Avatar resizing request

[jahcoozi]

I keep getting the "invalid avatar" or whatever when I try to add one of my favorite singers as my avatar image. :-P

http://photo.sing365.com/music/picture.nsf/Fiona-Apple-photo/48256C71003578A2482568910028E0A9/$file/Fiona+Apple.jpg

I had reduced it down to the required dimensions exactly (this isn't the image in its reduced form), so I'm not sure what's wrong. Any help would be great! :D

[athenian200]

Here you are:

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd84/athenian200/FionaApple1.jpg

I bet the file size was too big. It has to be under 20kb, as well as being appropriately sized (I personally think the file size limitation is absurd unless the server is storing these things on a floppy disk, though I understand the visual sizing restriction).

Does this work? I think it's the right size.

[Jezebel]

I personally think the file size limitation is absurd unless the server is storing these things on a floppy disk

It has more to do with bandwidth than drive space. A single avatar is only a few kb, but even small graphics add up when they're getting loaded millions of times each month. We only host template graphics and avatars here, and that still uses around 50gb of bandwidth per month. Raising the allocation wouldn't be an issue now, but as the forum grows more resources get used and we'd rather be conservative with our resources now than take features away later. 20kb is the upper end of what Photoshop saves jpgs at when they aren't being saved with unnecessary metadata (http://intjforum.com/showthread.php?t=7915), so I think the size is reasonable.

[athenian200]

It has more to do with bandwidth than drive space.

Oh! Bandwidth. They charge for data flow rather than just data storage.

In that case, I can see it. I'm not used to thinking in terms of bandwidth, so when I see a size restriction, my first thought is that it's a storage issue...

Thanks for clearing that up. :)

Anyway, OP, I use GIMP because I'm too cheap to buy Photoshop, but thankfully it offers the same level of control over output. So if you were saving your avatar with MS Paint... you should probably get that. Paint doesn't offer enough control over image quality to reduce file size.

[jahcoozi]

Thanks so much athenian200 you rock. :D