No More Sig Images!!!

[Webmaster]

Well - this is an issue that I will have to keep tabs on...

The reason I don't want Avatars is both because of the load time - and because it swamps the server with added requests.

However, I have opted to let people include images in their signature. I was less worried about server bog down because the images are hosted on other servers. Originally I was going to have one - but like many things that is on the back burner.

Certainly with Shartley obliging so many requests recently, the number of signature images has increased. (and it seems the most prolific posters have images). But at the same time he is considerate and keeping the files sizes reasonably small.

At work I am on 1/2 a T1 - but I too am on a dial up at home. While slower, everything comes up at what I consider a reasonable speed.

The recommendation of using your cache is a good one. This site is based on that assumption, as the original graphic load is 1/2 way decent (not super slow, but not super fast) and the DHTML elements balloon the file size up.

I know some people have problems with thier browsers not properly viewing updated pages. You may with to manually refresh in that case - or look to the cause of that problem - as a cache really does make surfing faster. I have found IE does a better job of it than netscape does for sure...

So - anyway - I will keep tabs on this. Thordic has a valid concern, but I dont know if its to the point that alot of people are having problems. If I get a lot of complaints I may need to remove the privilege of images in your signature. If you don't have a shartley created image, you may want to double check that your sig image is under 15K - there really is no reason for it to be larger than that. At the same time, one may try not use thier signature for every post.

thanks

[shartley]

That post has absolutely no point being a sticky.. AO isn't a showcase for Shartley to show off easily made signature images. I'm not going to encourage stuff like that being stickied.

There you have it! Thank you Thordic. You see, it was not MY idea to do it.. it came from the AO members. If the things I do are so darn easy, why didn't everyone else do it? And it is not about load time after all (which I knew from the beginning).

LOL This is now becoming silly.

You are right, I don't know anything. The Images are EASY to do. I have done nothing but make those easy signature images. Heck... remember? You said that most of the people here on AO don't even respect me. I have sure pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. Thank you Thordic for pointing that out.

[Riotz]

dodod

First, the cache issue. I was just pointing out an option that most people use with their browser. You didn't seem to realize that this feature existed. Just a FYI. You like to point things out to people, so I wanted to point something out to you.


As for the contest, I didn't like the way you handled some issues. But I kept my mouth shut. I'm GLAD you did it for AO and for everyone here. You took your extra time, which you seem to have allot of, and helped out. I applaud you. GREAT JOB! However, you need to act a little more friendlier to people and be more flexible. You aren't always right and you need to learn to admit when you are wrong.

[cphilip]

It was stickied by request and at the suggestion from BlackVCG last night. He offered to do it and though it was a good idea. I agreed with it. So I stickied it for him this morning. Since I knew Black wasn't online yet.


If you want to follow along with that read this: http://www.automags.org/forums/showt...threadid=14837

Perhaps you are not being totally truthfull about what it is exactly you have problem with. I suspect now it's not the graphics issue at all now is it? You used to ahve one and liked it.

[Webmaster]

OK - here is another solution - go to you your control panel (user CP button at top)

I believe under thread options you will see this:

Show user's signatures in their posts?

So you can opt to turn off users signatures - meaning it will be faster loading all around.

That should be the solution for anyone not wanting to view sig images...

[Temo Vryce]

Ok in my earlier post I mentioned having the option of disabiling users sig's. I went looking to see if this option was available and guess what, it is. Because I'm a nice guy here's the steps to disable viewing all the sig's.

1. click on the User CP button near the top of the page.
2. click on the Edit Options option.
3. scroll down to the Thread View Options section.
4. say no to "Show user's signatures in their posts?".
5. view the posts without sig's and be happy.

I hope this will help you out some.

[wyn1370]

Thordic,
So you're saying you want pictures to load up every time you look at a topic. I for one, if I had load time problems, would rather view the image once by clicking on the link, then whenever I would go back to the post, I wouldn't have to wait for the same old image to reload.
And smilies, half of the darn things are animated, those little buggers can't load quick.
Just trying to be helpful, but if you insist on being spitful toward everyone who doesn't share your view, by all means carry on.

[Temo Vryce]

wow Webmaster is fast. He beat me to it. And I thought I was going to get to it first. Oh well.

[cphilip]

Thanks Webby seems like a solution to me... If thats realy the problem.

[Thordic]

Webby, the posts load a little slow with all the sig images, but the reason I am getting pissed is because today a few posts simply refused to load because of peoples sig images.

It kept trying to load the image, and the post never came up, eventually my browser just gave up.

And no, this person had nothing to do with shartley, but sig images have increased tenfold since he started making them, and it is really starting to be a problem when some peoples sig images screw up posts loading.

Its not only a matter of size. If someone's server where they are hosting the sig image is slow or down, it can cause a huge pain in the butt as a post refuses to load for me until most of the graphics are loaded. If one persons graphic won't load, I can't read the post.

Aside from that, my modem sucks because I live in an old house in an old neighborhood where the phone lines are ancient, and I am LUCKY if I can connect at 28.8. I've gone for a week without being able to connect better than 14.4. Once, 7200 was the best I could get for 4 days.

Is it an uncommon problem? Probably, not everyone lives in hundred year old houses.

As for using the cache, Webby, from my experience in 7+ odd years of using the web fairly extensively, its been my personal experience that even with the speed issue, not using the cache is better. Most of my regularly visited sites are updated daily at the very least, and whats the point of putting the cache on if I have to hit reload all the time anyway?

In a few months, I'll have my cable modem and won't care anymore, but I'm just saying it is a small problem right now.

[Webmaster]

Temo Vryce
- thanks for the more step by step walk through...

To clearify my position - I will continue to allow signatures to have images - just try to keep them under 15k. If I see bloated images I will alter your sig tag to tell you to change it...

If I get alot of complaints from users we will not allow people to post images in thier signature.

thanks...

[Webmaster]

Thordic - I sympathize, but in all honestly, I frequent many websites and the cache works fine for me...

I dont want you to think I am ignoring your request, but I cant make site wide changes because of one person having problems. I have come up with a good solution (turn off signatures) so that you can use the site more effectively and enjoy it more. So, I hope you can see that this is possibly the better solution at this point.

I agree the number of sig images has increased - but until I hear alot of complaints, I wish users to beable to express their individuality by using them.

[Potatoboy]

Ok, I for one don't see the real problem. For instance, My signature image is a whopping 1611 bytes. This is approximately half the filesize as three of the page header buttons (user cp, register, calendar, etc.) and approximately one quarter of the filesize of the AO logo that's at the top of every page! I understand that it may take a little longer, but on a 56K or even 28.8 modem it shouldn't be all that noticeable. If it is then you may in fact have a problem with your ISP and/or phone lines. At the time of writing this, the "No More Sig Images!!!" post page was 104565 bytes. This is without any images at all, just the HTML itself. After you include all of the mandatory images, (the header, footer, and navigation buttons) another 10K (avg for shartley images) or 1K (my image) is literally another drop in the bucket.

[Thordic]

Originally posted by shartley

There you have it! Thank you Thordic. You see, it was not MY idea to do it.. it came from the AO members. If the things I do are so darn easy, why didn't everyone else do it? And it is not about load time after all (which I knew from the beginning).

I was referring to the fact there was actually a sticky about your signature images.

The person who caused this whole thread was someone not using your sig images who had a lot of smilies in their sig.

But since you and cphilip felt like bringing up your images, I figured I might as well comment on them anyway.

[Riotz]

Hey Webby,

Which board supports a little icon under the user nick on the left side?

----
It would look something like:
----
Riotz
Junior Member

[ICON]

etc etc
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Just wondering if it was this board or UBB or something.