Signature and Avatar limits, revisited.

[Garbarsardar]

Compiled by Garbasardar, Proximus, Trajan. Please give your feedback.

Signature and Avatar rules

A.General rules that apply to all image content:

• Image content that violates the site content rules and protective language censors will be removed.

• Certain logos, site insignia for the various user groups and ranks, and site buttons may not be used in avatars and signature images because the cause confusion.

• Images with overtly distracting bright flashing sequences of images are strongly discouraged and will be removed.

• Using you signature or avatar image or signature text to actively troll for off topic reaction responses or to publish message replies that would not be allowed in an individual message post is not allowed and may be cause for immediate suspension of posting and signature privileges.

B.General procedures:

• A semi-automated filtering script will be used to evaluate images and signature blocks that pass the upload filters. Signatures that fail the filter test will be replaced with a link to this policy.

• Signatures that contain more than one image or a larger total number of characters may be reviewed manually to make sure they still follow the intent of the policy.

• All TWC staff members (Triumvirates, Praetors, and Quaestors) will remove signatures and replace them with the link to the policy whenever they are detected as being missed by the filter and upload limiting scripts.

• Signatures and Avatars that violate this policy will be logged in the warning log for that user. The first event will be logged as a ‘caution’ and will not increase the warning level for the user even though a record of the caution will be created. This warning log will help to assure that all moderators and staff members can be consistent in their approach if a second incident is detected.

C.Avatar Image Size

• Avatars images must be uploaded to the TWC site internal storage.

• Avatar images must be no larger than 64 pixels by 64 pixels.

• Avatar image size must be less that 20kb.

• Animated avatars are allowed at this time, subject to the general rules above.

D.Signature Sizes (including image options)
Basic users

• The total size of a users signature may not cause the forum display page to exceed the standard width of a 1024x768 screen resolution

• Signature size limits will be basically the same for all users, but users in the higher ranking member groups will be allowed extra lines of text to support the duties associated with their rank.

• Signature images may not exceed 100 pixels in height or 5 userbars (5X19).

• Any user may have one (1) or more signature images over-and-under up to 468 pixels in width as long as they comply to the first rule –or- two(2) or more non animated signature images up to 300 pixels wide located side-by-side as long as they comply to the first rule to form a non-animated horizontal bar signature.

• The total file size for all images in signatures may not add up to be more than 100kb.

• Users who use no signature images will be allowed up to six (6) lines of standard sized text and spaces in the signatures (the maximum lines will be determined base on a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels). Blank space lines and lines of under lines or dashes count as a line of text. If you use the quote tags around a single short line of text it will now count as using 3 or 4 lines of you space allocation.

• Users who use any signature image(s) of any allowed size will be limited to three (3) lines of standard sized text in their signatures below the signature images.

Example:


Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true


or






Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true


or

Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh why can't I?



Civitates

• Civitates will be allowed one (+1) additional line of text in their signature to declare their allegiance to the patron AND their camaraderie to any brethren/sistren if they share the same patron. This extra line of text is for this specific purpose only.

Example:


Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.

or






Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.

or

Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh why can't I?
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.

Patricians

• Patricians and Senatorii will be allowed up to three (+3) lines of text and or spaces to declare and display patron ship and fealty relationships and/or past job titles and terms of service. These extra lines of text are for these specific purposes only.

Example:


Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.Patron of: Major.Stupidity ,Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush LimbaughPatron of: Major.Stupidity , Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush Limbaugh
or






Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.Patron of: Major.Stupidity ,Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush LimbaughPatron of: Major.Stupidity , Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush Limbaugh
or

Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh why can't I?
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.Patron of: Major.Stupidity ,Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush LimbaughPatron of: Major.Stupidity , Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush Limbaugh

Staff

• TWC Staff Members (Triumvirates, Praetors, or Quaestors) are subject to the same personal signature rules as Patricians and Senatorii but may use a limited number of lines of text in the signature block to assist in conducting site business.

Example:
Blood in the mudpit? Debris and Hybris in the VV? Don't clean it yourself! PM me...


Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.Patron of: Major.Stupidity ,Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush LimbaughPatron of: Major.Stupidity , Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush Limbaugh

or






Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.Patron of: Major.Stupidity ,Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush LimbaughPatron of: Major.Stupidity , Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush Limbaugh
Blood in the mudpit? Debris and Hybris in the VV? Don't clean it yourself! PM me...

or

Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams
that you dare to dream Really do come true Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh why can't I?
Li vaillans et gentilz rois Asterix, qui molt ert preuz et sages, me fist chevalier de sa mein.Patron of: Major.Stupidity ,Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush LimbaughPatron of: Major.Stupidity , Corporal_Hicks, Kscott, Nationalist_Cause , Major König, and Rush Limbaugh
Blood in the mudpit? Debris and Hybris in the VV? Don't clean it yourself! PM me...

E.Personal Image Sizes

• Every user may upload and store a single personal image that will display on their user profile page. The user profile can be accessed from any message by clicking on that users name but the personal image will not display in the actual forum discussion pages.

• Basic users may upload a personal image of not more than 150w X 150h pixels and not more than 100kb in file size.

• Civitates may upload a personal image of not more than 250w X 250h pixels and again not more than 100kb in file size.

• Patricians, Senatorii and Staff may upload a personal image of not more than 500w X 250h pixels and not more than 150kb in file size.

[Aristocrat]

I support this, it seems all in order to me...the 100kb limit on sig images addresses the only problem I may have had.

[Ragabash]

Sounds reasonable to me. I support this idea.

[Last Roman]

I thought this was all up to ON anyways?

[Hader]

Yeah, I like the idea too, it does give a rule for userbars (or at least make it clear) and it makes the other limits clearer too, now that it has examples. But it doesnt look like a new propsal (well, sub any other word, i cant think), but more like a detailed revision, you know what I mean? So ON wouldnt have to worry about anything.

[Garbarsardar]

I thought this was all up to ON anyways?

Of course it is. We just restructured the guidelines omitted redundant ones and would like to know if this makes any sense to the members...

[Sétanta]

Personally I think that it appeals to both people who understand writing and pictured instructions....even people with learning diabilities can understand these. So no more breaking the rules on Sigs.

[IamthePope]

Sounds simple enough. The last set of rules confused me a bit.

[Simetrical]

To be honest, I think signature rules could be rewritten far more simply, as follows:

No user's signature may either exceed 150 pixels in height or be so wide as to stretch a normal thread, as viewed on Windows XP in Internet Explorer fullscreen with default settings at a resolution of 800×600 pixels. All images in a user's signature combined may not total more than 100 KB in size. The heights of certain convenient things are as follows:

• One line of size-1 text is 12 pixels high.
• One line of default (size-2) text is 16 pixels high.
• One line of size-3 text is 18 pixels high.
• One line of size-4 text is 22 pixels high.
• One line of size-5 text is 29 pixels high.
• One line of size-6 text is 38 pixels high.
• One line of size-7 text is 61 pixels high.
• An attributed quote ("[quote=...]text[/quote]") adds an extra 68 pixels, and reduces the text inside it to size-1.
• An unattributed quote ("[quoe]text[/quote]") adds an extra 41 pixels, but maintains the size of the text inside it.
• Userbars are generally 19 pixels high.

This means that, for instance, you could have: a single image 150 pixels tall; a 100-pixel image and three lines of normal-sized text; a two-line attributed quote and three lines of normal-sized text; nine lines of normal-sized text; or twelve lines of size-1 text. Remember that if you're at a high screen resolution, there may be more lines than are displaying on your screen, since the standard is 800×600.

Civitates may use an additional 16 pixels of height, to acknowledge patrons and other "relatives" only. Patricians may use a further 32 pixels of height, to acknowledge clients and other "relatives" only.

This is, of course, the extremely consistent and logical solution, me being me. Whether it's too confusing is debatable, but it doesn't significantly increase the current limit (a 100-pixel image plus three lines of normal text is 148 pixels), and it allows more reasonable flexibility than the current rules. Plus, you no longer get to have more text if you just take a screenshot of it!

(I chose the browser, OS, and resolution I did, by the way, because to the best of my knowledge, all three are the most common. Archer or Mithras probably has access to the exact stats for visitors here.)

Anyway, what follows is some more specific points I have issue with.

A semi-automated filtering script will be used to evaluate images and signature blocks that pass the upload filters. Signatures that fail the filter test will be replaced with a link to this policy.

Who exactly is going to write this semi-automated filtering script, and what upload filters do we have (on signatures, not avatars)?

The total size of a users signature may not cause the forum display page to exceed the standard width of a 1024x768 screen resolution

Suggested clarification: "The total size of a user's signature may not stretch the thread as viewed on Windows XP in Internet Explorer fullscreen with default settings at a resolution of 800×600 pixels." Screen stretchiness can vary from browser to browser and depending on settings, and 800×600 pixels is more common than 1024×768.

Signature images may not exceed 100 pixels in height or 5 userbars (5X19).

Members can count. Leave out the userbars; they're just a fad. Also, make it clear that it's 100 pixels collectively, not 100 pixels per image, and add the aforesaid proviso (because images stacked horizontally may have a linebreak inserted between them at lower resolutions if they're too wide). So "All of a user's signature images together may not exceed 100 pixels in height as viewed on Windows XP in Internet Explorer fullscreen with default settings at a resolution of 800×600 pixels."

Any user may have one (1) or more signature images over-and-under up to 468 pixels in width as long as they comply to the first rule –or- two(2) or more non animated signature images up to 300 pixels wide located side-by-side as long as they comply to the first rule to form a non-animated horizontal bar signature.

Leaving this most ridiculous rule in kind of defeats the purpose of revamping these rules in the first place. Drop it entirely.

Users who use no signature images will be allowed up to six (6) lines of standard sized text and spaces in the signatures (the maximum lines will be determined base on a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels). Blank space lines and lines of under lines or dashes count as a line of text. If you use the quote tags around a single short line of text it will now count as using 3 or 4 lines of you space allocation.[/list]
[list]Users who use any signature image(s) of any allowed size will be limited to three (3) lines of standard sized text in their signatures below the signature images.

I've always objected to this. Look at this screenshot:



As you can see, six lines of text take up 96 pixels vertically. Three lines of text take up half that much space. Equating 48 pixels of text lines to 100 pixels of image is ridiculous. See my proposal above.

TWC Staff Members (Triumvirates, Praetors, or Quaestors) are subject to the same personal signature rules as Patricians and Senatorii but may use a limited number of lines of text in the signature block to assist in conducting site business.

This is entirely unnecessary. Giving Patricians an extra three lines is already excessive; giving staff members another two or three "to assist in conducting site business" potentially makes signatures unreasonably long.

• Every user may upload and store a single personal image that will display on their user profile page. The user profile can be accessed from any message by clicking on that users name but the personal image will not display in the actual forum discussion pages.

• Basic users may upload a personal image of not more than 150w X 150h pixels and not more than 100kb in file size.

• Civitates may upload a personal image of not more than 250w X 250h pixels and again not more than 100kb in file size.

• Patricians, Senatorii and Staff may upload a personal image of not more than 500w X 250h pixels and not more than 150kb in file size.

First of all, nobody uses these, and they're viewed infrequently compared to signatures, plus they're meant to be more expressive, so there's no reason to restrict them so much. Second of all, there's no reason to give anyone larger personal images than anyone else. Allow anyone to upload a personal image of up to 600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels tall, up to 512 KB in size, say.

[Lord Tomyris]

Nicely done; however, I still think larger avatars of 80 X 80 would be better...

[Tostig]

It looks better then it was before, though I agree with Sim that it is far from perfect.

Wow, my little crusade actually achieved something. Cheers people in power

[Garbarsardar]

Sim, I very much agree with most of your comments. My intention is not to alter the rules but to make them more easily accessible, always in the ON framework. I will wait for some more feedback and then I will incorporate most (or all) of your suggestions to the first post.
Thanks.

And yes dear Tostig, you brought this upon me. I am ambivalent between thanking you and beheading you at the moment...



( )

[Tom Paine]

I like Garb's idea better... I really do not understand Simetrical's for a start, nor how one could impose it on themselves except by approximation; nor does it give extra allowance for staff members, and finally, given current rules state the figure of 1024×768 I am sure there is a reason for this. Probably that it was Crandar's preferred screen resolution, admittedly.

[ckerr094]

Best not the have sigs in case the mods don't like em - like I couldn't have a sexy Aguilera one because they'll say she's showing to much flesh!

[Proximus]

I support this, it seems all in order to me...the 100kb limit on sig images addresses the only problem I may have had.

? The 100kb limit is as old as hell......

Also please remember that these are just an attempt to make the signature rules much easier to comprehend, not create a whole new set of rules. That’s why there isn't an issue with ON, it's also why these rules are by no means perfect...

Who exactly is going to write this semi-automated filtering script, and what upload filters do we have (on signatures, not avatars)?

That line was just copy-pasted from the old set of rules......

Also, make it clear that it's 100 pixels collectively, not 100 pixels per image

I could've sworn I wrote combined height of all images but whatever. :original:


As always Sim your suggestions are solid, but outside the scale of the things we tried to achieve. Just streamlining not revamping.

[ckerr094]

Just don't have one - that will keep you within the rules Proximus, then no-one can say anything

[Proximus]

Just don't have one - that will keep you within the rules Proximus, then no-one can say anything

I am the law......

Or you could just have a signature that does obey the rules.

[ckerr094]

You are the law? Then why's Garb making all these rules???

[Van Zandt]

Sim, I very much agree with most of your comments. My intention is not to alter the rules but to make them more easily accessible, always in the ON framework. I will wait for some more feedback and then I will incorporate most (or all) of your suggestions to the first post.
Thanks.





( )

Hey Garb, just wondering. Whats the text in your signature pic read? Looks Greek to me.

[Rolanbek]

Garb, Apart from the clarification on the number of Use bars, I thought that this was the current policy?

In any case; nice, simple and clear.

R