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Post Info TOPIC: No Gifs?


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So far, I haven't been able to load a gif, or an animated gif.  The birthday graphics should have been larger and should have been sparkling.  My personal iris icon is a gif with a transparent background.  Size wise, it is nothing but the avatar process turns it into a jpeg which then requires a background. 

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I did notice that when I posted :) , I didn't get a smiley face today...

Hadn't even paid attention to whether avatars were loading or not. Wonder what's up with that...

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ruffles wrote:

So far, I haven't been able to load a gif, or an animated gif.  The birthday graphics should have been larger and should have been sparkling.  My personal iris icon is a gif with a transparent background.  Size wise, it is nothing but the avatar process turns it into a jpeg which then requires a background. 



Gifs?  I thought it was a typo for 'gifts'. I feel like I've been left behind in some parallel universe.  I understood 'animated' 'larger' 'sparkling' and 'transparent' but I'm sure the rest is in code!

confused.gif  crash.gif    spin.gif  spin.gif


-- Edited by meggie at 23:19, 2009-02-14

-- Edited by meggie at 23:19, 2009-02-14

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I have to tell you though Ruff that I'm already liking this forum more than the old one.  I could never post at work because it took much too long for the page to load, and it was difficult even reading for the same reason. 

I spend most of my time at work so not being able to come here during the day was a bit of a drag.  Many evenings when I get home, I'm just too tired to be online. 

I like the chatbox on the side and I think the map of visitors is kinda cool. 

Just my 2 cents! (that's Canadian, so take it for what it's worth!)


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My siggy pic worked Ruffles!! I'm not sure why you'd be having problems with it.. Thats odd!!

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So sorry for not being clear but thanks for the question.  I am definitely not an expert on this but here is how I understand it:

A full sized photographic file contains an encyclopedic amount of digital info to get it posted.  The MegaBytes of info can take a boat load of time to down load but, due to our passionate need for instant gratification, we don't want to wait forever and ever to load our webpages, banners, logos or avatars.  There are various methods of squashing photos into smaller sized files to make this happen.  When you start squashing and compressing, some features may be sacrificed.  When you work with graphics, you can choose the file type you want to use, depending on the features you want to keep versus those you are willing to sacrifice. 

The JPEG file is a most common file used on the web for photographs.  A JPEG can give  you a decent range of colors but it must fill up the space with colored pixels.  So the photo space needs to know how many pixels width x height and then gives you your square or rectangular  image.  In our digital monitors, that's the space which is used for the picture.  If you want an image with a transparent background, a JPEG is not the choice to use.  It can't do that.  It must fill the whole space in with pixels of some color.  Also, a JPEG does not animate.  You only get one flat image with a JPEG and that's it.  JPEGS do provide decent color reproductions of our photos which we all love to share so very much.

A GIF is also another method for shrinking images.  GIFs have a more limited range of colors than JPEGS so are not typically used for photo posting.  You can tell a GIF to keep a transparent background so the GIF will not fill in the square/rectangular background with an opaque layer of colored pixels. When all you want showing is a round ball, that is all you see, because the square background can remain transparent.  Also, a GIF can be animated.  It lets you see a sequence or series of images that display motion (like a flip pad) so the ball will bounce, fireworks explode or glitter sparkles.  Most logos and small simple images are GIFS.  An animated image is typically a GIF. 

I miss being able to play with the graphics.  That is a lot of fun for me.  Everytime there is a birthday, I'm trying to figure out something that is different from what's been done before.  Sometimes it came out better than others.  This doesn't seem to be possible here.

This site has some pluses which we didn't have before.  Video file types can be posted and we have a chat room.  Loading on work computers more easily is a real plus, especially when you consider, employers don't like upgrading their systems anymore than absolutely necessary due to costs.  We can evaluate things as we go, make lists, take our time and see how it all feels.    There's no rush to judgement. 




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Uh.... yup, Ruff is back ;) :D

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Ruff, would a .png do the trick? I know those maintain transparency, but I've never tried animated graphics for anything.

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Show offs! ;D

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PNGs handle transparency but take up a huge amount of space.  They should be saved for places where this is ok.  Gifs and Jpegs are both files that can be squashed and compressed.

I haven't created animated graphics either but do enjoy them, especially when they are 'free'.  Those I will save for our birthday specials. "  Well.......I was.


-- Edited by ruffles at 19:49, 2009-02-16

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Could you load them to a third party site like photobucket so when you put them on the board, they don't actually take up any space? I know that the signature images work that way, but I haven't tried much else yet on this board.

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All very interesting but can anyone tell me... Why is that guy rubbing his boob? **smerk**

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Where's the emoticon for "falling over laughing"?  Lib, really, leave the medical stuff at work!  biggrin

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FormerLurkerLibby wrote:

All very interesting but can anyone tell me... Why is that guy rubbing his boob? **smerk**




LMAO!! I don't know, cause I would do it for him ...playing!!  I think he is putting something in his Jacket pocket.. best guess anyway!!  He's so cute aww I wish he was going for my digits..



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