Adding an avatar to your profile

[jgarrett]

You'll notice some members have little pictures next to every messages they write - these are called Avatars.

Up until now, it's been a bit of a pain to add these - you had to know how to resize a picture to fit, and if you didn't get it right, the system would reject it. I changed that today, adding some code so that the resizing is done automatically for you. So if you would like a picture next to your messages - be it of you, your bike, or whatever - you can do it now. Just go to this page: Edit Avatar

You will be able to upload an image from your computer, and it will be automatically resized and installed as your avatar image. You can delete or change it anytime you like by visiting that same page. Just click the Browse button, select the image you want to use, then click Submit. That's all there is to it!

I can't get it to work?? Keeps saying I can't load it?? Is the system down right now? I did it before no problem?? Thanks

[Wolfie666]

Could not upload avatar to ./images/avatars/upload/3e3b14cfbff3a9b618f67738aca971e9_25848.jpg.

[WingAdmin]

Could not upload avatar to ./images/avatars/upload/3e3b14cfbff3a9b618738aca971e9_2548.jpg.

Give it another try now.

[Mag]

Good, I need to redo mine too, and have not been able to do so.

[Mag]

Well, that was easy enough....
- pic a picture
- upload

TA DA! Easy Peasy, now a new one.

[Wolfie666]

OK, It works now... Thanks!

[tamathumper]

Avatar test... Please ignore.

[DannyB]

Hello Admin....sorry but I must be blind...where to I find the 'browser' button on the Edit Avatar page? (or am I not seeing it)...sorry for the bother!!

[WingAdmin]

Hello Admin....sorry but I must be blind...where to I find the 'browser' button on the Edit Avatar page? (or am I not seeing it)...sorry for the bother!!

It depends on your browser. Some browsers show "browse", others show "choose file", some show "Upload file" and so on. Basically, it's the button that lets you choose a file on your computer to send to the site - it should show like one of those. Here's what it looks like when using Chrome on Windows:

Choose file button

[DannyB]

OMG....well I got the pic on my profile...but it's upside down. Tried 3 times.
I've even rotated it on my desktop before uploading on my profile...how can I rotate it upright...(getting embarrassed here) !

[patbrandon1]

OMG....well I got the pic on my profile...but it's upside down. Tried 3 times.
I've even rotated it on my desktop before uploading on my profile...how can I rotate it upright...(getting embarrassed here) !

First, please know that you need't feel embarrassed, computers and programs can be fickle.

Second, when you rotated it on your desktop, did you right click on it and save it before you exited out of whatever picture viewing software program you use? On the ones I use, even after I have rotated them, if I don't save them either as a new file name, or overwrite the existing file name, the program will revert it back to the original.

Third, there is a really great free image viewer that you can quickly do some minor picture editing Cropping, rotating, color adjusting, remove red eye, etc...) called FastStone Image Viewer. Here is a link for it. It's free and has no ads. http://www.faststone.org/download.htm

Fourth, when the original photo was taken is it possible that the camera (phone or whatever) was being held upside down? I'm no expert at this by any means, but I made a slideshow for a lady's electronic picture frame thing and I had to rotate many of her photos for it because she held her phone wrong.

Lastly, if you need any help, you can email me the pic and I'll fix it for you.

Good luck and keep us posted. We all know picture make things a bit more interesting.

[DannyB]

thanks for the reply Pat....I'll give it a try...

[WingAdmin]

OMG....well I got the pic on my profile...but it's upside down. Tried 3 times.
I've even rotated it on my desktop before uploading on my profile...how can I rotate it upright...(getting embarrassed here) !

The problem is modern cameras. It used to be cameras would write the picture without any position information at all - if you took the picture sideways or upside down, that's exactly what was written - a file with a sideways or upside down image.

Nowadays, cameras have gravity-sensing devices so they know which way they are facing. When you take the picture, the camera writes information saying "picture taken upside down" into what's called the EXIF header of the image - a special part of the image file that is used to store information about the camera, the picture, and so on.

Most graphic programs then read this EXIF header, and using the rotation information stored inside it, use it to make sure the image is displayed the right way up.

Unfortunately the scaling code in this site simply wipes out this EXIF information instead of reading and utilizing it, and the result is images that are sideways or upside down. I ripped out the scaling code that scales the images attached into the messages and rewrote it myself, but it looks like I need to do it for the avatars as well.

In the meantime, I fixed your avatar for you.

[DannyB]

I see it's right side up now...
THANK YOU SO MUCH.....great site by the way!!! Keep up the good work !!

[DaRamblerman]

So today I added a pict to my profile. It posted upside down. Why?

[WingAdmin]

So today I added a pict to my profile. It posted upside down. Why?

Normally this is caused by a camera that takes a picture in one orientation, and saves it upright, along with a special tag embedded in the images that says "here's the way the camera was pointed when the picture was taken."

Some graphics programs either ignore this tag, overwrite it, or sometimes the camera writes the tag incorrectly. When this happens, the image is shown based on the native orientation of the camera, because it doesn't have the tag to tell it which way is up.

[DaRamblerman]

It was taken on my cell in the correct position, I had to send it to the Ins company. And it was fine on her computer.

[DaRamblerman]

Thanks for the help on this. Based on your last reply I opened the pict and edited it then saved it and posted the new pict and it is good to go.

[jerryd15]

Loaded the pic easy but it is a quarter turn off. Changed it on the pc and still comes up that way.???

[WingAdmin]

Loaded the pic easy but it is a quarter turn off. Changed it on the pc and still comes up that way.???

It seems to be an issue with some phones and cameras - they don't implement the "this side up" information tags in the image correctly.

Try editing the image very slightly and re-saving it.

[wezx]

Hi, mine is also upside down and I have rotated the photo/resaved and it still is upside down...could you possibly fix it for me please? Thanks!

UPDATE: I fixed it by doing a screenshot and then cropping.

[patbrandon1]

Hi, mine is also upside down and I have rotated the photo/resaved and it still is upside down...could you possibly fix it for me please? Thanks!

UPDATE: I fixed it by doing a screenshot and then cropping.

Great ingenuity fix. Might come in handy for others. Those cameras and phones do that in other programs and sites too. This could be the answer.

Thanks a bunch.

[wezx]

Hopefully someone else having trouble will see this and be able to fix it. Not sure if the resolution on a screenshot is as high as taking a photo but it’s just an avatar so...LOL

[patbrandon1]

Hopefully someone else having trouble will see this and be able to fix it. Not sure if the resolution on a screenshot is as high as taking a photo but it’s just an avatar so...LOL

This might help some people too. My sister often holds her phone the (wrong) way it would best suit the photo op. But when I try to make her a slideshow of the ones she took, it is a real PITA, because half of the pics are either sideways, or upside down.

When I do what the below link suggests, they show up in my viewer how she took them, and I can then rotate them how they are supposed to be. Don't forget to hit save.

Read the whole thing if you want to understand. Maybe if more people do, Scott won't have to keep explaining it and spend some time cooking me a pie.
https://www.howtogeek.com/203592/what-i ... remove-it/

I use a totally free photo program called FastStone Image Viewer and it is very helpful with many tasks, rotating, straightening, cropping... yet easy for a non pro like me to use.

Hope this helps someone.

[BeMo]

Checking to see if I got added