Forgive me for being thick, but how do I use an avatar that's on my hard drive?

 

I've tried everything I can think of and nothing works.

Try hosting it in the web. (MSN Groups work best, create your own group if you want) and then use the options in your Profile to link your uploaded image.

 

Make sure it's 80 x 80, otherwise it'll get shrunk.

I've got a 76 x 80 Ithorian. Hopefully you're seeing it right now, it seems very inconsistent for some reason??? I created a geocities account _just_ so I could finally have an avatar. SWRebellion.com is the first place I've ever been to that doesn't let me just use one that is on my hard drive.

 

Ah well, if it works (I hope it does!) that's what's important.

Geocities does not work well with remote-linking, nor does tripod, angelfire, brinkster, etc. Try MSN Groups.

If someone could post a nice, easy, step-by-step procedure for how to do this, I would be most grateful! I'd love to get a better avatar, but this forum isn't making much sense!

If someone could post a nice, easy, step-by-step procedure for how to do this, I would be most grateful! I'd love to get a better avatar, but this forum isn't making much sense!

 

This is idiot proof, from another site I goto.

 

This document gives detailed instructions on how to host pictures on an MSN Community

and then post them on the b3ta message board. It assumes that you already have a picture

ready that you want to post. It also assumes that you are using Internet Explorer on

Windows. As far as I am aware MSN will not let you upload pictures if you are using

anything else. Please let me know if I am wrong. This how-to was written using Windows

XP Professional and Internet Explorer 6. Using different versions of Windows and IE may

alter the steps below slightly, but they should be mostly the same.

 

Make sure you read the main b3ta FAQ at http://www.b3ta.com/features/faq/ before posting to the

board.

 

Questions? Comments? Talk to me on the b3ta board. I go by the name 'Spoon'. I'm not

going to put my email address here as I will be spammed to death.

 

 

 

1. Before you can do this you will need a .NET passport, which is a sign in thing for

MSN. If you use Hotmail you will already have one. Otherwise you will need to go to

http://www.msn.com. From there click 'Sign In' then 'Get one now'. There will be a form to

fill in with a bunch of stuff including a valid email.

 

2. When you have a passport, start up your web browser and go to groups.msn.com. There

should be a link somewhere on that page that says something like 'Create your own

group', so click it. You will need to sign in with your passport if you aren't already.

 

3. Enter a name and description for your community then click continue.

 

4. Another bunch of options. Most of them are just your preference, but the important

one is 'Your Membership Policy'. Choose either 'Public' or 'Public Restricted' for the

membership policy. This is VERY IMPORTANT because if you don't make your site public,

when you try and post a pic it will cause a pop up sign in box to appear on everyones

computer, which will greatly annoy them. They also won't be able to see your picture.

Fill in the other options how you like, then click 'Continue'.

 

5. Choose whatever category you like then click 'Continue'. The last page to fill in

will appear, when you are done click 'Create my group!'

 

6. Now you should see your community homepage. You probably want to bookmark this.

Click on 'Pictures' in the bar on the right, then click 'Add Photos'. You will be

asked to install a little upload thingummy.

 

7. When you are done installing, you will get a page where you can see your computer.

Use it to browse to where your picture is saved and click it so there is a little tick

in the top left corner. Next click 'Resize Photo' at the bottom and choose 'Don't

resize'. Then click 'Upload Now'. When it has finished uploading, click 'Back to

"pictures"'.

 

8. You will now see a page with a thumbnail of your picture. Click it to see it full

size.

 

9. Click the picture with your right mouse button, then choose 'Properties' from the

menu. A window will pop up. Where it says 'Address (URL)' you need to select the entire

address with your mouse. It will start off 'http://groups.msn.com/' and then have a

load of random looking letters. Make sure you get all of it, as it will be quite long.

Here is a sample one:

 

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VwDdAs8clCfXiC83YxBVdNCL6yb!r7tPbj6dgs

KdYXu6JqWOMT5BE2RoMUhjdwJggK8IvSzLfgCe57PXSzII9AlNvA477ax1qjbxG7hs5nJ

i6UIqxdQVhxggxgcryCc2/woo.gif?dc=4675400164852650302

 

When you have it all selected, hold down 'Ctrl' and hit 'C' to copy it.

 

10. Go to the b3ta message board and click 'Post a new message' or 'Reply' if you are

responding to another post. Type in an appropriate title for your post, then in

the 'Message' box type in ' except without the quotation marks. Then</p><p>press ' to finish it

off.

 

11. IMPORTANT. Click 'Preview' to make sure your picture is displaying ok before you

post it to the board. If you post it straight to the board and it doesn't display, you

will look silly and will have to live in a cave in an effort to escape the shame. If

everything looks good then hit 'Post this message'.

 

12. Bathe in the admiration for your stunning masterpiece.

 

 

 

Frequently asked questions:

 

Why can't people see my pic, and are complaining of popups?

There are two possibilities:

1. It is because you have forgotten to make your community public. Note that you can

probably see the pic yourself because you are signed in. First delete your post so you

don't continue to annoy people. Go to your community homepage and sign in. Then click

'Manager Tools' and 'Adjust Your Group Settings'. Under 'Membership Settings' choose

either 'Public' or 'Public Restricted', then click 'Save Changes'. Now try to post

your pic again.

2. You have tried to put the picture in 'documents' rather than 'pictures'. However

your community is set up, you will not be able to post images on b3ta if they are

stored in 'documents'. They must be in 'pictures'.

 

Why has my pic come out tiny when I posted it?

This is because you have posted the thumbnail instead of the full size pic. Go to your

pictures page where you should see thumbnails of any pictures you have uploaded. Click

on the thumbnail of the pic you want to post and it will display full size. Then carry

on with step 9 above.

 

Why isn't my animated GIF working?

Why has my 800x600 enormo-pic got a bit smaller?

When you upload the picture, make sure that under 'Resize photo' you have 'Don't resize'

selected.

It is inadvisable to post anything very large (Bigger than 400 pixels wide) straight to

the board as you will get shouted at. Make a link to the picture instead using

'Here's a link to a big pic I made

 

How do I upload pics without installing the upload tool?

At step 6 above instead of installing the upload tool, click 'add one photo at a time'.

You will then see a screen that lets you choose a single pic to upload when you click

'Add Photo'. Don't forget to select 'Don't resize'.

 

Why can't I see my pic?

Why can't I see my community?

MSN has probably broken. It does that sometimes because Microsoft are a bunch of muppets.

 

 

 

And now a warning:

MSN will delete your account if it isn't used for a while, so make sure that you have

copies of anything you want to keep saved on your computer.

 

Hope this is helpful. If you struggle, just join my group for goodness sake.

 

Ok, done; group created on MSN, pic uploaded, URL to said pic found. Now, when editing my profile here, it keeps "bouncing back" to the profile page, without making any of the changes (like, adding my avatar!).

 

Suggestions?

Jahled I'll borrow your post for the FAQ

Ok, done; group created on MSN, pic uploaded, URL to said pic found. Now, when editing my profile here, it keeps "bouncing back" to the profile page, without making any of the changes (like, adding my avatar!).

 

Suggestions?

 

Your account

Your info

forums (right at top of page)

Profile

 

Paste your very long msn url link in the url bit right at the bottom.

 

That should work my friend.

I agree, it should. It didn't.

 

*continues to jack with it*

I agree, it should. It didn't.

 

*continues to jack with it*

 

What avatar size are we dealing with? 80 x 80 is max.

 

If it's within these guidelines, pm or email me and I suggest I do it for you with the power of the Force (and your password...you can change it afterwards... my criminal psychologist swears i'm an honest guy trying to get out of a warped-individual...baw...)