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Topic: RootsChat Performance: #2 Avatar sizes (Read 5819 times)
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Berlin-Bob
Global Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 5687
by: My Daughter. Chatting to find her Roots !
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You've probably all noticed (and suffered  ) when RootsChat has outages, "go slows" etc.
This is a typical response:
Has anyone else been having problems accessing RootsChat yesterday (31 December) and today (31 January)?
As you can guess, I've had problems - receiving the "try again in an hour" page, on both days. I have had no problems accessing other popular websites, eg BBC etc.
[...]
And, is there anything we should do as Rootschatters to reduce the risk of this "freeze out" occurring?
Annoying, but we all have to live with it
However . . .
And, is there anything we should do as Rootschatters to reduce the risk of this "freeze out" occurring ?
Yes, there is 
Avatars on RootsChat
Those of us who use broadband tend to forget how many people there are, who still use slow dial-up connections.
So anything that speeds up page downloads is an improvement. Even on Broadband !
When we call up a page in the browser (i.e. click on a link) then the page, text and graphics, is downloaded to our computer, whereby "graphics" includes avatars, smileys (both in the text and in the signatur), and images attatched to the text
1) On 15 replies to a topic (maximum replies per page), up to 15 profile pics are downloaded.
(that's the worst case: if it's just two people, answering back and forth, then only two profile pics get downloaded)
I downloaded two RootsChat pages, one with just one avatar (profile pic) and one with 10:
The text part of each page was about 100 KB
The graphics part of the 1st. page was 60 KB
The graphics part of the 2nd. page was 250 KB
Doing the maths, nearly 200 KB of the 2nd. page was taken up with avatars and smileys.
Most people have an avatar/profile pic of 10 KB or less, which is reasonable,
but I have noticed some bigger avatars, some even going to 150 KB.
To improve performance, RootsChat Administration has now decided to limit the sizes of the avatars.
The maximum Byte-size allowed is 20 KB.
The maximum pixel size is width: 150 pixels, Height: 150 pixels.
We ask you in the course of the next two weeks to check that your avatars are within the specified limits.
If you are not sure of your avatar size, then right-click on it.
In the context menu which then appears, left-click on properties.
A pop-up window will tell you the size, in pixels and Kilobytes (KB)
TIP: There are quite a few avatars which are within the pixel limits, but well over 20KB.
Admin has been converting some of these from PNG format to JPG format (80% compression).
It makes a surprising difference:
in general the same picture in JPG is 10 - 20% of the PNG size !
A 34KB image can reduce to 4 - 6KB, presumably depending on the colours and contrasts.
After 1st. November 2007, admin will gradually resize any avatars, that exceed these dimensions.
In the case of animated GIFs, resizing won't work, so if they are over the limits, we will have to delete them.
Avatars can now only be loaded from RootsChat. Loading an avatar from another server often means waiting until that server has sent us the image.
All avatars from external sources need to be reloaded.
Most avatars have "survived" the implementation of the new restrictions, but not all, so you may have to reload your avatar.
Please remember that use of avatar images is also subject to the usual copyright rules.
There are also restrictions on images in signatures.
The max. allowed size is 500 Bytes (Profile: Research names or areas:).
The text size is automatically checked when you enter it in your profile.
If you include an image in your signature,
please insure that the total size (= image + text) does not exceed 500 Bytes.
Images in signatures, which exceed the size limits, will be removed.
Thank you,
The RootsChat Team.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For help with resizing images,
see Topic: Adding images to Posting & Profiles
1) Resizing and cropping your image file:[/color]
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,130922.0.html
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« Last Edit: Wednesday 18 February 09 10:06 UTC (UK) by Berlin-Bob »
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Searching for Coleman, Moore, Kallnung in London; Margulies, Remenyi in E. Europe; Ancestors of Hessie Stevenson-Coleman-Baxter (Ireland, 1861) and, of course, any other ancestors for my web-site. All Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) |
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kerryb
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 11961
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Mine has disappeared and yes to all three questions too!
Oh well at least there is a legitimate reason for it going walk about, I will have to reload, now which thread was it originally on 
Kerry
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukSearching for my family - Baldwin - Sussex, Middlesex, Cork, Pilbeam - Sussex, Harmer - Sussex, Terry - Surrey, Kent, Rhoades - Lincs, Roffey - Surrey, Traies - Devon & Middlesex & many many more to be found on my website .... www.kerrysfamilyhistory.co.uk |
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kerryb
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 11961
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Bob
That's a new way of loading an avatar, I've had to do the properties and copy the code before.
Congratulations - much simpler, I like it 
Kerry
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukSearching for my family - Baldwin - Sussex, Middlesex, Cork, Pilbeam - Sussex, Harmer - Sussex, Terry - Surrey, Kent, Rhoades - Lincs, Roffey - Surrey, Traies - Devon & Middlesex & many many more to be found on my website .... www.kerrysfamilyhistory.co.uk |
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kerryb
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 11961
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Ok
Thank you Trystan for helping even me to get an avatar added easily 
Lets hope small is best and it helps to quicken things up
Kerry
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukSearching for my family - Baldwin - Sussex, Middlesex, Cork, Pilbeam - Sussex, Harmer - Sussex, Terry - Surrey, Kent, Rhoades - Lincs, Roffey - Surrey, Traies - Devon & Middlesex & many many more to be found on my website .... www.kerrysfamilyhistory.co.uk |
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Gadget
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 24464
Holy Island - Pilgrims' Path
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And I made sure that your avatar was below 10 whatsits when I made it mobile
I always remember Bob saying - ages ago - keep it to below 10 and about 100 wide. I always do what Bob says
Gadget
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