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Author Topic:   New Avatar Feature
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 1 of 55 (48406)
08-02-2003 5:50 PM


Avatars have just been added - ain't I cute?
No description of where to find the new feature - each person as they figure it out should post a message to this thread, but don't give it away!
Feature is potentially buggy - please append problems, suggestions, comments to this thread.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator
[This message has been edited by Admin, 08-02-2003]

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by John, posted 08-02-2003 6:06 PM Admin has not replied
 Message 3 by Rrhain, posted 08-03-2003 12:27 AM Admin has not replied
 Message 4 by doctrbill, posted 08-03-2003 3:23 AM Admin has not replied
 Message 32 by zephyr, posted 08-04-2003 9:40 PM Admin has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 6 of 55 (48442)
08-03-2003 5:34 AM
Reply to: Message 5 by Dr Cresswell
08-03-2003 5:29 AM


Let me guess - you're using Netscape?
[Added by edit. --Admin]
Netscape *almost* works. It should record the avatar, but it will get the scale factors wrong the first time. Repeat the procedure again and the scale factors become correct.
But you're not using Netscape, and your problem is different, anyway - you're seeing no avatar at all. Checking your profile in the database...there's no entry for avatars in your profile, yet all the information for your avatar was properly uploaded and stored away (you *are* the mad scientist!). Can't guess what the problem is - I've manually updated your profile, we'll see if that works.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator
[This message has been edited by Admin, 08-03-2003]

This message is a reply to:
 Message 5 by Dr Cresswell, posted 08-03-2003 5:29 AM Dr Cresswell has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 7 by Dr Cresswell, posted 08-03-2003 5:38 AM Admin has replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 8 of 55 (48445)
08-03-2003 6:33 AM
Reply to: Message 7 by Dr Cresswell
08-03-2003 5:38 AM


Hi, Dr. Cresswell!
It's not really important.
Oh, come now! First people start losing confidence in EvC Forum, then in the Internet, then in western civilization, and the next thing you know we've got a full scale catastrophe on our hands.
The code looks okay. Is it possible that you perhaps clicked on "Submit Modifications" instead of "Update Avatar"? It *was* early in the morning, after all! [No, strike that, your avatar info *was* uploaded, so you must have hit the right button. --Admin]
[Added by edit. --Admin]
Loved your endorsement, by the way:
I'm not a regular contributer here, and was just a bit bored waiting to goto church, having got up too early.
That'll be our motto - EvC Forum, better than being bored!
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator
[This message has been edited by Admin, 08-03-2003]

This message is a reply to:
 Message 7 by Dr Cresswell, posted 08-03-2003 5:38 AM Dr Cresswell has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 9 by wj, posted 08-03-2003 7:01 AM Admin has not replied
 Message 10 by Dr Cresswell, posted 08-03-2003 8:09 AM Admin has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 14 of 55 (48489)
08-03-2003 7:13 PM
Reply to: Message 12 by mark24
08-03-2003 6:57 PM


Hi Mark!
I fixed it, should be alright now, but I'm still trying to figure out why it didn't work for you. Just as for Dr. Cresswell, it uploaded your image properly, but your profile was not updated to indicate that you have an avatar. Very strange.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 12 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 6:57 PM mark24 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 15 by Coragyps, posted 08-03-2003 7:32 PM Admin has not replied
 Message 16 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 7:46 PM Admin has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 18 of 55 (48496)
08-03-2003 8:34 PM
Reply to: Message 17 by mark24
08-03-2003 7:49 PM


Hi Mark,
The last time you tried it it uploaded a null file. I think the code module that performs the update must be dying in midstream. I'll try to take a more suspicious look at the code.
When you enter the pathname for your avatar image, are you typing it into the box, or are you using the "Browse" button?
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 17 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 7:49 PM mark24 has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 19 of 55 (48497)
08-03-2003 8:39 PM
Reply to: Message 17 by mark24
08-03-2003 7:49 PM


Hi Mark,
Another question - did you by any chance enter a URL instead of the pathname to an image on your computer?
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 17 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 7:49 PM mark24 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 20 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 8:59 PM Admin has replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 21 of 55 (48502)
08-03-2003 9:04 PM
Reply to: Message 20 by mark24
08-03-2003 8:59 PM


Okay - still a bit mysterious, because though it explains some things it doesn't explain others. I'll add the ability to upload URLs sometime down the road - in the meantime, you can always put a copy of any image being displayed in a browser onto your own computer by using right click to copy it, then pasting it into a directory on your own machine.
Thanks for helping me get to the bottom of this. Looks like I'll need a few more clues. So far 2 out of 11 people have had a problem.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 20 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 8:59 PM mark24 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 22 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 9:13 PM Admin has replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 23 of 55 (48505)
08-03-2003 9:20 PM
Reply to: Message 22 by mark24
08-03-2003 9:13 PM


Great pic! The avatar image itself can be of any size. Only on the message pages is the avatar scaled to fit - in case nobody's noticed yet, if you click on an avatar it will be displayed full size.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 22 by mark24, posted 08-03-2003 9:13 PM mark24 has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 28 by Adminnemooseus, posted 08-04-2003 1:32 PM Admin has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 35 of 55 (49221)
08-07-2003 5:20 PM


There was a bug in the avatar code affecting Netscape users. As some of you have probably discovered, your avatar would be improperly scaled if you uploaded it using Netscape. This bug has been fixed ().
I have manually fixed the avatars I noticed with improper scaling. If your avatar still isn't displaying with the correct aspect ratio then this can now be fixed by simply reloading.
The maximum size of avatars has been set to 131,072 bytes (217). A couple of you have avatars larger than this, but we'll consider you guys grandfathered.
The code changed quite a bit, so despite the extensive testing (ie, I tried it out a couple times) a couple bugs might have slipped through. Please post any problems, comments, suggestions to this thread.
For anyone who hasn't yet found the avatar page, click on the profile link and scroll to the bottom.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 43 of 55 (52331)
08-26-2003 11:37 AM
Reply to: Message 42 by doctrbill
08-24-2003 11:57 PM


How about that idea for a graphics gallery?
This is possible, but I'd like to implement it once, rather than implement then receive enhancement requests. Would appreciate it if everyone could reply with what they'd like to see. The bare bones approach would be a page allowing uploads of graphics along with a title. The graphics would then be displayed in the order of submission with the sumbiters member ID, the title, date of submission, etc, with only so many (how many?) per page.
But a page with a lot of graphic images could be slow to load, so what you really want is thumbs with the full picture only displayed after clicking on the thumb of interest. But creating thumbs is not easy, and in fact is close to impossible with gif files since Unisys is enforcing a patent they hold which requires a license fee if you want to manipulate gif files. The license fee is probably small, but because of this the availability of perl libraries supporting gif is limited. In other words, the potential for significant work is present.
Members should let me know what they'd like to see by replying to this message.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 42 by doctrbill, posted 08-24-2003 11:57 PM doctrbill has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 45 by doctrbill, posted 08-26-2003 10:16 PM Admin has replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 46 of 55 (52413)
08-26-2003 10:42 PM
Reply to: Message 45 by doctrbill
08-26-2003 10:16 PM


doctrbill writes:
About thumbnails:
I don't know what you are dealing with there. It is easy from where I sit. Microsoft Front Page creates thumbnails with a simple click of the mouse. Do you have that option? Doesn't cost much, considering the benefits.
While I have software that creates thumbnails on my development PC, I don't have software that I can install on the webhost that can automatically take an image uploaded from a member's computer and transform it into a thumbnail. Does FrontPage provide webhost resident code modules for this purpose? Come to think of it they'd have to be in Perl, otherwise I couldn't link to them. Anyway, I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who knows of such Perl software.
Any software that can manipulate gif files includes in the price the licensing fee to Unisys. The patent expires sometime in 2004.
I share your concern about too much chaff with the wheat. Don't know what can be done about that. Free uploads tend to attract junk - just look at my Percipient avatar - Ack!
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 45 by doctrbill, posted 08-26-2003 10:16 PM doctrbill has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 47 by doctrbill, posted 08-26-2003 11:12 PM Admin has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 49 of 55 (52515)
08-27-2003 3:26 PM
Reply to: Message 48 by MrHambre
08-27-2003 3:14 PM


MrHambre writes:
Hmm. I seem to have lost my marbles. Now the file is too big?
Well, you're in good company, then, because few here still have their marbles. Oh, wait a minute, you mean your avatar.
Your marbles avatar was *way* too big. It was around 2.5 megabytes, nearly 20 times the current limit. You uploaded it before I installed the disk space checking (must take forever to upload), so rather than bothering you about it I just reduced its disk space requirements. I have a copy at home that I can restore tonight. Or, if you have any photo software, you can reduce the space requirements yourself. If you have PhotoDeluxe I can even tell you how to do it.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 48 by MrHambre, posted 08-27-2003 3:14 PM MrHambre has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 50 by MrHambre, posted 08-27-2003 3:41 PM Admin has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12995
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 51 of 55 (52586)
08-28-2003 12:18 AM
Reply to: Message 44 by Adminnemooseus
08-26-2003 2:31 PM


Adminnemooseus writes:
Admin - I like the idea of us swapping avatars. That way you're the Pointy Haired Boss, and I'm his evil assistant Catbert.
Hey, get your own Catbert avatar! Besides, it's common knowledge who the real mastermind here is and that you only let me think I'm in charge so I keep paying the bills.
I like your pointy-haired boss avatar - I looked around for a higher resolution copy and couldn't find one. I have some Dilbert books around somewhere, if I find them and I can find a good pic maybe I'll scan one in.
Oh, have to try the new smiley:
Does anyone know where I can find a better blush smiley? This one blushes fast and de-blushes slow, it should be the reverse.
Note to self: create dynamic smiley page so new ones are documented for members as they are added.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

This message is a reply to:
 Message 44 by Adminnemooseus, posted 08-26-2003 2:31 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 55 by doctrbill, posted 09-01-2003 12:58 AM Admin has not replied

  
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