Please add support for avatar hostingservices like gravatar

SlimG · Post by **SlimG** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:51 am

Or at least enable direct URL's (without requiring the URL to end with a image extension like .png or jpg) to the avatar

md5 · Post by **md5** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:09 am

I personally would not be happy having direct URLs. People could link to anything using direct URLs (Javascript, Flash and the like). This would be a gaping security hole, and a highly annoying "feature" for the rest of the users (hey, why not put flash movies with music as avatars? Cool huh? No...).
You can use services like imageshack.us or xs.to to host your avatar

SlimG · Post by **SlimG** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 11:53 am

md5 wrote:I personally would not be happy having direct URLs. People could link to anything using direct URLs (Javascript, Flash and the like). This would be a gaping security hole, and a highly annoying "feature" for the rest of the users (hey, why not put flash movies with music as avatars?
Cool huh? No...).

Web browsers will only treat images withing the HTML tag <img> as images, the browser won't "run" the image, just display the image if it is a valid imageformat.

md5 wrote:You can use services like imageshack.us or xs.to to host your avatar

When speaking of security: what is the different from hosting the avatar at gravatar and other websites?

Also, it's not possible to use external URL's for two reasons:

The ScummVM forum will copy the avatar into it's server (very unsecure), so when I decide to change avatar at gravatar, I'll also have to manage all the sites that doesn't support gravatar or proper remote URL's to the avatar.

The ScummVM forum requires the URL to have a image extension, extensions aren't reliable and shouldn't be relied upon.

bobdevis · Post by **bobdevis** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:08 pm

md5 wrote:hey, why not put flash movies with music as avatars? Cool huh? No...

Hehehe, you don't even have to go into javascript or flash for annoying avatars. Allowing long animated gifs opens up a hellhole of hurt by itself.

SlimG · Post by **SlimG** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:35 pm

bobdevis wrote:Allowing long animated gifs opens up a hellhole of hurt by itself.

Then you should just disable GIF in your web browser

fingolfin · Post by **fingolfin** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:02 pm

No, we won't add Gravatar support or make any other changes to the avatar code, as that would require us to hack and modify the phpBB code.

Maybe if we switch to a different forum software one day, this will come, but right now we have no volunteers for any non-trivial changes to the forum.

SlimG · Post by **SlimG** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:51 pm

Ah, adding Gravatar to phpBB is no quick&easy task, atleast if the forum is upgraded to phpBB3 it'll support direct URL's.

Could someone atleast change the avatar size-limit from 10KB to 15KB so I'm able to upload my .png avatar?

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:25 am

There is png software out there that lets you reduce the size of a png picture without losing quality

SlimG · Post by **SlimG** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:14 pm

Raziel wrote:There is png software out there that lets you reduce the size of a png picture without losing quality

The avatarpicture is already compressed with the strongest compression (-9)

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:51 pm

Use pngcrush or reduce the size of the avatar

Morden · Post by **Morden** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:26 pm

There are numerous ways of exporting properly compressed PNG files. The PNGOut plug-in that's a part of IrfanView is a good alternative as well. It allows you to manipulate the chunk data, just like pngcrush does.

There are also multiple plug-ins for Photoshop and other image editing programs. Like SuperPNG for example, which doesn't allow you to specify the compression method by hand, but does achieve pretty small files.

All that aside, what's the point of having a fancy shmancy avatar anyway? I've been using my avatar ever since I registered an account on my very first phpBB board ever.

I chose it and I kept it that way. I know there are people who like to change their avatar depending on what movie they have just seen or what game they've played, but quite frankly, that's their problem. Forums are not the place where you shine because of your cool avatar - They're about what you have to say.

If a person is eager to display their avatar and signature "bling", they'll find themselves at home at GameSpot forums, where signatures can take up to half of the screen and nobody cares.

I think we've already established that the avatar situation is not going to change here. Not anytime soon at least.

Freddo · Post by **Freddo** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:09 pm

Morden wrote:I think we've already established that the avatar situation is not going to change here. Not anytime soon at least.

Which is a good thing.

SlimG · Post by **SlimG** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:21 pm

Avatars represent people, people change, so does avatars.

Fwiw pushing the sizelimit in phpBB2 is quick&easy:
Admisitrative panel -> General Configuration -> Avatar Size (Change from 10000 to 15000)

Enabling remote avatars should be equally quick&easy.

Morden · Post by **Morden** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:15 pm

What kind of avatar do you want, anyway? If it's a photo, use JPEG and I'm sure you can manage to stay within the limit. Post the picture here and I'll compress it for you.

Reckless · Post by **Reckless** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:25 pm

SlimG wrote:Avatars represent people, people change, so does avatars.

Fwiw pushing the sizelimit in phpBB2 is quick&easy:
Admisitrative panel -> General Configuration -> Avatar Size (Change from 10000 to 15000)

Enabling remote avatars should be equally quick&easy.

Amazing how a significant percentage of your post count relates to this one subject. Ignore the avatar and add to the community instead which I'm sure readers would appreciate more than your online pic!