DISboard Signature Guidelines
1. Maximum of 3 images allowed
A User may have a maximum of
THREE Images in their signature. An image consists of any photo, clipart, or countdown. DISboard Smilies do not count toward images. Also Official DIS Sponsor logos and Official WISH Clipart images do NOT count toward the 3-image limit.
Note that if you have created a 'sparkly' signature, this counts as one of your images. It is not 'TEXT', it is an image. If you link to a smilie at some site other than the DISboard's standard Smilies, that smilie is a clipart and counts as one of your 3-images allowed.
2. Maximum Image Dimension is 550 x 200
No single Image may exceed 550 pixels in width nor 200 pixels in height. You can get information about your image's size from your photo editing software, or by right-clicking on the displayed image and selecting properties. This example is 550x200 pixels in size:
Note: The 550 width is to allow mostly for Countdowns which are longer than they are tall, but you may also use photos to that same dimension if desired.
Generally photos originally taken in a 3:2 format, such as a photo 4" x 6", must be resized to meet the 200 pixel maximum height. Such a photo taken in landscape mode can be resized to 300x200 pixels. A 4" x 6" photo taken in Portrait mode would need to be resized to 133x200 pixels. Actual samples are shown below.
. . . .
Note: Your images MUST be resized before you upload them to your hosting site. Photos can be resized by using a resize feature in your photo editing software. If you are using Windows, your computer also has a program called PAINT (Found under your Accessories Group) which can be used to resize a photo using the photo's attributes and adjusting the Stretch percentages.
3. Maximum Total Width of 550
If placing images side by side, their combined width may not exceed 550 pixels. Note in the sample above, the two side by side photos are no wider than the single 550 width photo.
4. Maximum Total Filesize of 50KB
The total
cumulative filesize of all images together may not exceed 50KB (51,200 bytes). You can get the filesize several ways such as looking at the listing on your computer using MyComputer or Explore, using your photo editing software to check filesize, or by right-clicking on the displayed photo or image (such as clipart or countdown) and selecting properties. If you right-click on the above photos and check their properties, you'll see them as follows:
Photo #1: Dimension is 550x200, Filesize (Size) is 47475 bytes.
Photo #2: Dimension is 300x200, Filesize is 24212 bytes.
Photo #3: Dimension is 133x200, Filesize is 19776 bytes.
Note, in this example, when added together all three photos would exceed the 51,200 byte limit. Photo #1 could be used all by itself, or photos #2 and #3 could be used together, but all three could not be used at the same time.
Note: Filesize can be decreased by changing the resolution of the image. To change resolution requires special features which can be found in many (but not all) photo editing software.
Don't forget, if you also have any countdowns or clipart, sparkly signatures, etc., you must include their filesize toward the 50KB total limit. If you have any Animated Images in your signature they can have a large filesize.
The only exception is that DISboard Sponsor logos and Official WISH clipart images do not count toward the 50KB limit.
5. Maximum of 12 lines in your Signature
Your DISboard signature may have up to 12 lines for display. ALL of the following count as a line:
A. A line of Text
B. A blank line
C. An image of any kind on a line by itself (Photo, Clipart, Countdown, Smilie)
D. Any type of spacer such as a horizontal line.
6. A link in your signature
You may have a link in your signature provided it does not link to a commercial site of any kind, and the site linked to has a prominent return link back to the DISboard.
Links to Photos are allowed as long as only the photo itself is displayed.
Links to Countdown sites are allowed as long as it's the countdown being displayed.
Links to SPAM of any type is strictly prohibited and can result in loss of all posting privileges.
Why are these guidelines important?
Why are these requirements in place you might ask. Good Question.
In order to keep the DISboards user friendly for everyone, we have developed the signature guidelines shown. Not everyone has the same type of equipment from computers, to monitors, to browsers, or to type of internet connection. Observing Signature Guidelines helps everyone.
1. Maximum of 3 images. The DISboards are a discussion board, not a photo gallery. Users are interested in what you have to say. If you want them to see all your photos, direct them to your photo site. The maximum of 3 was set as a 'workable' number of images.
2. Maximum width of 550 pixels. While many users have monitors with high resolution, about half of all computer users are at a resolution of 800x600 pixels. The DIsboards are presented in FRAMES, with a user's posting and signature in the rightmost frame. When a post is displayed on a monitor, the browser will automatically wrap all text to fill the user's screen. However images cannot be wrapped.
If an image causes a user's post to exceed the frame size, another user's monitor can't display the entire image all at once, so the broswer will put scroll bars at the bottom of the screen, forcing the user to scroll left and right to see everything. This wouldn't be too bad if it was just the signature image, but the wider screen also puts the poster's text off screen, forcing the reader to scroll just to read the post. A large image in your signature could frustrate some users not to bother to even read your post.
3. Maximum height of 200 pixels. The purpose here is to limit the amount of 'vertical real estate' displayed on a user's screen. Remember it's all about your post and what you and others have to say. If your signature stretches too high vertically on a user's screen it forces them to have to scroll a lot more just to get to the next posting. Remember if someone is using a computer with 800x600 resolution, your 3 images at 200 pixels tall are taking up their entire screen.
4. Maximum of 50KB combined images filespace. Remember, when you post an image and someone else looks at your post, your image is downloaded to the other person's computer and stored on their hard drive. You are taking up space on their computer for your image. Most users have a set amount of disk space allocated to the internet. When that space fills up, their computer must delete old things to replace with the new things. This slows down their computer.
Also, while you may have high-speed internet, thousands of users still use Dial-up. By putting out large images you are actually slowing down their capability to access the boards and read posts. If someone has a dial-up connection at 56Kb it can take a long time to download all the images in everyone's posts. For example, a 56K modem will usually connect at about 50Kb. Note that this is kilobits, not kilobytes. There are 8 bits to a byte, so at 50Kb (50,000 bits/second) a user is downloading at about 6KB (6,000 bytes/second). If one of your images is 200KB (200,000 bytes) in size, it takes that user 33 seconds just to get your image. This slows up their use of the DISboards considerably. Keep in mind that an image such as one in jpeg format has already been compressed, so even with someone using a dial-up accelerator, the photos still take a longer time.
5. Maximum of 12 lines is also to control the 'vertical real estate' of your signature as it displays on the user's computer
6. Links are board policy and are to keep this as YOUR discussion board and not someone else's SALES board.
