Avatar sizes

[Vekseid]

Thinking of changing them to 250 pixels tall by 150 wide... the current setup is a bit arbitrary.

Just a heads up to see if the idea collects vitriol.

[NightBird]

As far as the images go, I like the idea, but I'm not quite so sure about the dead space a larger image would leave between shorter posts.

[Sherona]

I don't see any reason to make avatars larger, but then again I don't see a good reason to leaving them the same (other then the dead space issue that Night brought up) But dead space is always an issue in small posts.

[Captain Maltese]

Agreeing with Sherona here. I'm sure we could do with a few lines less above and beyond the pics. It can't all be that important?

[Vekseid]

It's because I want to have large pics possible for character profiles. RPoL's are tiny and we're not hurting for bandwidth.

[Captain Maltese]

Oh, large pics are great! I'm talking about the text lines under, the somewhat cryptical line about how much we have been posting etc.

[Vekseid]

May do something like have the pic on the right of the post and the profile information on the left.

[Captain Maltese]

I would like to see a sample of that. Could be crowding the text area, but could be perfect too.

[Sherona]

*grins* My post was a round about way of saying I really didn't have much of an opinion :D Avatar and pretty much any visual arts are beyond me..I am just not that creative..hence my rather bland avatar I sport...Though Elvi spiced it up a bit by giving it a golden touch.

[NightBird]

May do something like have the pic on the right of the post and the profile information on the left.

That would be awesome.

[Greenthorn]

Pic on the left though..profile info on the right *grins*

We read left to right..nice to see the "face" first y'know?

[Captain Maltese]

Agreeing on GT here.

Hm, I would like to have the username on top of the picture though.

[Moondazed]

Sorry to be a pain in the ass, but I have dialup, so I don't want the images any bigger.  They're already much larger than RPoL's.

[Shadowz]

OK... likely i am going to sound confused and thick...

*watches to see if anyone says "So what's new" grins*

But is this going to decrease the size of the actual 'post width'?

I am just curious because i don't currently have the best set up and my display is a little too square... once i get back home i am intending to get a widescreen so i guess it won't matter then, but i was just curious about this

[Hannibal]

May do something like have the pic on the right of the post and the profile information on the left.

Speaking as someone with a widescreen monitor, I'd love to see that set up.

[Moondazed]

The info on one side and image on the other would save some lines height-wise :)

[Caeli]

I actually think the images are fine as they are. Bigger would be nicer, but I don't like seeing all the white space when people only type one or two-line posts.

If you really want to make the images bigger... I'd say keep all the information on one side, preferably left. So,

Member Name Status Colorbar Picture Picture Picture Picture

| Profile | information | here - | maybe a little | narrower than | it currently is?

| Post post post post post... | Post post post post post... | Post post post post post... | Post post post post post... | Post post post post post... | Post post post post post...

[Greenthorn]

Left is right *nods*

errr...I mean..whatever you do..just keep at least the pic on the left! ;D

[shadowheart]

Question:  Is there any way this kind of thing can be user-configurable?

In other words, a checkbox to to shrink avatars to small size, or to show minimal or maximum profile information with posts, etc?  Options in the profile configuration screen, I mean.  If possible, would solve the dialup vs. broadband issue, and allow some people that don't care to see the profile and/or avatar with each post to set those as options.

[Moondazed]

Actually, you can already turn off the avatars and signatures in the look and layout settings on your profile.

[Apple of Eris]

Please dear god leave the setup as it is.

I use my laptop mostly and I don't really want to have that 'squished' post feeling with pictures on one side and profile info on the other.
Long narrow columns of posts instead of wide area to the right makes me not likey.

[Xillen]

Is it possible to seperate character avatar limits from general avatar limits? I'm fine with the current sides, except that

Err, it's 171 tall by 135 wide for now.

they seem so very random. Really, what kind of a number is 171? I'm used to 100x100 myself, but I guess that might be too small for some.

By the way, how is the avatar size enforced? I already notice 2 people in this thread with avatars that breach those boundaries. I'm guessing it's currently only limited to avatars uploaded to E, not those linking to an online picture. Does that mean the limit only applies to avatars uploaded, or is it a general rule that's currently not technically enforced to online avatars?

In other words, a checkbox to to shrink avatars to small size, or to show minimal or maximum profile information with posts, etc?  Options in the profile configuration screen, I mean.  If possible, would solve the dialup vs. broadband issue, and allow some people that don't care to see the profile and/or avatar with each post to set those as options.

This would help people with small monitors, but not people with dialup, as it would still have to download the entire picture. For dialups, the filesize is what matters, not the physical boundaries. Animated GIFs for example take up much more data than highly compressed JPEG's, even if the latter are a lot bigger.

[Caeli]

I agree that the numbers are random, but I don't see anything wrong with them.

However, I do have to agree about size enforcement - I can name three people off the top of my head whose avatars exceed the size rule (by length, width, or both), and I believe that Xillen is right, these avatars are all linked to online.

I don't think that the avatar sizes are clearly established anywhere, in writing. It would be useful to have this size limit - "Please use avatars no larger than 171px (tall) by 135px (wide)" - stated clearly in the area where you can upload or link to your own avatar.

[Haibane]

I'm a complete newbie I know, but I wanted to drop in here a comment that I think all user info should be on the left, moving some of it, even just the avatar, to the right of the screen would go against 99% of other board layouts and people are just so familiar with that. Of course this site is different and beautifully so ^_^ but from a practical point I'd like to mention my preference.

To me the avatars are big already, nothing bigger is needed for my uses. There are bound to be some users still running on low screen resolutions at the 1024x768 size or even less and to them big avatars would be more problematic.

Um, that's it, I'll put the ball gag back in now, mmmf... mnnmg... mhn...

[Vekseid]

I actually increased the size limits a while ago, may scale them back if people find them too large.