How To: Setup your Avatar

Here is a quick tutorial showing how to setup your avatar:

What is an avatar?

This is the image that appears beside each of your posts and on your profile page. It can reflect your personality and is your face to others on GardenStew.
(<-- you can see my avatar to the left)

Where do I find avatars

There are two ways,

1. Choose an avatar from a site offering free avatars.
There are numerous sites that offer free avatars / profile pictures for you to use on this site. Here are a few links:

- http://www.avatarmagic.com/avatars/Nature.html
- http://www.allavatars.com/avatars/showg ... hp?cat=507

or

2. Create a custom avatar from an image of your own.
Ok this is slightly trickier depending on your skill level but it allows you to upload any image you can get your hands on. Find an image you like and using a photo editing application resize the image to no greater then 128 x 128 pixels and a file size of no greater than 7 Kb.

You can also use http://www.shrinkpictures.com/create-avatar/ to create your avatar. Enter 128 or less in the "Set the Avatar Size" field when resizing.


Now that I have an avatar / profile picture how do I actually display it on the site?

If you have picked out an avatar on another site first download and save it to your computer. If you created an avatar yourself it will already sit in a folder on your computer so no need to download it.

Visit your Avatar page (you must be signed in to view this page). You will see a box and a button that says "Browse" (or "Choose File"). Click the button, then browse to and select the avatar image that you have downloaded or created. Once you have selected it your avatar should be uploaded and ready to go!


I am getting an error message when trying to save my new avatar. What's wrong

This happens when the avatar is too big or the file size is too large. All avatars uploaded to this site must have a height/width less than the maximum size of 128 x 128 pixels and have a file size of no greater than 7 Kb.


Can I change my avatar once it is uploaded?

Yes, following the steps mentioned above you can change your avatar as often as you want

 

Hi CG. When animated avatars are uploaded to the site they are resized to match the design. Unfortunately animation doesn't survive the resizing process. So to answer your question, animated avatars are not supported at present.