A guide to AVATARS and SIGNATURES (no more new topics!)

[LocoColt04]

Since we continually receive the same questions over and over about images in signatures and avatars (instead of reading the FAQ which already contains all these answers...), I decided that I'd take the time to write up a little guide for this, starting with a private message that was sent to me from another member.

Hey LocoColt04 thanks for welcoming me to the site. The info you gave me was really helpfull. Anyways I was just wondering if you could tell me how I can get one of those pictures to show up in my information, and under my signature if you know what im talking about that is......that one that shows up under your username and who the post was from ya know.Thanx Dave n_n

Hey, not a problem man.


First, the avatar. That's the picture that shows up under your username. If you go into the UserCP (the link is found on the left side at the top of the screen), you will find a list of options along the left side. Choose "Edit Avatar" to get into the avatar selection screen. While we have over 500 avatars for you to choose from, there are also options to load one from another website, or perhaps one from your computer. There are size limits, though. A maximum of 100x150 pixels, or 97kb. Keep that in mind if you have your own which you intend to upload.




Next, the signature. Again, from the UserCP, choose the "Edit Signature" option. While you are allowed to use HTML in your signature, it is against the rules to use any languages (Java, PHP, etc.) which may interfere with the forum tables.

UPDATE 11-14-08 Editing Signatures are now done by using BB/vB Code only ~Cain Highwind

As far as images go, you will need to host them from another source online. If you are caught attaching an image to a post and then using that in your signature, the attachment will be removed from the forums and you will receive a warning. That's never cool. In order to use an image in your signature, you will have to use IMG Code to display the image, exactly as follows:

[img ]http://image source[/img ]
(remove the spaces in the image tags)

Anywho, that's how you work with the images. As far as text and other things in your signature, just be sure it's not anything that people would be offended by, and you should be just fine.

Also, if your signature is 75% of the viewing area on a 1024x768 resolution, IT IS TOO LARGE. There is no reason why people should have to scroll down an entire page just to get through your signature. That's ridiculous.

In other words, if you have an image (or series of images) that is taller than 450 pixels, you will be asked to remove it. Text and images together should not account for more than 600 pixels in height, as that is more than large enough. If you don't alter your signature after being asked, it will be altered for you. Continued abuse will result in a signature ban.

And, as always, I'd like to stress the "no pornographic material" rule. If you're unsure of whether something would be appropriate, ask a moderator. Then again, if you're unsure, chances are it's not.

Also, you cannot have music in your signature, especially anything that loads automatically. It slows loading times, and is highly annoying. Videos are also not allowed unless they're those YouTube links that don't load anything until after you click play.

[Whitney]

You are glorious and a pleasure to behold. Thanks for typing this up!

[Bryan 2.0]

Okay, I've uploaded my photo before and everything worked just fine, but now, I'm having a problem. The image is the proper size...actually, below proper size and everything. I'm using it for my avatar, but it will not show up at all. So then, I try to go ahead and put my old one back up....but now that one isn't showing up, either. Whats going on?

[LocoColt04]

When you say "proper size," have you checked to see that it meets both physical dimension standards as well as maximum filesize? If so, you may want to double-check the website from which you are uploading. If you're uploading directly from your computer instead, then you may want to check the images themselves for any flaws or corruption.

If everything seems to check out just fine, you may want to send a private message to one of the administrators, as they may be able to solve your problem for you.

[Leviathan]

even though i've been here for a long time, i have never found out how you get the glowing aura around your text in your signitures.

someone please post the code stuff you need.


much obliged.


Leviathan

[Hikari]

I read something a little while ago tht said if you make your signature glow,it will be removed and you will receive a warning.
so I'd try not to do that

[Leviathan]

well that's friggin' gay.

i suppose that would account for the reason why there are no more glowing text sigs anywhere

[LocoColt04]

...or not. You're not gonna get banned for using glowing text in your signature. The head administrator of the forum uses glowing text in his signature. I don't know what you read, but your information is WAY off.

Use the glow tag. It's [glow].

[Leviathan]

^^^ he/she said it.

i wasn't sure. cheers anyway.

[LocoColt04]

And actually, to be precise, it's "glow=number", where the number is 1-4, the size of your glow. If you just put "glow," it won't work.

[Merlin]

LOL! No... its an admin-only thing.. *cough*

I put that tag in there a long time ago so ppl could use it. Just keep in mind, the only people that can even see it are those with Internet Explorer. Like me, I have glowing text, but I don't see the glow since I use Firefox. I have a special alt color for my text so it still looks cool in other browsers... just not 'as' cool. On second thought, the alt text color looks better, IMHO.. Oh well. I am going to change my sig soon enough anyways. ^_^

[Sora Valour]

where do i get my sig and avy done because i need to make an request thanks it'll be much obliged and appreciated and this is my name Boko!!!!!! much appreciated

[LocoColt04]

To make requests, please visit the Digital Community forum. There you will find various BMTs, or banner maker threads. If you provide someone with the images you wish to use, I'm sure you'll get a response (and a completed project) shortly afterward.

[Kadaj]

Quick question, is there a limit to the amount of banners you can have?

[LocoColt04]

No, as long as you don't make your signature obnoxiously long. Ideally, you don't want your signature to take up more than half a screen... but we don't really care unless it's a full screen or longer. If the banners aren't all massive, then it won't hurt anyone for you to have a few of them.

[Kadaj]

Cool, just wanted to clarify that. Many other forums have rules against more than one banner ect.

[LocoColt04]

And, as always, I'd like to stress the "no pornographic material" rule. If you're unsure of whether something would be appropriate, ask a moderator. Then again, if you're unsure, chances are it's not.

I would like to emphasize this portion of the signature guidelines.

IF YOU THINK IT'S INAPPROPRIATE, IT IS.

If someone else says it's inappropriate, check with a moderator just to be sure.

And if the moderator tells you to remove it, DO SO, SO THAT I DON'T HAVE TO IMPLODE YOUR SIGNATURE. I've had to do that to far too many people lately.

[sagakiller]

how would i get a pic of sephiroth as my little pic to the botom of my name?

[LocoColt04]

That would be an avatar. Read the first post, please.

[sagakiller]

ok sry to sound nooby but im getin the hang of this but umm could u hook me up witha site that gives me pics of sephiroth so that i could get a pic in my signature

[LocoColt04]

That has absolutely nothing to do with that thread, but do a google image search and you'll find thousands of results. From now on, if you have other questions not related to the topic of this thread, find another place to put them. A good place for Sephiroth questions would be the FFVII forum.

[Iroquois]

it just links to my sig, why?

[LocoColt04]

Umm... hmm. I had a look at the code in your signature, and it seems to be fine to me. Now, I don't know if maybe you grabbed the wrong Photobucket link or anything, but for me in Firefox, your signature appears completely blank altogether -- no links, broken images, anything.

I suggest trying the [img] bbcode tag instead.

[img]url of image[/img]

Make sure you have the correct url, too.

[Iroquois]

Tried all that already. And then the link disappeared: odd. Thanks anyway, but I have a sig now, to quote Snake 'Got a little help from a friend'

[LocoColt04]

I have just recently altered the first post to get it up to date with current forum policies and standards. The [img] tag is being turned off again due to security bugs, and the long-time length suggestion will now be enforced regularly.

Thank you for your attention.

[darkwater1979]

wow thanx for the info... i was wondering where i can get a good avatar.... cus i dont want to just put pics of me up.... glad to know they have a bunch taht i can choose from! thanx. i did not know that.

[Shaun Taylor 18]

And actually, to be precise, it's "glow=number", where the number is 1-4, the size of your glow. If you just put "glow," it won't work.

Is there a way to change the colour of the glow too?

Also, I'm having a similar problem as the other guy in that the banner in my signature kept dissapearing. I didn't use IMG tags, as obviously they don't work. The image appears for a while, but then disappears and just has a link. It's definitely not a mistake on my part.

How comes this keeps happening?

(btw, I took the code out of my signature as it wouldn't work)

[Sevion]

im having a problem with my sig. Every time i use the code in the first post to put my url in the http:// thing it just makes a hyper link and i am using image shack. i was using the show image code so help please


oh yea this was the code i used <img src="http://img284.imageshack.us/my.php?image=untitled1of1.pngimage source">

[Shaun Taylor 18]

im having a problem with my sig. Every time i use the code in the first post to put my url in the http:// thing it just makes a hyper link and i am using image shack.

Yeah, same here. Except I use photobucket.

[Hikari]

I tried to get the imageshak one to work, but I couldn't nomatter how many times or ways I tried. I know you can use photobucket since that's what I use in my sig.

Sometimes it seems to depend on the way you have the post box set up. Go to user cp, user options, and at the very bottom. Change the last option to preferably the middle one but the first works too.

That was my main problem at first because if you preview it and it works then it won't work when you save; and if you don't preview you don't know if it works or not.