Mar 16 2004, 01:02 PM

This thread will be the official place to go for information with your questions about banners/sigs and avatars.

First of all, to use your own picture (and not one of Amtam's pre-installed avatars,) you need to have a place to store it online, because the upload to Amtam option is disabled. If you have your own website, you can store your picture there, or many people use a site such as photobucket.com. Photobucket is free and pretty easy to use, so if you don't have anywhere else to upload your pictures, try it.

avatars:
Your avatar should be no larger than 64x64 pixels. (check my avatar)
1. click on "my controls"
2. click on "edit avatar settings"
3. under "your image avatars," where it says "Enter a URL to an online avatar image," copy and paste the URL to your image. (If you are using photobucket, it is really easy because under each photo in your album is a URL for that image.)
4. click "update avatar."
5. upload a new image from your computer: This option does NOT work

signature banners:
You should only have one banner and it should be no larger than 248 pixels wide x 100 pixels tall. (See the "this big" image at the bottom of this post.)
1. click on "my controls"
2. click on "edit signature"
3. You may type text in the box (such as the quote I have in my signature.) To add an image, click on the "IMG" button. A window will pop up that asks for the URL for your image. Copy and paste it in, and click "OK."
4. click "update my signature."

Hope this helps. If anyone has any problems with getting their avatars and signatures to work, feel free to PM a moderator.

The avatar size has not changed, it has always been 64 x 64 pixels or less. The only change to the rules was in signature banner size, for the purposes of decreasing load time and scrolling.

The AmTam Team

Clarification of Signature Size
Mar 3 2004, 03:57 PM

You may have one banner *no larger than* 248 pixels wide x 100 pixels tall and 600 characters of text signature. This banner size does not take over the monitor screen when viewing a post and is fast loading for those on dial up with older computers. Please limit yourself to one banner image in your signature. Be sure it does not link back to any site that is not within the AmTam Family Friendly guidelines.

If you find your signature does not work, it may have been disabled. You may then want to check your image and resize, or if there are more than 600 characters you will have to cut back on your text and reload. We will send a notice to those with signature images over the allowed size and text, then disable the signature until it is replaced with image and text within allowable limits.

Below is another shot of the box your sig should fit in with the pixel size in width and height.


The AmTam Team

Just so everyone knows, 248 x 100 pixels is

Avatar and Signature input is in 'My Controls'.

On the same line as 'log in', located at the top of every page on the message board, click on 'My Controls' and scroll down, looking on left side, to Personal Profile, then click on Edit Signature or Edit Avatar Settings.

For Signature under your basic post:
Input the data you want in your signature including links to the picture you want (if you want one) and you are done.

For an Avatar under your screen name:
1) Pre-installed avatars - Choose an avatar from one of our galleries
2) Your image avatars - Enter a URL to an online avatar image
3) OR upload a new image from your computer: This option does NOT work