Signature FAQ & Help thread

[Phantom66uk]

Hi and welcome to the new "Test Board" help thread, originally a sticky thread created by Dragon88, with Avatar / Signature guideline images originally created by Darqfyre and recently amended by myself. This new edition for our new forums also has suggestions from FuryX, Kel64 & theshooter123. Many thanks to all involved!

The following links are clickable, and you can jump to the section that you are interested in. These subjects will open in a new window, and be at the top of the page

Signature Area and Avatar Rules (Guide & FAQ Recap)
VBCode Help (Tags)
File extension usage (Jpg,gif,etc..)
Forum colour codes (Post background & Avatar background colours)
Image Manipulation applications & tips (includes links to "try before you buy")
Web Hosting(places to upload your images to for free)
FAQ Section (Frequently Asked Questions)
Bits (How to contact me & other info)

[Phantom66uk]

Signature Area

You can use one picture in your signature, but please make sure this picture is within these limits:

1) The total width of your signature may not exceed 600 pixels.

2) The total height of your signature may not exceed 100 pixels.

3) The filesize of the picture must be under 50 kilobytes.

Example of a correctly sized "Signature Image"



Quoting other users comments is no longer allowed!

Avatar Guidelines

Please make sure that your avatar image is within these limits:

1) The width of the picture may not exceed 80 pixels.

2)The height of the picture may not exceed 80 pixels

3)The filesize of the picture must be under 19.5 kilobytes.

Correctly sized "Avatar"

[Phantom66uk]

VBCode (Tags):-

To show a non-linking (non-clickable) signature then the standard [img][/img] tags will suffice, so as an example you would link to your signature host by typing in the following

If you wish to be more adventurous and you want users to be able to click on an image to send them to a website or your profile page (for example) then you can use a combination of [url][/url] & [img][/img] tags. The correct syntax to do so is the same order as you would creating an image link in html, [url=http://www.website_link.com][/url]

[Phantom66uk]

File Extensions:-

The only file extensions that will work to show any image on the board are as follows;

.jpg
.gif
.png

The .bmp file format isn't acceptable due to the sheer download size of these images, the board software doesn't allow the format either.

[Phantom66uk]

Forum color codes:-

The 'post area' background color isn't actually white, even though it may seem that it is. In actual fact it's been toned down to aid in the forum being easily readable, reducing the glare that white backgrounds produce which helps stop eyestrain.

The color codes follow and are easily useable in most (if not all) graphics applications:

RGB Values

Red - 250
Green - 250
Blue - 250

Hex Value

If your image software uses Hex Code, then the values above can be expressed as #FAFAFA in hex. Some programmes will require you to drop the leading hash / Pound (#) symbol, while others may not.

The 'Avatar' area colour values are;

RGB Values

Red = 224
Green = 228
Blue = 234

Hex Value

#E0E4EA

Centering your signature image:

If viewing the forum at it's native resolution (1024*768) or above then your signature image will already be center of the screen in it's default alignment. There are users however who wish to have the signature image central to the text that they have written, this will also appear off center at or above the native resolution.

To center your signature to your text, simply within your control panel (User CP) visit your "signature" area and wrap the [center][/center] tags around the [IMG][/IMG] tags.

It'll look like this if you've done it correctly :- [CENTER][IMG]hxxp://awebserver.co.uk/dir/picture.jpg[/IMG][/center]

[Phantom66uk]

Image Manipulation programmes & tips

MSPaint is always handy as it's usually installed on a default install of Windows, however it's not as advanced as some specialist packages available either for free (such as "the GIMP") or to purchase from retail / online stores.

If you want to try out some of these specialist packages there are free trial versions which are usually time limited from a varitey of vendors. These specialist packages are usually easy(ish) to use provided you've read and understood any documentation that comes with the product. There are also good tutorial websites available, and knowledgeable users who will most probably be hanging around the Digital Art board who will be willing to give some tips out.

Disclaimer!
At time of writing this thread links, products & compatable operating systems are correct, as software changes frequently any errors are unintentional.

Adobe Tryouts Page (Windows & Mac)
Corel home of Paintshop Pro & Mac art packages (Windows & Mac)
The Gimp (Linux, Windows & Mac )
ulead systems (Windows)

Adobe Photoshop "Top Tip" (supplied by Kel64 - Thanks! )

Saving Files Correctly With Adobe Photoshop

"In order to keep to the file size limits, you need to know the size of the image that you are outputting. However, using the standard save method (File, Save), an incorrect, smaller file size will be shown.
E.g. I am saving a file and it is stated to be 11k in size. Once saved, it is actually 18k."

"In order to keep file size down and the correct file size to be stated, use the 'save for web' feature (File, Save For Web). An extra reduction in file size will also be had by using this method as unnecessary file information will not be saved along with the file; where as it would using the standard save method."

[Phantom66uk]

Web Hosts

Unfortunately you can't link directly to images stored on your home computer Hard Drive, you need to upload your image from your Hard Drive to a server that will send your images across the World Wide Web.

These days you need no ftp (file transfer protocol) knowledge as most services have an easy upload system.

Please note that some site such as geocities do not support remote linking (Unless you are using their "Premium" pay service!). This means your image will show up as a red "X" ( in IE ) or as a broken image square (within Firefox / variants).

If you're not sure if your free site supports hotlinking then an easy way is to clear your browser cache after inserting your images into your post / signature / avatar. A CTRL + F5 refresh will also achieve the same result.

Some free image hosts are:

Imageshack - Popular!, and makes thumbnail images for the user keeping within the Futuremark reglations.

Uploadit - You need to sign up (free) no personal experience of this service.

Photobucket - Another Free signup service, again I have no personal experience with this service.

Mywebpage - This gives you a 20mb account, and is very useful for hosting sigs and small files. You will need to register an AOL screen name to use this if you don't already have one. Note: If you use AIM, that is an AOL screen name.

Tinypic - Untested by myself, suggested by Rage710

[Phantom66uk]

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Zig_Killer, who or what is it?
A: Zig_Killer is an automated system that works in the background checking that users signatures conform to the signature & avatar image guidelines.

Q: How quickly will Zig_Killer kill my oversized Avatar / Signature?
A: Zig_killer has thousands of accounts to continually get through and at times it does go down for routine maintenence and improvements to it's detection abilities. Depending on where you are in the queue it could be near instant or a few days away, Moderators and Admins also have the ability to manually point the programme at users Signatures / Avatars, so an oversized image won't last too long

Q: Why did Zig_Killer destroy my Signature / Avatar when it's filesize was 50.01KB / 19.51KB?
A: Zig_Killer has a "hard limit" that is programmed at 50.00KB and 19.50KB respectively. Even the tiniest amount over will initiate a "Kill".

Q: I had more than one image in my signature / used more than one image to make one single image, why did Zig_Killer remove it?
A: You are only allowed one image in your signature of no greater size than 600 Pixels wide, 100 Pixels tall and below 50KBytes (51200bytes)

Q: I've spotted a user with an oversized or offensive Signature / Avatar what can I do?
A: You can notify the Moderators to remove it, this is a low priority job (unless it's offensive) so won't get removed right away, however we can see where Zig_Killer is up to and if we need to we can manually "kill" it.

Q: I have too many compare URLs to put in my signature, what do I do!?
A: There are several ways to solve this. A few examples:

1. Use TinyURL to shorten the links. This saves some characters, so you can stuff more links in your 300-character signature.
2. Make a webpage of your own, and put all your compare URLs on there. Then, in your signature, link to that single webpage.
3. Use your Profile! You've got room for four compare URLs there. If you're desperate, you can even put a link in your signature to your profile.
4. Drop other things from your signature (image, describtion, quote, markup tags...)
5. Don't bench that much.

I think the first three are the most viable solutions. (Compare help FAQ submitted by FuryX - Thanks! [bigsmile] )

[Phantom66uk]

Final bits

I have an addition / correction / FAQ entry that I'd like to see added to the sticky. - Send me a PM and I'll add it / fix it / answer it when time allows

I tried PM'ing you but you have them turned off - It's possible I'm on holiday or snowed under with 'Real Life', in this case please email me via my Futuremark address via my "Profile". I shall then try to reply ASAP

Can you make me a Signature / Avatar? - Unfortunately the simple answer is No! I'm not an artistic person, if you're really desperate then you can make a thread on the boards (Digital Art or the Test Board) to ask one of the talented guys whom have time

[DsK]

Since Phantom66uk is unavilable, please PM myself with regards to this sticky.