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Author Topic:   Strange avatar phenomena
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 8 (65839)
11-11-2003 1:34 PM


I have been having some weird problems with avatars. Sorry if this message seems to ramble, but I want to make sure I put out the proper information.
When I first joined here, a couple of months ago, I was having trouble getting the avatar function to work. I just couldn't get a picture to display at all - some kind of errors kept creeping in. I finally did get one to work, the picture that used to be displayed until about a week ago. But then I found a new one, the one that I have now, that I liked better, but when I tried to put it into my profile, it was all fuzzy and spotty - as if the software that was supposed to shrink the size wasn't working properly. So I decided to abandon avatars completely, and turned it off. But then, somehow, the older picture reappeared as my avatar. Kind of spooky, but I decided to let it be.
Then a week or two ago, there was a discussion about other people have problems with avatars. In the meantime, I bought a laptop: a Macintosh powerbook G4. The platform is OS X 10.2, and my browser is Mozilla 1.4.1. Anyway, it sounded like the avatar problem was being looked into, so I tried to upload the picture that I actually like, and lo and behold, it works.
Now, however, NosyNed's avatar won't display at all (clicking on it brings up an error message - says there's an error in it), and MrHambre's won't either. But when I log onto here from one of the other computers available to me (not my laptop), these avatars display alright, but now mine displays all fuzzy and spotty again. The other machines are various operating systems (Windows, Linux) and various browsers (Explorer, Mozilla, Firebird).
Actually, to me this is a minor problem, and I can live with it, but the powers that be may find this information useful. Also: is anyone else only seeing a very spotty version of my avatar? Does the quality bug you? Would it be better to just shut if off?
Thanks.

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by NosyNed, posted 11-11-2003 1:52 PM Chiroptera has not replied
 Message 4 by AdminAsgara, posted 11-11-2003 6:57 PM Chiroptera has replied

  
NosyNed
Member
Posts: 8996
From: Canada
Joined: 04-04-2003


Message 2 of 8 (65843)
11-11-2003 1:52 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Chiroptera
11-11-2003 1:34 PM


The avatar is perfectly fine to me. I did cut mine to a few K thumbnail a couple of weeks ago when someone pointed out to me that it was too big. But it shows fine to me and I guess to others (or maybe they don't want to look at it clearly anyway? )

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Chiroptera, posted 11-11-2003 1:34 PM Chiroptera has not replied

  
Rei
Member (Idle past 7013 days)
Posts: 1546
From: Iowa City, IA
Joined: 09-03-2003


Message 3 of 8 (65844)
11-11-2003 1:59 PM


I've had a peculiar, albeit different avatar problem. Although it's not a big issue, when I move my mouse over the avatar, the image gets bigger, then gets smaller again, and doesn't do it again for the same user on the same page. Browser=Konqueror 3.1-15.
But again, its no big deal.
------------------
"Illuminant light,
illuminate me."

  
AdminAsgara
Administrator (Idle past 2303 days)
Posts: 2073
From: The Universe
Joined: 10-11-2003


Message 4 of 8 (65903)
11-11-2003 6:57 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Chiroptera
11-11-2003 1:34 PM


Your avatar looks fine to me. I get quite a clear pic actually. I'm running a simple AMD processor with XP and IE. Could the issue possibly be your vid card? The only avatar problems I have had were the occasionally disappearing ones, but Percy seems to have a handle on that issue.
------------------
AdminAsgara
Queen of the Universe

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Chiroptera, posted 11-11-2003 1:34 PM Chiroptera has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 5 by Chiroptera, posted 11-11-2003 7:07 PM AdminAsgara has not replied

  
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 5 of 8 (65907)
11-11-2003 7:07 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by AdminAsgara
11-11-2003 6:57 PM


Since I have my own laptop (with wireless) I rarely use the other computers in the library any more, so I don't care what my picture looks like on them. It's perfectly clear on my machine, so I'm satisfied - no one else has complained, so this seems to be not a problem. I have nothing to do with the maintenance of those other machines, so I can't say what their problem is.
What is true, on my machine, is that where NosyNed's picture is supposed to be all I get is that little symbol that indicates that the file with the picture can't be found. When I click on it, I get a page that says:
The image "http::/ubb/Members/00000825.jpg" cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
His picture, though, displays fine on the other machines. No big problem, though. NosyNed can just send me his picture, and I'll just tape it to my computer whenever I'm reading his posts.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by AdminAsgara, posted 11-11-2003 6:57 PM AdminAsgara has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 6 by Minnemooseus, posted 11-12-2003 12:45 AM Chiroptera has replied

  
Minnemooseus
Member
Posts: 3941
From: Duluth, Minnesota, U.S. (West end of Lake Superior)
Joined: 11-11-2001
Member Rating: 10.0


Message 6 of 8 (65959)
11-12-2003 12:45 AM
Reply to: Message 5 by Chiroptera
11-11-2003 7:07 PM


I currently have the same, or very simular problem with both Nosy's and MrH's avatars (and no other as far as I know).
My best guess is that it is some sort of a file cache problem, when avatar photos are modified (although I recently changed my own, and I see it just fine). I think I had this happen before. The problem went away when I cleared my disk cache. But then I lost all those other rather handy files, at the same time.
You current bat avatar looks grainy to me, although it looks fine in the "click on it and get a larger version" version. Maybe it's a quirk relating to the sites avatar scaling method, and/or the resolution of my monitor. Anyhow, it still looks OK to me.
Moose
Mozilla / Windows 98 Second Edition
ps: Don't use Microsoft IE much, but I just checked this topic with it. Got Nosy's picture just fine, but the bat is still grainy.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 5 by Chiroptera, posted 11-11-2003 7:07 PM Chiroptera has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 8 by Chiroptera, posted 11-13-2003 12:14 PM Minnemooseus has not replied

  
Admin
Director
Posts: 12998
From: EvC Forum
Joined: 06-14-2002
Member Rating: 2.3


Message 7 of 8 (66020)
11-12-2003 9:22 AM


Avatar scaling is performed by the browser's image rendering software through use of the width and height attributes of the tag. The EvC Forum software does not itself perform any scaling. The appearance of an avatar depends upon the quality and size of the original image, and upon intangibles with unpredicatable impacts such as the level of detail. Graphics like cartoon figures often display pretty well when reduced to the 100 pixel width of the avatars, but with photographs increasing size and detail seem to cause an increasingly grainy appearance.
------------------
--Percy
EvC Forum Administrator

  
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 8 of 8 (66260)
11-13-2003 12:14 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by Minnemooseus
11-12-2003 12:45 AM


Yay!
quote:
The problem went away when I cleared my disk cache.
That did the trick. I can now gaze on NosyNed as usual.
quote:
The problem went away when I cleared my disk cache.
Yeah, I was in the library using their machine, and it did indeed look grainy. On the other hand, I noticed the branch looked fine. When I look at the large version of the picture, I notice that there are some weird lighting thing going on in the picture, like there's some sort of reflection in the bat's fur - the software that rescales the picture must not be handling that very well. Why this depends on the platform, I don't know.
If it bothers you, I can delete the picture. I kind of like it, though.
But anyway, thanks for the tip!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 6 by Minnemooseus, posted 11-12-2003 12:45 AM Minnemooseus has not replied

  
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