How to set up your avatar

[Harvey]

Your "avatar" is the little picture that appears on the left side of the forum, right beside each of your posts.

Here are some steps on how to set up - or change - your avatar.

1. Go to your Profile (one of the middle buttons at the top of the screen).

2. Click on Forum Profile Information on the left side of the screen

3. The top 3 buttons give you three different ways of setting up an avatar:

- The first one (personalized picture) lets you choose from a small selection of existing avatars.

- The second one is if you have your own picture that is already uploaded on the web - i.e. to a photobucket or Flickr page.

- The third option lets you upload a picture from your PC. Just browse to the folder that has the picture that you want, and select it.

4. When you're done, make sure to click on Change Profile button at the bottom of the screen!

[Bacardi Jim]

I just want to add a little tip that I learned from Betsy.  If you have an avatar that is an especially large file size like an animated one, the board software may not want to display it properly  if you upload it directly from your PC.  You may need to upload the avatar to a third-party image storage site like Photobucket or ImageShack and then use the board setting option to upload the avatar "from the web."  This seems to fix the glitch.  At least it did for me.

Thanks again, Betsy.

[Betsy the Quilter]

The files I tried didn't seem to even have to be very large, but if they were animated, they only worked from Photobucket or my Picasa web album.  Others have been able to get them to work from the PC.

Betsy

[Dori]

My animated avitars work fine directly from my pc, however my profile siggy line has to go thru my flickr to work.

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

I have an animated avatar that I uploaded to Photobucket.  In photobucket, it is animated, yet when I upload it here it is not.  Any suggestions?

[pidgeon92]

I have an animated avatar that I uploaded to Photobucket.  In photobucket, it is animated, yet when I upload it here it is not.  Any suggestions?

You need to link to the one in your photobucket account, vs. uploading it here.

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

You need to link to the one in your photobucket account, vs. uploading it here.

Is that where I "share" the photo and link it here via http:// address?

If so, that is what I did....   

[pidgeon92]

Is that where I "share" the photo and link it here via http:// address?

If so, that is what I did....   

What is the address to the image? I can update your avatar.

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

What is the address to the image? I can update your avatar.

THANK YOU for the offer....but I think that I figured it out....see to the left
<------------------------------------------------

[Anju No. 469]

I tried to change my avatar - it wouldn't take, then I tried to add a photo to my signature line - it wouldn't take - then I tried the avatar, siggy line, etc., etc.  Everything seemed to work, but this morning my avatar is gone and my siggy line picture is there.

I did everything according to Harvey's instructions.  Will the profile only accept one photo, is that why I cannot get my avatar back?

I even typed in the address for the avatar rather than choosing (which didn't work) and that didn't do it either.  I'm feeling very dumb today, help?

[Harvey]

I am heading into your profile to investigate - will be back on a moment...

[Harvey]

Dona, can you tell me if the picture you'd like for your avatar is available on the web (eg at flickr, Photobucket, etc)? Or is it only on your PC right now?

Either way is fine, but once I know that I can help you with getting the avatar to appear.

[Anju No. 469]

it's on photobucket

i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww277/jimydona/CIMG0383-1.jpg

[Harvey]

I didn't change anything, but it looks like it's working now... maybe Photobucket was temporarily not responding to serve up that picture.

[Anju No. 469]

Thanks Harvey I'll see if it will work now.

Edit-
When I click on "browse" it brings up my iphoto on my Mac and won't bring up my photobucket, just chirps at me.  If I put it in my "Own photo" it does nothing.

[pidgeon92]

Anju,

I cropped your pic a little and uploaded it... Let me know if it's OK.....

[Anju No. 469]

Verena - I started to pm you when I began to have problems - I just KNEW you could bail me out, again.  Thanks all is well in the Dean household now. 

[Pirate]

Just a note. It is possible to up load an Avatar that is to big to be resized to fit. I resized my Avatar to 100x70pix and it up loaded just fine.

[Rayne]

Posting this as a test.  I'm trying to to set up my current read as my avatar, but it doesn't seem to be working. 

[Harvey]

^ Best way is to upload a picture of your current read to your photobucket account; then go to Profile > Forum Profile Information and select "I have my own pic"; enter the photobucket URL, click on the Change profile button at the bottom of the screen, and you should be all set.

Let us know if that doesn't work for you.

[Rayne]

Okay, thanx!   
I had been using the amazon url.

[cpolkinhorn]

I am new to Kindle Boards and I am usually not that dense but I find this whole thing extremely frustrating. When I first set up my profile I uploaded a personal photo of mine. I would like to change it to display the icon of my book. It's not a huge file, no animation, but it simply won't change. And yes, I did click on "Change Profile." Sorry about the frustration issue, it probably just takes some time to get used to it. Patience is not one of my virtues!

[Harvey]

^ Looks like you got it taken care of!

[MosesSiregarIII]

It took me a while to figure out how to post an image link from an external site and have the image show up at the correct proportions. Size your image around 194 pixels tall by 169 pixels wide, or keep a similar ratio. That should do it.

[MrPLD]

I had fun with that this morning as well... ended up with 140x160px... but I see now it's more about the ratio than the absolute.

[pidgeon92]

If you upload vs. link, the pictures will not distort.

[A K Smith]

Just an FYI: neither upload nor link works with the Google Chrome browser. 

I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, then thought of trying it in Firefox, and it worked right away.

[JohnHindmarsh]

This is a test transmission...

[Betsy the Quilter]

You look cold, John!
 

Betsy

[JohnHindmarsh]

That image did turn a somewhat blue shade... And I am heading to Bangkok for a year, so need to remind myself what 'cold' really is!.

[Caitie Quinn]

It's always great to declare yourself an idiot in your first post... so I'm going with Post Conference Exhaustion as my excuse instead.

I click on my profile at the top and it goes to my profile page, but there aren't options on the left matching what you're describing. I have summary, stats, posts and account related settings (which brings me to passwords and such) --- what am I missing?

THANKS!
~Caitie

[intinst]

It's always great to declare yourself an idiot in your first post... so I'm going with Post Conference Exhaustion as my excuse instead.

I click on my profile at the top and it goes to my profile page, but there aren't options on the left matching what you're describing. I have summary, stats, posts and account related settings (which brings me to passwords and such) --- what am I missing?

THANKS!
~Caitie

It should be there now that you have posted once.

[Caitie Quinn]

Thanks!

Obviously my pic didn't work, but I'm exhausted from RWA and going to bed... I'll have to be an error square for tonight

~Caitie

[Betsy the Quilter]

Caitie-

Make sure your image is the right size--the forum software can do some size adjustment, but if the original image is too large, it won't work.  140x160 pixels is the max.  I'll take a look....

EDIT:  Since you're uploading the picture from your computer, I suspect that's the issue.  If you need help resizing your image, let me know.  Sometimes, uploading the image to a picture hosting site, like Photobucket, helps, but usually it's the image size that's the problem.

Betsy
KB Moderator

[Caitie Quinn]

So, it's a little skewed, but at least it's not a picture of me!!!! Thanks for the help, I'm off to explore the forum.


~Caitie

[Jan Strnad]

I've found the process of updating my avatar very frustrating as well, but I think I've figured it out.

I download a properly-sized jpg from my computer, click "Update Profile," and nothing apparently happens. However, a day or so later, my avatar changes.

The problem is, for some time (don't know how long) the caption doesn't match the picture. If I change it with the picture, the caption will change immediately and the avatar will follow a day or so later. If I wait to change it, the caption will be outdated for awhile.

So, if it matters, I just delete the caption until the avatar changes.

Right now, if you see my smiling face, it is indeed a photo by Blake Pickett. If you see a dog, that's Clive, and I took the photo. Or maybe, if you're reading this post a long time from now, it'll all be totally different.

[Betsy the Quilter]

After updating your profile, you may need to use your browser's option to refresh the page.  If that doesn't work, you may need to use the browser's function for clearing your cache and then refresh.  Give this a try and see if it helps.  In most cases, the new avatar shows up promptly.

Betsy

[Jan Strnad]

After updating your profile, you may need to use your browser's option to refresh the page.  If that doesn't work, you may need to use the browser's function for clearing your cache and then refresh.  Give this a try and see if it helps.  In most cases, the new avatar shows up promptly.

Betsy

Oh, I've tried that, Betsy!

The weird thing is that the caption will update immediate, but the photo takes awhile. There are so many variables with computers and ISPs and such that it can be hard to track down.

Anyway, I just mention it in case others don't think that their avatar is updating.

[Betsy the Quilter]

Have you tried storing the image somewhere like Photobucket?  My experience has been that uploading images from one's computer, in some case, doesn't work quite as from the 'net.

Betsy