How to Select an Avatar

[admin]

What is an Avatar?

Have you noticed that when individuals submit a post, a small picture is displayed next to their name. Well...this is called an "avatar." Think of the avatar as your own personal symbol so that when others see that symbol, they will know it is you. You can use the avatar as an expression of your individuality, as an expression of your personality so to speak. You can change your avatar as often as you like, it is up to you. The process is EASY.

How can I obtain an Avatar?

It's easy. If you go to your "user cp,” - which stands for user control panel - in the left panel – click on edit avatar.

? BGF AVATARS

Black Greek Forum lists a total of 180 avatars. You may wish to create your own avatar since there is nothing to prevent someone else from using the same avatar (I’ll talk about this later). However if you choose to use the BGF avatars, simply select it from the list (fill in the small circle) – then click SAVE CHANGES at the bottom of the box. That’s all.

? CUSTOM AVATARS

It is highly recommended, that you create your own Avatar to maintain your unique identity. How you say? Note that Avatars have a size restriction of no more than 90 x 90 pixels and no more than 10000 bytes. You can use a search engine (Yahoo, Goolgle etc.) to search for millions of free images across the Iternet. Or your image may be a photo or graphic that you already have on your PC. Also, the image should be in a JPG or GIF format. Should your image not meet these size restrictions, you will need a graphics editor to re-size it. We recommend a free graphics editor: http://www.irfanview.com/.

Here’ s how to Re-size.

After you download irFanview, open your GIF or JPG file. At the top menu, click IMAGE – then scroll down to re-size/re-sample. Check the box that says “Preserve Aspect Ratio.” Where its states “set new size,” you’ll see some values associated with the current size of your image (height and width). In the box (height or width) with the largest value, type in the number 90 - then click OK. You’re done re-sizing. Then Save your image. Note that any image smaller than 90 x 90 pixels does not need re-sizing.

Now you need to Upload your image.

(1) Select "User CP" once you've logged into the forums.
(2) Select "Edit Avatar" from the Control Panel menu
(3) Select the "Use Custom Avatar" button
(4) Click the "browse" button to find the image your computer and upload it to the server.

That’s it!

[Jaguar]

Why are there no sorority or fraternity specific avatar to choose from? They are all general.

[admin]

Good question.

We decided not to include Greek-specific Avatars (coat of arms/shields) in our database for legal reasons - symbols which happen to be trademarked by the respective owners.

However, if you as an individual wish to make use of a custom Avatar related to your sorority/fraternity, the choice is yours to make.

Hope that answers your question.