was made, but I recall that it's available to about anyone.

I know what you mean about the avatarless accounts. It's possible to adjust the code, so something shows there too.

Edit: Just read the previous post: you'll have it soon.

[Nigel]

Hi TosaInu,

Thanks for the explaination.

500 posts or Senior Member, whichever happens first, is fine by me.

hmm, 500 posts is likely to be sometime in 2006, as I won't go spam-posting just to level up http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Scipio]

well that is the guilt free way but if you are anything like me you are beyond guilt http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-glasses2.gif

[TosaInu]

Hello Tonkatoys,

I thought it to be easy to adjust the code a bit, it should work, but there's something that prevents the kite to take off http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif It won't display the normal avatar in case there's no custom one (still trying to find out why not) but just a generic picture can be displayed.


There was a discussion about avatars over a year ago: should members be able to use a custom avatar?

Quite a few people wanted a kind of reward system and going with the theme. So, there's the requirement of 500 posts and the large pool of theme avatars.

It took some time before it became available, but both worlds should be served now: the rank and theme skin and the custom skin which allows about any picture to be used as avatar.

The 500 requirement can be dropped/lowered if that's what people want. The ranksystem can be made optionally now, because that code was streamlined too.

The simple generic avatar for now:
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/team_icons/Generic.gif

[Scipio]

Hey Tosa, why isnt my avatar working? I geuss it doesnt matter too much as I am changing it soon but I do like to have my own little Roman theme http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-glasses2.gif

[TosaInu]

Ave Scipio,

There coud be several reasons for that.
But most likely because the host where the file is doesn't allow remote linking of pictures.

Tried it by replacing your custom urlavatar that was hosted here (people who like to admin that hostingspace can still contact me).

[Scipio]

cool thanx Tosa http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[TonkaToys]

Quote[/b] (TosaInu @ Feb. 17 2004,18:35)]Hello Tonkatoys,

I thought it to be easy to adjust the code a bit, it should work, but there's something that prevents the kite to take off ... but just a generic picture can be displayed.


There was a discussion about avatars over a year ago: should members be able to use a custom avatar?
Thanks TosaInu

These things always seem to be harder than they first appear. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-book2.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-computer.gif

Anyway, I am not too worried about not being able to put my own avatar up until I reach the magic 500 posts, so no need to change it on my behalf (as if).

Thanks for sorting out the temporary avatar, it helps the posts look more complete.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[TosaInu]

You can use a custom avatar of your choice right now TonkaToys. It's a bit confusing, but the 500 posts apply for the theme avatar (what you see with the ordinary skins). The urlavatar is another thing. You can set and use it as soon as you're Member. Check Your Control Panel/Personal Info/Edit your profile and scroll to the bottom of that page. You can enter an url to an avatar of your liking (up to 10 kb, 160 pixels wide and 240 high, flash, gif, jpg or PNG, but no sound and not 18+). For best results you may want to enter the dimensions in the box there.

People using the theme avatars skin can check your urlavatar by clicking on the avatar (you can do that in this skin too). You can also add yet another photo/picture/banner to your profile. But you don't have to, it's just there if you want to use it.

[TonkaToys]

Ahhhhhhh I get it now http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif

All I've got to do now is make a nice piccy

Cheers

[Scipio]

Hey Tosa Im looking to upload a pic I just made where do I go again? I will add to favourites this time http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
also you can delete my old(centurion avatar) and the sigpic that I am using right now

[TosaInu]

Ave Scipio,

You can use http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Uploaders/picupload.php for now. Drop a tiny note in the zip who it's from and what it's for. It'll be transferred to the right place asap.

This system will hopefully be updated soon.

[Scipio]

Done thanx Tosa http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[Scipio]

So where can I find my file?

[TosaInu]

Sorry Scipio,

10 kb max.

Help Topics

Pictures in sigs are not the occasional used pics to illustrate something, but show up in every topic. It's already possible that one page contains 25 different 4.5 kb avatars. Users with slow modems will experience serious trouble when loading pages with many (larger) graphics.

..

-10 kb max.
-no sound.
-max 500 pixels wide, max 150 pixels high.
..


Can it be made smaller?

[Scipio]

Damn sorry forgot http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif I will try to put it up at totalrome

[TosaInu]

Ave Scipio,

It's not so much the problem of not being able to host a 18 kb picture here. But visitors will have to download it, no matter on which server it is. Users with slower connections will suffer dearly if users have large pictures.

[Scipio]

it is now 5 kb size if my cmop is not lying to me I shall upload it again>?

[TosaInu]

Displaying the system avatar when there's no url-avatar seems to be working now.

[TosaInu]

http://www.mizus.com/hosted/TosaInu/TosaM.gif (http://www.mizus.com)

[TonkaToys]

Quote[/b] (TosaInu @ Feb. 23 2004,22:49)]Displaying the system avatar when there's no url-avatar seems to be working now.
That is fab... now it looks like it does with the normal skin but with the added bonus of the urlavatars.

Just can't get inspiration of what to put up yet... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-dizzy2.gif