Unofficial Tex Murphy

I need some kind sole to please explain to me (in detail) just how to get those beautiful pictures/Avatars that you guys have. I really don't understand about URL's or how to upload or download an image to a URL. I do know how to put an Avatar in the Author column to the left of the Message Column , but I have no idea how to place one in the Message column . Could one of you fine artists please help me out here

Thank so much!
Cindy

Do you mean images *under* the text of someones post?
That would be a Signature. Just like if you write a letter, you always sign them with your name. And a signature is always at the end of your posts in a similar way and can be anything. My signature is a bit of text with a lovely Tex Murphy quote

Did you have anything in mind that you'd like for the image? I'm sure I or someone else could make something.

Then you can save the image to your computer (right-click and select save. This is the same as downloading as you're taking something off the internet) and

1) Make an account at http://www.photobucket.com (should be instructions as you go along). This is a free service that gives you a little bit of space on the internet to put your images in.
2) Upload it there (upload simply means to put it on the internet, there should be instructions on the website once you enter but if you have any problems just ask)
2) Once you've uploaded it, you'll be given the text URL which is basically a fancy way of saying "the address of a website" e.g. http://www.somewebsite.com/mypic.jpg
If there's one that's surrounded by [img] tags then just copy that one for use in the next step.
3) Click "Profile" on this forum. Go to "Profile Information" and in the box for "Signature" link to your signature image like this:
(replace the fake address with the actual address given to you on Photobucket.)


As a sidenote the ol' [img] blah tag is what you also use if you want to plonk images inside your post too. Such as if you want to show off your fantastic screenshots of Tex falling off a chair then you would use that but you can use the handy little "Img" button anyway whilst posting (under the Subject box). Click the button once and it'll plonk in the starter [img] tag. Paste your address. Then click the button one last time to close the funky [img] tag

If you've got any questions, please ask.

Thank you, Sai!!!!

You have explained it to my complete understanding Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to sit down and design a signature - somewhat as nice as others on this message board have done. Well, maybe almost as nice!

Thanks again for the great info,
Cindy

You're very welcome Glad to be of help.
My instructions were just for actually getting an image onto the internet and plonking it on here, however. As to the creation of the image, if you need any help with that then feel free to ask. I guess you may already know about all that though, but if you haven't got an image editing program then there are free ones like The Gimp ( http://www.gimp.org/ ) that I often see reccomended.
Good luck