Off-Site Avatars

Post by **DLC** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 6:29 am

I'm not sure if this is a new feature or not, but i discovered an option to use an off-site avatar. What this basically means is that you put your avatar up on a site somewhere, then link to it. When someone loads a page here on the bbs, it will query that server and grab the image, saving us bandwidth and space in the process. Granted, many people don't have their own server space, but i'm sure something could be arranged that's similar to image hosting.

If i get complaints, i may disable it, so don't get too attached...

Dave

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 6:46 am

I'll be a stick-in-the-mud and preemptively complain. :)

I know they're limited to 6 kilobytes each, but there can be like 10 avatars on a single page to load. I use really old technology to access the BBS sometimes and it's very frustrating to have to wait long times for what should be blazingly fast (textual content). In my humble opinion avatars aren't necessary; people who have web space can put pictures up there and have their "www" link in their profile go there.

Oh, but there is one thing I'll take the opportunity to ask about -- can we somehow get a way to enter our cars' model/year into our profiles, to show up near where the location shows up? Kind of like a textual avatar... That could be very helpful when trying to diagnose peoples' problems and stuff, since it's easy to forget to specify whether you have AWD or FWD, or a turbo or a non-turbo, or ... etc.

Post by **DLC** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 6:59 am

I do understand that many people still have to use, or choose to use, slower dialup connections. I'm not sure how phpBB handles the avatar request, but hopefully it gets the relevant data first, then goes for the avatars. If so, then you'll be fine. Otherwise we might have problems.

I do have a bit of experience in PHP programming, but this board is pretty deep. I swapped the Submit and Preview buttons, but i don't know about adding info to the profiles. I'll poke around, no guarantees.

Dave

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 7:32 am

DLC wrote:I'm not sure how phpBB handles the avatar request, but hopefully it gets the relevant data first, then goes for the avatars. If so, then you'll be fine. Otherwise we might have problems.

It's not up to phpBB; it's the browser that deals with it. phpBB just puts in an IMG tag into the HTML it produces.

The problem is that phpBB doesn't specify the dimensions of the image (presumably because it cannot know them because they are remotely stored), so the web browser can't properly render the page until it has downloaded all the avatars. That means that as they load, the whole page moves while the user is trying to read it. On small screens, like the 640x480 I use sometimes, the part I'm reading often disappears off the screen.

I do have a bit of experience in PHP programming, but this board is pretty deep. I swapped the Submit and Preview buttons, but i don't know about adding info to the profiles. I'll poke around, no guarantees.

Yeah, I looked through phpBB's code once. Scary. :)

This post on phpBB's forums looks relevant:

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=12426

Thanks, Dave.

Post by **Legacy777** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:24 pm

Well, if we can limit the size of the avatars that people upload would that take care of your concerns?

I'm not sure if there's something we can do to automatically do that, or if we just have to play cop for those that don't follow the rules.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:34 pm

They're not uploaded; they're linked to, so phpBB can't really regulate them. Supposedly the size is already limited to 6k, but yours, Josh, is already over 13k...

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I don't see the need for them at all. Most members would want to put pictures of their cars, but at a resolution of 80 pixels by 60 pixels or less, all Legacies look the same anyway. This BBS from the beginning has been all about the content, and avatars don't really add any meaningful content.

Brat4by4 · Post by **Brat4by4** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 5:30 pm

Just see how it goes. If there is a problem, then some modification will be in store.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 5:35 pm

Yeah, that makes sense... Next time I have to use my older hardware I'll let you guys know how it goes.

91White-T · Post by **91White-T** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 5:49 pm

Nice!

Post by **DLC** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 9:45 pm

There's also the possibility of using a rank-based avatar, which could be something simple.

I realized this morning that the local avatars would be limited by size in dimensions and kb, but that off-site would not fall under those same rules.

Most of these people play nice, we'll see what happens.

Dave

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:52 am

Yaaaay!!!

HomeSlice · Post by **HomeSlice** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 1:44 am

hmmmm i got to find a good pic.

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 9:02 am

very nice

scottzg · Post by **scottzg** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 4:42 am

Considering there's only about 40 real regulars on this board, and prolly only 70% of them will get a img (it will be a miracle if i take the time) I'm figuring there will prolly only be about 40 or so tags up. That's plenty to have stored in one's temp directory- any previously viewed image will instantly pop up again, and so the site isn't slowed.

I think the rare instances when someone is using a slow connection on someone else's computer is too rare to worry about. And if you get rid of them, we'll miss 91white-T's absolute gem.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:51 am

I hate to be the difficult one, but I don't have enough room on my portable to keep a disk cache...

This page alone has over 40k worth of avatar images in it.

Hmm... I wonder if there's a way we can keep everyone happy -- perhaps a way for users to choose whether or not they want to see avatars?

I know that feature is probably not built into phpBB (unless it could be implemented by adding a new "board style" that was identical to subSilver but without the avatar placeholder in the template), and that Dave and Josh are adminning this BBS in their free time purely out of the goodness of their hearts, so I understand if it's not realistic to pursue the option. It looks like most people (perhaps all but 1 :) ) are quite pleased with the addition of off-site avatars.

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:21 am

Don't mean to burst your bubble vrg3, but I whore this place up from the comfort of my home at a leisurely 56k, and all avatars loaded pretty much immediately the first time...

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:36 am

Hehe... Like I said, I'll try it and see if it's problematic. On a modem I usually connect at 28.8kbps, but there's also the concern of the computer itself being slow when rendering graphics.

teaguespeed · Post by **teaguespeed** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:05 pm

28.8? ouch. i got a spare 56 you can probably have for free+shipping.

Post by **DLC** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 8:14 pm

vrg3 is scheming for your pity, so that we'll send him better hardware...

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:10 pm

Hehehe... I do have 56k modems, but the phone lines don't always support it. As you may know, 56k modems aren't strictly analog; they depend on the phone company using digital transmission in certain parts of the connection. Up to 33.6k works on pretty much any telephone line as long as there isn't too much noise, but above that requires special stuff.

123c · Post by **123c** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:26 am

I've got my Snow Man Avatar, so please don't ask me what it is supposed to be

Yukonart · Post by **Yukonart** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:39 am

123c wrote:I've got my Snow Man Avatar, so please don't ask me what it is supposed to be

That's just. . . . so wrong.

123c · Post by **123c** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:48 am

Yukonart wrote: That's just. . . . so wrong.

Well, I took that picture in Pullman last Winter when I was visiting my brother. A bunch of Drunk College students made it

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 3:39 pm

Off-site avatars are great... until the website it's hosted at can no longer be found

So I will experiment with other stuff from Google searches

Edit: I found one I'm happy with

scottzg · Post by **scottzg** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:27 pm

would someone mind hosting my avatar? It's kinda funny....

*Edit- thank you brian, now my weenie-engine pride can manifest itself right next to my name.

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Off-Site Avatars

Off-Site Avatars