Suggestion: avatar file size limit

[Carson]

My thoughts:

Dimensions: 100x100 or 120x120 is about as large as anyone should get. Though I don't think this is necessarily needed, it would be sorta nice.

File size: Yeah, this should probably be raised a little. For those with slower connections, you should be caching images, so it shouldn't slow anyone down for long.

Gifs: Not needed, and would probably be annoying. It would probably be a pain for the mods to handle all of the reports of people being stupid with them.

Ponies: One of the most ridiculous trends on this forum.

 

[masterofthebass]

My thoughts:
Ponies: One of the most ridiculous trends on this forum.

on the internet*

 

[Stefan]

I propose that the file size limit for avatars be raised from 20.0KB to something larger like 100KB or 200KB.

My avatar is 2.24KB and it's perfectly alright. I find 20.0KB very high already. Animations are just annoying. Where can I vote "no"?

 

[~Adam~]

My avatar is 2.24KB and it's perfectly alright.

I don't want a debate with you but that sentence is definitely debatable.

edit - before you respond it kind of makes me feel like you are staring deep into my soul with bad intentions.

 

[Stefan]

I don't want a debate with you but that sentence is definitely debatable.

What do you mean? If you mean you don't like my picture so it's not a good example, then I'll point to your own which still is only 4.76KB.

 

[Kirjava]

Sometimes I find it hard to get enough detail for the image I want in 80x80.

 

[~Adam~]

So anyway I think you can put plenty of personality into the current avatar and don't really need changing.
I remember when I frequented a forum with and bad internet connection, ridiculously large avatars and poor computer knowledge. It sucked.

 

[Stefan]

I propose that the file size limit for avatars be raised from 20.0KB to something larger like 100KB or 200KB. The 80x80 limit is fine

With 80x80, even uncompressed true color is under 20KB. And gifs are already allowed. So this is solely about animated avatars, not gifs. I recommend you fix your tl;dr and the poll accordingly (neither your whole first post nor the poll even mention animations at all).

 

[peterbone]

I think 80x80 is fine when you see the avatars in the forum threads but when you go to someone's profile you expect to see it larger. So larger avatars could be allowed, which will show up in a user's profile but in the threads you would see a resized 80x80 version.

 

[aronpm]

With 80x80, even uncompressed true color is under 20KB. And gifs are already allowed. So this is solely about animated avatars, not gifs. I recommend you fix your tl;dr and the poll accordingly.

1) I assumed it would be obvious that by GIF I meant animated. Nobody uses GIF for anything else.
2) I didn't make the poll but ok

 

[Stefan]

I assumed it would be obvious that by GIF I meant animated.
Nobody uses GIF for anything else.

I count ten non-animated GIFs on this page.

And in any case I'd prefer saying what you actually mean rather than something that only vaguely suggests it (and the people who don't know GIF's animation capability won't even know what you're talking about (and what they're voting on (sneaky))).

 

[izovire]

My avatar is a GIF... (I can't remember its size)

I got it from mf8.com. Dayan uses the same gif but it has a smiley that smokes a cigarette.

 

[pjk]

I propose that the file size limit for avatars be raised from 20.0KB to something larger like 100KB or 200KB. The 80x80 limit is fine, even though it could potentially be a bit larger without taking up any more space on the screen.

Arguments for:
Allows a more expressive range of avatars to be uploaded. Other websites allow avatars to be up to several hundred kilobytes, with no problems.

Arguments against:
People might slow internet or low download quotas. However this is 2012, not 1992, people should be able to handle a few pictures. And if they can't, they should have avatars disabled in the control panel already. Also, there's this thing called a cache. It means you don't have to download the avatars every single time you open a thread.

tl;dr: i want animated gif avatars

As Stefan mentioned, 20KB is more than enough. Keep in mind on each page, an avatar is loaded 10-30 times, so we want to keep it reduced, even if it is being cached a lot of the time.

In regards to animations: they are distracting and unnecessary. Also, you'd be shocked how many people still browse on slow connections.

After talking with other mods about this, we all agree that avatars are fine as they are and don't need to be larger (dimension or file size wise).

 

[SenorJuan]

Bump: 4 years on, and computers, internet speeds, mobile devices are all improved, and the website has had some appearance changes.
Apart from being a bit small, the existing avatars are also square (at maximum). As the width doesn't appear to negatively affect screen layout, and 4:3 ratio is a common photo AR, how about an increase to 120w x 90h (or 160 x 120?), with a corresponding modest filesize increase?

And re: animated gif's, I dislike them, and would be happy if they were not permitted (if this is a concern about larger file-sizes)