Avatar selection

[caravel]

Avatar Options

* Admin Defined Avatars
* Custom Avatars - upload from your own computer or specify a URL

The hack you referred to is to stop the user avatars uploading to the db, (user bandwidth protection) the hack makes it like any other board and shows the direct link to the avatar not a php script.

http://www.vbulletin.com/features.php

[TosaInu]

this happens when you try to link to an URL. Profile pictures have the same problem.

I'm interested in the hack.

[therother]

Tosa, welcome to the club of the avatarless, even if you are only passing through!

Edit: Yes, the primary purpose of the unfinished hack I mentioned was to conserve the bandwidth of the forum – it replaces remote avatar upload, with remote avatar linking. I installed the v2 version a while back for a friend for just this reason. The reason why it would be useful here, as TosaInu points out, is that the host does not allow uploads to this server: both the methods you highlight are just different ways of uploading the avatar to be stored locally on the server.

The default vBulletin custom avatar system, by design, does not allow remotely linked avatars. This allows a forum administrator to control the dimension and file size of every avatar on the board. I think we'd all like it if signature pictures had a similar option (such as this hack) as it would make enforcing the current restrictions much easier. Unfortunately, we can't have that hack, for exactly the same reason as the custom avatar system doesn't work.

[TosaInu]

Hello,

I had some time to look at this custom avatar for a skin. The basic things that have to be done are so simple that I'ld hardly call it a hack. There are a few things to sort first though.

-First, it's going to be used on a new skin, people who like the theme skins will still be able to do so. Which skin is going to be used to start this?

-Two, in the basic form it will be possible to use huge pictures (2,000 * 2,000 pixels and up). There's possibly a clumsy way to code in limits and use extra fields, but I prefer to keep it simple at this stage.

It seems to be possible to set just one fixed width and height (HTML) to prevent display of oversized pictures, but that takes away from the custom picture (any picture larger or smaller than the set size will be distorted).

So, it will be better to allow all sorts of sizes, but agree in advance about sizelimits to prevent topics looking bad or slowing down browsing too much. Consequences for people not abiding this (take away the toy) and maybe a limit when it can be used (give user a chance to know how it works).

Custom pictures also have to abide the forum rules of course.

I'm awaiting some feedback from the users.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

so can we?
And can I use my rommel avatar?

[Quietus]

Hi Tosa,

I'm not sure how this works. Can we upload our own avatar? And are everyone allowed to do so without deference to postcounts?

Also, the maximum allowable size is up to 2000x2000 pixel (and maybe even higher)?

If so, that great!!

edit: is that 200x200 pixels instead?

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Woo Hoo I would be able to use my Sohei picture, or my Kenshin picture, but I would need an image editor to make it work...