How To Customize Avatars

[silverfox]

For those who have asked

If you'd like to add an avatar (the little picture that shows up by a poster's name) to your profile, find the picture you like anywhere on the web, right click on properties and highlight and copy the "address/URL" information. The size limit is 80 by 80 pixels or 19.5 KB (whichever is smaller). The size of the image is found under the "address/url" information after "dimension".

Go to the "User CP" link, click on "Edit Avatar", click "Use Custom Avatarr" and paste the properties in the first box.

If anyone has an easier way to explain please respond. I'm not very good at explaining this kind of stuff.

[square_peg]

For those who have asked

If you'd like to add an avatar (the little picture that shows up by a poster's name) to your profile, find the picture you like anywhere on the web, right click on properties and highlight and copy the "address/URL" information. The size limit is 80 by 80 pixels or 19.5 KB (whichever is smaller). The size of the image is found under the "address/url" information after "dimension".

Go to the "User CP" link, click on "Edit Avatar", click "Use Custom Avatarr" and paste the properties in the first box.

If anyone has an easier way to explain please respond. I'm not very good at explaining this kind of stuff.

Silverfox,
Your instructions must be OK...I even figured it out! (And...I love my new "avatar". :D

"Square Peg" aka Noelle

[Jeff_Ricks]

Silverfox,
Your instructions must be OK...I even figured it out! (And...I love my new "avatar". :D

"Square Peg" aka Noelle

I like it too! Very cool!

Jeff

[peter_mary]

I like it too! Very cool!

Jeff

Ditto! :cool:

Paul

[silverfox]

Silverfox,
Your instructions must be OK...I even figured it out! (And...I love my new "avatar". :D

"Square Peg" aka Noelle

I love it! It's so "YOU". :)

[dogzilla]

I'm always the one who has to throw a monkey wrench... Any Mac users out there? Those excellent instructions do NOT apply to Macintosh machines. (I have "get info" but not properties...) Filepath conventions are different...

And I have the best photo to use.

[dogzilla]

With Nick's help, I've figured it out.

How you like me now? :D

[dogzilla]

Gah! I meant NATE, not Nick. SO sorry...

What, no slapping the forehead smilie? How 'bout this one: :rolleyes:

[Jeff_Ricks]

Gah! I meant NATE, not Nick. SO sorry...

What, no slapping the forehead smilie? How 'bout this one: :rolleyes:


I like the avatar! I'm glad Nate was able to help you out.

At some point when I have time I'll have to look into whether I can add some more smilies. Let's see... one barfing one and one slapping the head one. It'd be fun to have some smilies with maybe Brigham or Joseph faces, but I don't know what we'd use them for. Maybe put a dunce cap or little horns on their heads? ;-)

Jeff

[peter_mary]

With Nick's help, I've figured it out.

How you like me now? :D

I LOVE the Avitar! It's so, dog...zilla...ish...I guess! :)

I trust this is a family member?

Paul

[dogzilla]

Yes, Paul, that would be the Original Dogzilla. When she was a mere pup, a now-ex-boyfriend foolishly left his glasses lying on the couch cushion. When he returned, this innocent looking pup met him in the hallway with the stem of his glasses sticking out of her mouth. Thankfully, we found all the other pieces scattered around the living room, so a visit to the vet was not necessary. On the drive to Lenscrafters (I had to drive as he, ahem, couldn't see to drive without his glasses.), he muttered, "that damn dog IS dogzilla." The moniker stuck and when I needed a new e-mail address and screen name a few months later... Anyway, I've been Dogzilla since about 1996. And you know what they say about pets and their owners. . . ;)

Regarding the Joseph Smith or Brigham smilies: on another message board, where I sometimes live, we have a Jewish rabbi smilie with a thought bubble that says "putz!" We use it when someone's being sort of well, a putz. I could see a minor adaptation in this case.

Maybe Smith's thought bubble says, "Apostate!" and we use it when someone's made a breakthrough that helps them break ties.

I dunno... Just a thought.

My sig should say, "ROWF!"

[Free-soil]

I have the greatest pic I want to use...but it is too big. :( How do I change the pixel size? And in what program do I do that?

I'm computer illiterate :rolleyes:

[silverfox]

Maybe Smith's thought bubble says, "Apostate!" and we use it when someone's made a breakthrough that helps them break ties.

I dunno... Just a thought.

My sig should say, "ROWF!"

HEEEEEE Love it.

[dogzilla]

I have the greatest pic I want to use...but it is too big. :( How do I change the pixel size? And in what program do I do that?

I'm computer illiterate :rolleyes:

What you want to do is change the overall dimensions of the photo, and that will reduce the file size and proportionally, the pixels. If you change the numbers of pixels, your photo will appear grainy.

My recommendation is to use PhotoShop for such an operation, but that's a $600 professional program. Any photo manipulating software should allow you to change the size from, say, 8.5" x 11" to 2" x 3" and keep the proportions intact.

Also, I do desktop publishing for a living. If you want to e-mail me your photo, I'll reduce it and send it back for you. It would take me about 38 seconds, give or take. My e-mail address is in my profile.

[silverfox]

What you want to do is change the overall dimensions of the photo, and that will reduce the file size and proportionally, the pixels. If you change the numbers of pixels, your photo will appear grainy.

My recommendation is to use PhotoShop for such an operation, but that's a $600 professional program. Any photo manipulating software should allow you to change the size from, say, 8.5" x 11" to 2" x 3" and keep the proportions intact.

Also, I do desktop publishing for a living. If you want to e-mail me your photo, I'll reduce it and send it back for you. It would take me about 38 seconds, give or take. My e-mail address is in my profile.

Dogzilla your offer is very generous. What's your secret? I took the photo FreeSoil wanted, downloaded it my mircrosoft photo editor, resized it and then placed it out in my Yahoo photo album to give her an "http" link in which to use. (right click on photo, then properties to obtain it) (I can do this for anyone else who is interested)

I am sure there is an easier way, though. If you don't mind sharing, I am sure it will be beneficial to many members of the board. Is there a way to use a photo without and "http" address?

Thanks so much!

[mutleydog]

I managed to do upload one too! Ace of spades!! :D

[silverfox]

I managed to do upload one too! Ace of spades!! :D

Heeeeee love your new avatar!!!!!

[mutleydog]

Heeeeee love your new avatar!!!!!

Thank you! I do too!! Its ace!! :D

[dogzilla]

Dogzilla your offer is very generous. What's your secret? I took the photo FreeSoil wanted, downloaded it my mircrosoft photo editor, resized it and then placed it out in my Yahoo photo album to give her an "http" link in which to use. (right click on photo, then properties to obtain it) (I can do this for anyone else who is interested)

I am sure there is an easier way, though. If you don't mind sharing, I am sure it will be beneficial to many members of the board. Is there a way to use a photo without and "http" address?

Thanks so much!

My secret: E-mail my photo to Nate (pre-shrunk so he didn't have to manipulate it) and he popped it into some website and sent me the http link. My secret for resizing: I use Photoshop at work and at home on freelance jobs, so there's a couple buttons that sort of "auto" do basic photo treatments for you.

There should be a way to simply post the photo in our profiles and have Visual Basic pull from that link, but I'm not programmer and not the person to ask about that. If you want to know where the commas should go, or how to lay something out in InDesign, PageMaker or Quark... I'm the go-to girl. My photo manipulation knowledge is limited, but I can handle the very basic basics.

[silverfox]

My secret: E-mail my photo to Nate (pre-shrunk so he didn't have to manipulate it) and he popped it into some website and sent me the http link. My secret for resizing: I use Photoshop at work and at home on freelance jobs, so there's a couple buttons that sort of "auto" do basic photo treatments for you.

There should be a way to simply post the photo in our profiles and have Visual Basic pull from that link, but I'm not programmer and not the person to ask about that. If you want to know where the commas should go, or how to lay something out in InDesign, PageMaker or Quark... I'm the go-to girl. My photo manipulation knowledge is limited, but I can handle the very basic basics.

Thanks, Dogzilla. I saw a Photo Shop program for like 60.00 at Walmart - certainly not the commercial one you are probably referring to but is it worth the money? I have some very simple similar software but I hear Photo Shop offers a lot more.

[dogzilla]

I always have a hard time answering that question because a software is only as good as the skills of the user who owns the software. Buying a $600 Adobe PhotoShop program would probably turn out to be a piece of junk in the wrong hands. If a software is too complicated, too complex or too powerful and the user doesn't have the skills necessary to really utilize the application, then it's a waste of money.

On the other hand, should The Peep Stone decide to go to print, Paul would have quite a fight on his hands (from me) if he wanted to use anything other than Adobe products, which are designed for print production. ;) (And yes, Paul, of course I'd help you learn InDesign. You'd love it.)

So, would the $60 WalMart knockoff be worth your money? I guess that depends on how you'd plan to use it. For manipulating photos to be posted on the internet, for creating your family's Christmas cards and other minor applications like that, yeah, it would probably do just fine.

In short, PhotoShop doesn't offer you anything more in terms of functionality, if you can't figure out what all those buttons mean. Even I need a class because there are some parts of the application that are complete Greek to me. I wouldn't try to produce an 80-page magazine using the WalMart knockoff, but then no publishing professional would. (It might make our hands burst into flames. I know our Macs would mutiny!)

Now let's talk about shopping at WalMart. Today I heard that the U.S. trade deficit is at a record high. Something like $300 trillion more comes into this country from cheap-labor third-world countries than we export out. This devalues the dollar, increases inflation and renders the value of high-quality goods and services in the U.S. to nearly zero, causing outsourcing and yet more manufacturing jobs to go overseas. Secondly, WalMart is notorious for closing stores where employees attempt to form unions. Women and minorities have trouble breaking into management. Employees are encouraged to punch out at 40 hours -- or just shy of enough hours to qualify for medical benefits -- and then continue working, for free. This has been documented across media around the nation, but I'll cite Mother Jones magazine as just one source if you'd like to verify the facts in my little rant. I, for one, have made a conscious decision not to save $0.32 on the backs of hardworking bluecollar people (like my family) who are struggling to feed their children on $8/hour. Nor am I willing to support third-world child labor atrocities by buying cheaper goods. 90% of everything I've ever seen inside a Walmart was made in China. Probably by children.

Won't someone think of the children?

:: steps off soapbox ::

Sorry. I get political sometimes. I hate Walmart. Go to Target, if you must, eh?