Forum avatar news ... you can have 'em bigger and better

[Robin Garr]

Hey, you guys! I just noticed a feature that we had not enabled, but now I have.

If you like, you may now choose your avatar from any image on the Internet. Go to Ucp > Profile > Edit Avatar and look at the bottom option. Just copy and paste the image URL (taking care that http:// is included) and the system will import it to your avatar. Of course you may also upload an avatar from your files, and you're perfectly welcome to just stick with what you've got.

Also, avatars may now be as large as 200 x 200 pixels (revised) and 100kb in size.

Give it a try, see if you like it … and if you think the larger avatars make the forum look tacky and loud, feel free to start that conversation, too. We’re just experimenting here.

I noticed this in one of your posts on another thread. I was hoping it was some kind of a bug because it just pushes the text down lower on the screen below the enlarged avatar. IMHO that makes it much harder to read the forum. I wonder if others are seeing this or if it's just something it's being seen because of my set up?

[Robin Garr]

I noticed this in one of your posts on another thread. I was hoping it was some kind of a bug because it just pushes the text down lower on the screen below the enlarged avatar. IMHO that makes it much harder to read the forum. I wonder if others are seeing this or if it's just something it's being seen because of my set up?

Mark, I'm not seeing that effect on desktop, tablet or smartphone. Huh. I sure don't want this to be a problem for anyone, but I consciously kept the limit "thumbnail" size, I just made it a little bigger to allow more flexibility. I'd be curious to know if others see what you're seeing. If I broke it, I'll fix it!

It seems to have different behavior based on the current zoom level.

On a PC, you can change you zoom up or down using Ctrl-Plus and Ctrl-Minus

[Robin Garr]

It seems to have different behavior based on the current zoom level.

On a PC, you can change you zoom up or down using Ctrl-Plus and Ctrl-Minus

Same thing on a Mac, except you use the little flower key. Okay, Cmd-+ and Cmd--

I zoomed in until it looked stupid, but the avatar stayed pretty much in proportion - it didn't force text down.

Here's a screen capture of what my screen looks like what I'm viewing a post with the larger avatar. I've tried magnification levels from 75% to 150% and it doesn't change anything. I'm running a high resolution monitor (1920x1080) and I've tried both the building and Intel graphics as well as my Nvidia graphics card and I see the same thing with both options. It's not really a big deal but it just looks rather strange.

Capture.JPG

All it does for me is cause Robin's avatar to encroach on the text. The avatar literally stops where the first letter of the post begins. Doesn't push anything down (mac using safari)

[Robin Garr]

Yeah, we found out on the other forum that 300 pixels is too much for some PC and browser combinations, particularly IE and Firefox. Works great on Macs, works great on Chrome and Safari for most people, but we can't screw it up for some. I'll keep the enhancements but drop the size down to 200 today. That'll be better for all, and still offer a little more flexibility than we had before.

<DONE>

Mark, does that look better? Or does it still farkle your screen?

It still "farkles" my screen but it's certainly not a big deal. I did some playing around and it appears to be a problem with IE 11 combined with Windows 10. I tried Google Chrome and it looks fine. I also tried looking at it in compatibility mode and things got really weird! I'm going to keep playing around and see if I global accommodation that works.

[Robin Garr]

It still "farkles" my screen but it's certainly not a big deal. I did some playing around and it appears to be a problem with IE 11 combined with Windows 10. I tried Google Chrome and it looks fine. I also tried looking at it in compatibility mode and things got really weird! I'm going to keep playing around and see if I global accommodation that works.

Thanks for helping with this, Mark! I was glad to have a mod that allows us to play around with avatars and easily change them. I thought maybe some of the gang would enjoy that. I'm not going to keep it if it messes some of us up, but I appreciate your efforts to help us make it work.