CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Why is it that the maximum size of your custom image can be only 14.6 KB, yet the maximum size of your custom image for profile picture is 146.5 KB.

Should the size for our avatar be a bigger KB like around 30 or 50 KB or so? I wouldn't think that it would take up too much space and bandwidth for the board.

Could we go up to 150x150 pixels too? Or maybe just 125x125?

Hmm, you've got a point. Attachments and sig images have fairly large maximum filesizes, so why is the avatar maximum filesize so little? 14.6 KB is not quite enough to for a nice detailed 100x100 PNG image. This is more Mithrandir's domain, so I'll ask him about it when it's convenient.

I'm casting my vote for bigger avatars. 100x100/14.6kb just doesn't cut it sometimes.

100x100 x however many on a page, however, might be an issue for people on mobile devices or older lappies with smaller screens.

I'm cool with increasing the actual filesize, but I think increasing the dimensions is likely to be problematic.

shooraijin wrote:I think increasing the dimensions is likely to be problematic.

If that was true, then the mods wouldn't be allowed to upload avatars larger than the standard user dimensions. *points to Corrie, Mary, and Midori's avatars* :p

Fair point. However, I still don't think it's a good idea.

We already have an option to turn off sigs, why not add one for avatars?

Or maybe an option to crunch avatars down to a 50x50 thumbnail? That would be an improvement for mobile users...though probably a lot of work.... eh put it on the update pipe dreams list...

More immediately though I think we could at least be allowed taller avatars with out to much trouble. maybe 100x150?

While we're on the subject of changing avatar specifications...I know there's an animated "pokemon" Okami sprite I made a long time ago that I use around the net that's like... 19x24 that I would love to use here. xD;

Hi everyone,

The sizes for the avatar were restricted for a variety of reasons. For example, assume only 5k our of our 11k+ users were to upload an avatar. For every 1k I add to the avatar size limit, there is a potential 5MB increase in the file system and bandwidth usage. If we go from 15k to 100k, that's an 85k increase, with a potential increase nearly a half a gig that we have to worry about.

However, I have made some upgrades to the system within the last year or so, which should allow us some additional flexibility - though we're at about 70% capacity on this box anyway. I've upgraded the maximum size of allowed avatars, but *please* be nice to the server and try and keep your avatars as small as possible. If things get out of hand, I may have to roll these back.

As for the pixels dimension and animation, the plan is to factor that into a later upgrade of the L/F, so I'm afraid I can't do much with it at this time.

- Mith

I've also found the simply saving the image as GIF instead of a JPEG or a PNG also seems to help with the file size.

If saving it into a GIF reduces filesize, then you're losing colors. GIFs can only store 256 colors, while PNGs can store up to the full range. If you deliberately use a 256-color PNG, it won't be any larger than a GIF.

Midori (post: 1467644) wrote:If saving it into a GIF reduces filesize, then you're losing colors. GIFs can only store 256 colors, while PNGs can store up to the full range. If you deliberately use a 256-color PNG, it won't be any larger than a GIF.

I guess so, XD but I usually draw my images with tons of color and it doesn't look like it takes away all that much when I make them a GIF.

ChristianKitsune (post: 1467666) wrote:I guess so, XD but I usually draw my images with tons of color and it doesn't look like it takes away all that much when I make them a GIF.

It's just smart about which 256 colors it picks.

All the same, I appreciate what the techie people do to maintain the site. It's pretty slick compared to others when you get to know it!
EDIT: (Not that I know much about IT stuff that is! )