Reading the last pages of that Kotaku/resetERA thread already annoyed the hell out of me because of all the animated avatars.
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The animated avatar debate.
- Thread starter CountAntonio
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Animated avatars make the forum pretty much unusable for me, so either they go, I get the option to turn them off, or I have to go back to another forum.
'Fun'.
It's probably an edge case. I reduced the frequency, thanks for the heads up
Just "read" through that, yeesh I couldn't focus on the page at all, my eyes kept getting drawn to the left of the page.
Hard pass.
I like this, subtle is everything.
I just wish I could figure out how to slow mine done without increasing the size.
The strain of animated avatars is that same of static ones as they're limited to 50KBs the same
Well that's good to hear.
If it doesn't cause any server problems then I say go for it, I mean you can always have a setting to disable them for those who are against.
Of course this all depends on current plans and resources, like I said before I wouldn't want to add even more work on the good people working on our new home.
I am not really bothered by them at all. Like in the poll, let there be an option for people to enable or disable it. Win-win for all.
OP
OP
I do imagine the actual constant rendering of the animations would be a pain for mobile users when it comes to battery/older phones. But I agree in that maybe people should take a minute to realize the 50kb cap is a hard one.
I think an option is the best choice. They're harmless fun if its not forced on anyone.
I voted Nay on animated avatars.
I don't want this forum to start looking like other certain forums with anime bouncing bosoms and Overwatch T&A. It's distracting and annoying. I also don't want to have to disable avatars completely just to keep animated avatars out of my browsing experience.
I don't want this forum to start looking like other certain forums with anime bouncing bosoms and Overwatch T&A. It's distracting and annoying. I also don't want to have to disable avatars completely just to keep animated avatars out of my browsing experience.
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I mean, as long as intentionally obnoxious stuff isn't being used (seizure inducing, ravey/flashing images, nsfw stuff, etc), I don't mind others choosing to use a gif for their online face. Some are pretty cool.
An opt out policy is always nice, too. :)
An opt out policy is always nice, too. :)
I honestly didn't really want them until today.
Please let me know if this is one too flashy. It isn't intending to be.
Please let me know if this is one too flashy. It isn't intending to be.
In an absolute sense there indeed is an additional computational overhead, but considering how limited these gif avatars are the impact on battery life is negligible
I honestly don't think that is the type of crowd we have here. Those types of icons would be so out of place that one would be ashamed to use it... I would hope.
I'm okay with them. Then again I assisted in the mass flood of bouncing ponies a few years back, sooooo...
Personally, I'm going to be sticking to a static image for a while.
I like the idea of an option in the settings to disable them, though. A much more nuanced and personalized approach is probably more sensible direction to take the forum in, though.
Personally, I'm going to be sticking to a static image for a while.
I like the idea of an option in the settings to disable them, though. A much more nuanced and personalized approach is probably more sensible direction to take the forum in, though.
If you have photoshop it's easy to adjust the time length per frame. Adjusting that instead of adding more frames keeps the file size from bloating.
If a poster uses 100ppp and theres 80 animated avatars on that page, then I'd imagine there'd be some real noticable difference. Compound that over reading page after page. Even if you take it down to 20-30 people, I'd imagine it'd add up. The point is, its more than non, for something that should be a basic text forum.
That said I'm still pro option. I already really like some of the ones I've seen and I do think they allow people to have some cool artistic expression.
It was actually funny reading the first page when he said that but had already changed it to that avatar, then seeing his other two posts at the middle and end of the page where he slowly changed his mind.
But on the phone on the screen you have at most 5 avatars at once (and that's in the worst case scenario of having many very short posts in a row), and the ones offcreen aren't being played for efficiency purposes
Hmm, well my current avatar is 37kb, so I should be able to make that, I think.
What is the best (free) way to make an animated avatar?
edit: while I prefer static pictures nowadays, I minor non-distracting animation is fine.
What is the best (free) way to make an animated avatar?
edit: while I prefer static pictures nowadays, I minor non-distracting animation is fine.
Wasn't entirely sure if that were the case. Thanks for clarifying!
Ultimately I guess we'll see what the mods/admins decide.
Keep them, but there should be an option to make them static for users that find it distracting. Maintain the 50KB limit.
If someone's that worried about battery life they would probably have images disabled already (on GAF). Much larger GIFs are posted everywhere. 100ppp isn't even an option yet.
If they're optional, I think the default should be "off". They way non-members browsing the forum aren't negatively affected, users are more mindful that a lot of people will see the first frame of their gifs, and enjoying them becomes a perk of membership.
Otherwise my vote is "no". They're just distracting and aesthetically unpleasant to me.
Otherwise my vote is "no". They're just distracting and aesthetically unpleasant to me.
Once the place is monetized I feel like the discussion is more warranted. As is now, there's NO god damn way this is sustainable as far as server costs and I really really hope the admin team has actionable plans for generating revenue for this place.
I'm against animated avatars. They seem to be just invitation for people to show off random pointless animations, as opposed to having a static picture which will only be used to identify the poster at first glance. Like "post a small reply so people will see my cool avatar" doesn't need to become a thing.
I don't want to see little stuff blinking when were trying to read the content of the post.
I don't want to see little stuff blinking when were trying to read the content of the post.
Again, they have the exact same load for the servers as regular avatars do since the size limit is the same.
I never missed the animated avatars, that was a good change. The only down side was losing the rotating avatars, where people had them outside hosted on a server with a script to pull up one of a set, so the poster would have a different av every time you loaded a page. Those were neat.
The option would be good so the members can decide for themselves, I don't mind either way myself. It would be nice for those who want it though
I voted let people choose but I would definitely turn them off myself. They're rather distracting.
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