Personalise your chat experience with a fancy graphical representation of your inner thoughts and feelings - or, you know, a fairy or flaming skull...
Our chat server allows you to pick an avatar, or create your own, by simply entering the url of any online image. Here are some of the avatars created for our discussion board and some simple instructions for hosting your own images.
Using your own image
Avatars need to be 80 x 80 pixels or smaller, so the first thing you need to do is to create the image you'd like to use. If you don't have an image editing software then check out our thread on free photoshop alternatives.
Once you've got your image (save it as a .gif or .jpg) then you just need to upload it somewhere on the web. A common choice is Flickr.
If you do choose Flickr, upload the image to the website then click to view it. Next click 'All Sizes' at the top of the image and scroll down to field called '2. Grab the photo's URL.' Copy this link and enter it into the 'Avatar' box when you login and hey presto! you've got a unique swanky avatar to use in chat.
Unlike Flickr, not all websites that allow you to upload your images will have this process. For instance, if you want to take an image from another website e.g. facebook then you can get the url by following this simple process:
1. Upload your sized image 2. Right click on the image 2. Select properties 3. Copy the url from the 'address' field and upload it into the avatar box when you login.
The use of Avatar as a term to describe an online representation of a user was first coined by Neal Stephenson in his novel 'Snow Crash'. It's well worth a read.
Other online image hosting is available from many different places, so if you need help with any just ask in chat or on the discussion boards.
Our avatars
To use any of these in chat just copy the link from underneath the image you like and then paste it into the 'Avatar URL' box when logging into chat.
Avatars
Personalise your chat experience with a fancy graphical representation of your inner thoughts and feelings - or, you know, a fairy or flaming skull...
Our chat server allows you to pick an avatar, or create your own, by simply entering the url of any online image. Here are some of the avatars created for our discussion board and some simple instructions for hosting your own images.
Using your own image
Avatars need to be 80 x 80 pixels or smaller, so the first thing you need to do is to create the image you'd like to use. If you don't have an image editing software then check out our thread on free photoshop alternatives.
Once you've got your image (save it as a .gif or .jpg) then you just need to upload it somewhere on the web. A common choice is Flickr.
If you do choose Flickr, upload the image to the website then click to view it. Next click 'All Sizes' at the top of the image and scroll down to field called '2. Grab the photo's URL.' Copy this link and enter it into the 'Avatar' box when you login and hey presto! you've got a unique swanky avatar to use in chat.
Unlike Flickr, not all websites that allow you to upload your images will have this process. For instance, if you want to take an image from another website e.g. facebook then you can get the url by following this simple process:
1. Upload your sized image
2. Right click on the image
2. Select properties
3. Copy the url from the 'address' field and upload it into the avatar box when you login.
Other online image hosting is available from many different places, so if you need help with any just ask in chat or on the discussion boards.
Our avatars
To use any of these in chat just copy the link from underneath the image you like and then paste it into the 'Avatar URL' box when logging into chat.
If you have any problems getting an avatar to work just log into chat and we'll be able to help you out.