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***relentlessflame*** · 2011-02-27, 22:56

So... the moral of this (overly-argued?) story is that if you try to upload a signature image that is larger than the signature limits permitted on this forum, the forum software will automatically convert/re-compress the file so that it falls within the acceptable boundaries, thereby preventing you from getting a nasty warning or infraction from the mods.

As long as you're aware of this limitation, it sounds like a good thing to me, other than the fact that the re-sampling looks pretty awful (so the workaround seems to be: upload a limit-respecting image to start with).

I'm struggling to think of a good reason why anyone should use PNG on a signature anyway. To get it within the required size limit, you'd probably have to do an indexed PNG, in which case you might as well use GIF. The objective is to optimize your signature to be as small as possible in terms of file size while still providing an acceptable level of quality. So if you're trying to use a PNG, you're probably doing it wrong, whether intentionally or not.

(In fact, why would you ever post a PNG here? If you're posting images, you should really use thumbnails, and they should be JPEGs. For large/HQ images, you should really use links so that it isn't loaded in-line (a number of people try to hide large images in spoiler tags, and that's a no-no). So I'm not sure if I can think of any practical use case for a PNG around here.)

Edit: I'm actually recanting my previous statement just a little bit. After years and years, I finally decided to post an avatar, and I made it a PNG-24, specifically to use the transparency effects. I probably could have just made it a plain white, but I prefer to have it sort blend into the background no matter what forum skin you're using (default or blue). The border is similarly at 25% opacity so it isn't a stark black, and isn't hard-coded to the background color. So... I just created my own use case for a PNG, at least for an avatar. I think it'd be pretty hard to do something similar for a signature unless it's really tiny, but the possibility is there. I still think just using PNG to get "lossless quality!" is a bit pointless, but I'll concede that there can be certain use cases where it's needed to achieve certain effects.

2011-02-27, 22:56	Link #36
*relentlessflame* 　 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2003 Age: 41	So... the moral of this (overly-argued?) story is that if you try to upload a signature image that is larger than the signature limits permitted on this forum, the forum software will automatically convert/re-compress the file so that it falls within the acceptable boundaries, thereby preventing you from getting a nasty warning or infraction from the mods. As long as you're aware of this limitation, it sounds like a good thing to me, other than the fact that the re-sampling looks pretty awful (so the workaround seems to be: upload a limit-respecting image to start with). I'm struggling to think of a good reason why anyone should use PNG on a signature anyway. To get it within the required size limit, you'd probably have to do an indexed PNG, in which case you might as well use GIF. The objective is to optimize your signature to be as small as possible in terms of file size while still providing an acceptable level of quality. So if you're trying to use a PNG, you're probably doing it wrong, whether intentionally or not. (In fact, why would you ever post a PNG here? If you're posting images, you should really use thumbnails, and they should be JPEGs. For large/HQ images, you should really use links so that it isn't loaded in-line (a number of people try to hide large images in spoiler tags, and that's a no-no). So I'm not sure if I can think of any practical use case for a PNG around here.) Edit: I'm actually recanting my previous statement just a little bit. After years and years, I finally decided to post an avatar, and I made it a PNG-24, specifically to use the transparency effects. I probably could have just made it a plain white, but I prefer to have it sort blend into the background no matter what forum skin you're using (default or blue). The border is similarly at 25% opacity so it isn't a stark black, and isn't hard-coded to the background color. So... I just created my own use case for a PNG, at least for an avatar. I think it'd be pretty hard to do something similar for a signature unless it's really tiny, but the possibility is there. I still think just using PNG to get "lossless quality!" is a bit pointless, but I'll concede that there can be certain use cases where it's needed to achieve certain effects. __________________ [...] Last edited by relentlessflame; 2011-03-19 at 21:46.