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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    This guide is intended to lay out the steps necessary to set up a custom avatar to display on each of your posts. It is suggested you read over the Avatar & Signature Rules before you get started so that you don't run into any problems later.

    The guide assumes you already have an appropriate avatar image and have uploaded it to appropriate webspace. You must have the rights to use this image as an avatar, and it must be hosted on a website that allows you to hotlink the image as an avatar. General information about these steps is provided in Appendix B.

    Part 1: Get the URL


    • Make sure you have the image's URL address. Have it open in a separate window or copy/pasted into a document so you can grab it easily.
    • The image URL needs to be complete - this means you must include the "https://" prefix, and have the full address to the exact file (ending with the ".jpg", ".gif", or ".png" file extension).
    • Make sure there are no spaces (" " or "%20") or special characters in the address after "https://", other than dashes ("-"), underscores ("_"), and the directory separator ("/").
    • There must be nothing after the final ".jpg", ".gif", or ".png" file extension.
    • URLs may be no longer than 128 characters.

    Part 2: Get to the Correct Settings Page

    • From any page on the GiantITP forums, click on the Settings option in the upper right toolbar.
    • In the My Settings panel on the left, under the second section My Account, click on General Settings.
    • Scroll down to the very bottom of the page.
    • In the third setting from the bottom, Avatar, select the Custom radio button.

    Part 3: Change the Avatar

    • In the Custom Avatar URL field, paste or type the URL of the image you wish to use.
      Please note: The prefix must be "https://". If the prefix is "http://", without the "s", you will receive an error for incorrect format. The URL will often be case sensitive as well.
    • Click on Save Changes. The page will refresh.
    • To make sure the avatar is displaying correctly, click on your username in the upper right toolbar. The image should appear under your name and forum title.
    • Congratulations on your new custom avatar!
      Please note: The mobile version of the site, Playground Sand, will not display custom avatars. Whatever is selected in the Order of the Stick Avatar dropdown menu will display instead. Changing the Order of the Stick Avatar will only affect your avatar in Playground Sand; so long as Custom is selected in the Avatar field, the desktop version will always display the custom image.

    Spoiler: Appendix A: Troubleshooting
    Show
    If your image is not showing up, first make sure the site has fully reloaded and is not simply pulling from your browser cache (press Ctrl+F5 to force a complete reload of the page or, if on a Mac, try Control-Command-R or Shift-Command-R depending on your browser).

    If the image still does not show up, make sure the URL is correct, and that the hosting site permits the hotlinking of images for avatars. Many previously used image hosting sites do not allow hotlinking for avatars. Some hosting sites that have disabled hotlinking/embedded images have been disallowed - for example, any URLs from imgur will return an error for incorrect format.

    The image URL is usually case sensitive - if there are any capitalizations, make sure to have these match.

    The board software does not support spaces or most special characters. These will show up as "%##" in the URL; spaces are "%20" and are the most common problem in a URL that prevents an avatar from showing up. Dashes and underscores ("-" and "_") are allowed; remove any spaces or replace them with these characters.

    Make sure the image actually is a .gif, a .jpg, or a .png. If it is not, you will need to convert it into one of these formats or find another image.

    Finally, try opening the image in a separate window to make sure it shows up at all. Your hosting site may be down, the image may not have uploaded correctly or have been deleted, or something else may be preventing the image from loading at all.

    If none of this corrects the problem, please feel free to ask for help.
    Spoiler: Appendix B: Acquiring an Avatar
    Show
    Acquiring a custom avatar is actually relatively easy. You can check out the custom avatar request and avatar adoption threads for OotS style avatars, or you can always make your own.

    On the GiantITP forums, you may use a .gif, .jpg, or .png image. The image can have a width of 20-120 pixels, and a height of 20-120 pixels.

    To double check these variables to make sure an image would fit within the rules, on most browsers you can right click (or optionally Control + click on Mac) on the image and select "Properties". This will display the image height and width in pixels, its URL, and its size. Right clicking generally also allows you to save the image. Some websites disable right clicking on images, however.

    .gif and .png images both support transparency, while .jpg does not. Also please keep in mind that animated .gif images are not allowed as avatars.
    Last edited by Peelee; 2020-03-14 at 12:53 PM.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

    Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Reserved 1
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

    Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Reserved 2
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

    Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Reserved 3
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

    Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    As a note, if an avatar uses a transparent or forum tan background and is much too big, it might appear to be blank even if it is loading properly. The forum software loads the top 120 x 120 pixels of the image into the frame, and if they happen to look like the forum background, then it looks like nothing shows up.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wardog View Post
    Rockphed said it well.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Starfall
    When your pants are full of crickets, you don't need mnemonics.
    Dragontar by Serpentine.

    Now offering unsolicited advice.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Currently, at https://forums.giantitp.com/profile.php?do=editoptions
    it now says "Type in the URL to your custom avatar. The URL must start with https://"

    But neither https://i.imgur.com/UYzwSs1.jpg nor http://i.imgur.com/UYzwSs1.jpg are accepted (error message: "You did not enter the correct format for the Custom Avatar URL field. Please read the field description for the expected format.")
    Last edited by WurmD; 2020-02-22 at 07:22 AM.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Miniature Giant Space Hamster in the Playground Administrator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by WurmD View Post
    Currently, at https://forums.giantitp.com/profile.php?do=editoptions
    it now says "Type in the URL to your custom avatar. The URL must start with https://"

    But neither https://i.imgur.com/UYzwSs1.jpg nor http://i.imgur.com/UYzwSs1.jpg are accepted (error message: "You did not enter the correct format for the Custom Avatar URL field. Please read the field description for the expected format.")
    We have blocked all avatars hosted on Imgur. You will need to find somewhere else to host your avatar. Please ensure that it is a website which allows hotlinking/embedded images for avatars.

    "My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Would you code in an extra check?

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/ycg92nwn22...l150.png?raw=1 does not tecnically end in ".png" and this is not currently accepted, but is a great way to host images

    A fast hack could be, besides checking if file ends in
    - .jpg
    - .gif
    - .png
    also check if ends in
    - .jpg?raw=1
    - .gif?raw=1
    - .png?raw=1

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Miniature Giant Space Hamster in the Playground Administrator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by WurmD View Post
    Would you code in an extra check?

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/ycg92nwn22...l150.png?raw=1 does not tecnically end in ".png" and this is not currently accepted, but is a great way to host images

    A fast hack could be, besides checking if file ends in
    - .jpg
    - .gif
    - .png
    also check if ends in
    - .jpg?raw=1
    - .gif?raw=1
    - .png?raw=1
    Sorry, we won't be adding allowances for anything after the file extension at this stage.

    "My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Rawhide View Post
    We have blocked all avatars hosted on Imgur. You will need to find somewhere else to host your avatar. Please ensure that it is a website which allows hotlinking/embedded images for avatars.
    Is the a specific reason why Imgur was blocked?

    Also do we have an actual list of recommended sites? Most of the websites I know have have either shut down, charge money and/or are essentially social media platforms.

  11. - Top - End - #11
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    I'm curious as to why imgur is blocked too

    I just used https://imgbb.com/ to host mine

  12. - Top - End - #12
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Zancloufer View Post
    Is the a specific reason why Imgur was blocked?
    I would imagine that it's because imgur ToS specifically prevents hotlinking as avatars, and as GitP was a site that happened to use a lot of traffic for that, they blocked us. So, anyone whose browser didn't include something to scrub the traffic as having come from GitP (or another large site imgur had blocked) did not display any of the imgur images anywhere.

    Basically, this is just enforcing the imgur ToS with regards to avatars, as far as I understand it.

  13. - Top - End - #13
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by WurmD View Post
    I'm curious as to why imgur is blocked too

    I just used https://imgbb.com/ to host mine
    Thanks for sharing the tip!

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Pixie in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Rawhide View Post
    We have blocked all avatars hosted on Imgur. You will need to find somewhere else to host your avatar. Please ensure that it is a website which allows hotlinking/embedded images for avatars.
    Could this please be mentioned in the instructions, ideally in the settings page but at the very least in the post here? And if you put in an imgur URL anyway, could the error message please explain this specifically, instead of saying that it’s an “incorrect format” (which it isn’t)? Ultimately it didn’t me take so long to find my way here and figure out what was wrong, but it certainly took a whole lot longer than it should have, and it is utterly trivial to imagine someone giving up before finding their way to the 6th post in a forum thread to shed any light on this mystery whatsoever.

    The instructions displayed, as well as the resulting error, are wrong. This is a bug.

    Quote Originally Posted by DataNinja View Post
    I would imagine that it's because imgur ToS specifically prevents hotlinking as avatars, and as GitP was a site that happened to use a lot of traffic for that, they blocked us. So, anyone whose browser didn't include something to scrub the traffic as having come from GitP (or another large site imgur had blocked) did not display any of the imgur images anywhere.

    Basically, this is just enforcing the imgur ToS with regards to avatars, as far as I understand it.
    I’m about 95% sure this is untrue. Imgur offers “direct link” URLs as part of its little sidebar of options when you upload anything, as well as HTML, BBcode, and Markdown that would all embed the image—none of that would make sense for a site that is not providing an image-hosting service. Numerous sites use imgur as their primary image host for user content, without any apparent difficulty. Stack Overflow even goes so far as to re-upload things hosted elsewhere onto imgur for use in its questions and answers.

    Certainly, nothing on this usage guidance for imgur users who want to use imgur for forums suggests that imgur would have any problem with this usage, assuming the image isn’t adult or illegal (which would obviously be against forum rules anyway).
    Last edited by FēlīxPersōnārum; 2020-02-24 at 08:14 PM.

  15. - Top - End - #15
    Miniature Giant Space Hamster in the Playground Administrator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by FēlīxPersōnārum View Post
    Could this please be mentioned in the instructions, ideally in the settings page but at the very least in the post here? And if you put in an imgur URL anyway, could the error message please explain this specifically, instead of saying that it’s an “incorrect format” (which it isn’t)? Ultimately it didn’t me take so long to find my way here and figure out what was wrong, but it certainly took a whole lot longer than it should have, and it is utterly trivial to imagine someone giving up before finding their way to the 6th post in a forum thread to shed any light on this mystery whatsoever.

    The instructions displayed, as well as the resulting error, are wrong. This is a bug.
    Peelee is in the process of updating the instructions in this thread. The error message cannot be changed. This is not a bug.

    "My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak

  16. - Top - End - #16
    Troll in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by FēlīxPersōnārum View Post
    Certainly, nothing on this usage guidance for imgur users who want to use imgur for forums suggests that imgur would have any problem with this usage, assuming the image isn’t adult or illegal (which would obviously be against forum rules anyway).
    In that very page you linked, under "What can't I use Imgur for?" it says:

    You're welcome to use Imgur to host your images, as long as they do not break our Terms of Service. This prohibits using Imgur in the following ways.

    - As a content delivery network (CDN). This includes web objects like logos, avatars, icons, banners, and more.
    […]

  17. - Top - End - #17
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Rawhide, at https://forums.giantitp.com/profile.php?do=editoptions it says

    Type in the URL to your custom avatar. The URL must start with https:// and the avatar must end in .gif, .jpg or .png. URLs with spaces and certain characters will not work. For example: https://www.example.com/avatars/avatar.gif

    Reminder: Animated avatars are not allowed.
    This is misleading. Can this be added to?

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by WurmD View Post
    Rawhide, at https://forums.giantitp.com/profile.php?do=editoptions it says

    Type in the URL to your custom avatar. The URL must start with https:// and the avatar must end in .gif, .jpg or .png. URLs with spaces and certain characters will not work. For example: https://www.example.com/avatars/avatar.gif

    Reminder: Animated avatars are not allowed.
    This is misleading. Can this be added to?
    I don't see how it is misleading; the .gif filetype supports animation, but is not necessarily animated. Static .gif files are perfectly acceptable (subject to all other avatar guidelines, of course).
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

    Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2

  19. - Top - End - #19
    Pixie in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by WurmD View Post
    Type in the URL to your custom avatar. The URL must start with https:// and the avatar must end in .gif, .jpg or .png. URLs with spaces and certain characters will not work. For example: https://www.example.com/avatars/avatar.gif

    Reminder: Animated avatars are not allowed.
    This is misleading. Can this be added to?
    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    I don't see how it is misleading; the .gif filetype supports animation, but is not necessarily animated. Static .gif files are perfectly acceptable (subject to all other avatar guidelines, of course).
    I'm pretty sure they weren't saying anything about animated gifs, there.

    The error message says "You did not enter the correct format for the Custom Avatar URL field. Please read the field description for the expected format." The field description does not include an actionable format specification for this error. It took me several Google/forum searches to determine that imgur is not "a website which allows image hotlinking for avatars". A list of the 2-5 most common image hosting sites which do not allow hotlinking for avatars would make this far more helpful.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rawhide View Post
    [...], as well as the resulting error, are wrong. This is a bug.
    The error message cannot be changed. This is not a bug.
    Respectfully, that's really not how that works. If the error message can't be changed, this is an unfixable bug, but it's still a bug.

  20. - Top - End - #20
    Miniature Giant Space Hamster in the Playground Administrator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Auroch View Post
    Respectfully, that's really not how that works. If the error message can't be changed, this is an unfixable bug, but it's still a bug.
    Respectfully, that's really not how that works. Something has to actually be a bug before it can be an unfixable bug.

    "My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak

  21. - Top - End - #21
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Auroch View Post
    It took me several Google/forum searches to determine that imgur is not "a website which allows image hotlinking for avatars". A list of the 2-5 most common image hosting sites which do not allow hotlinking for avatars would make this far more helpful.
    This guide states explicitly lists imgur as an example of such sites:
    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Some hosting sites that have disabled hotlinking/embedded images have been disallowed - for example, any URLs from imgur will return an error for incorrect format.
    This guide is intended to instruct users how to upload a custom avatar and help solve common problems users may have. It is not intended to give a list of hosting sites that disallow (or do allow) image hosting services, in no small part due to the mutable nature of such sites, their popularity, and their policies.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

    Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Pixie in the Playground
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Thanks, i had trouble;

  23. - Top - End - #23
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    So what sites can be used? I tried the one WurmD suggested but none of the links it provides work. Anyone have other suggestions?

    Would be awesome if we could just upload a picture from our own computers.
    Lelouch vi Britannia by Gnomish Wanderer

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    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    I've got my avatar stored on a free dropbox account. I've also stored some image files on Discord
    Last edited by Lord Torath; 2022-07-11 at 02:14 PM.
    Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
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    Barbarian in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Torath View Post
    I've got my avatar stored on a free dropbox account. I've also stored some image files on Discord
    Thank you this worked! Discord was the way to go for me!
    Lelouch vi Britannia by Gnomish Wanderer

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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    I've got a question about avatar urls. I was trying to use this one here as an example:

    https://i.imgur.com/KMtIaRl.png

    It starts with https:// and it ends with .png. However when I tried to update my avatar to this url I get an error message. "You did not enter the correct format for the Custom Avatar URL field. Please read the field description for the expected format."

    So what is going on here?
    Avatar by linklele!

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    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Quote Originally Posted by WindStruck View Post
    I've got a question about avatar urls. I was trying to use this one here as an example:

    https://i.imgur.com/KMtIaRl.png

    It starts with https:// and it ends with .png. However when I tried to update my avatar to this url I get an error message. "You did not enter the correct format for the Custom Avatar URL field. Please read the field description for the expected format."

    So what is going on here?
    That's why we put in the Troubleshooting section (albeit in spoiler tags):
    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Some hosting sites that have disabled hotlinking/embedded images have been disallowed - for example, any URLs from imgur will return an error for incorrect format.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

    Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2

  28. - Top - End - #28
    Titan in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Setting Up A Custom Avatar

    Oh sorry I didn't see that. Thanks!
    Avatar by linklele!

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