Unify Avatars and User Photos

[MageLeif]

I'd like to suggest an option to unify avatars and user photos. Essentially, what this would do is eliminate user photos altogether, replacing every instance of a user's photo with their avatar. The user would have one picture identity: the avatar, rather than have two identities: the avatar and the user photo.

[Hennet]

i disagree, their 2 completely different things.

[airworks]

I'm not a customer, in fact I was going to ask this in the presales forum, but thought I'd jump in here with one of the many questions I was about to ask:

Unless I've overlooked it, there is an option to disable avatars, but no option to disable photos? I would prefer to disable photos instead and allow avatars and have the avatar used where the photo would be used. Another solution might be to have an option that allows you to upload your avatar as both your avatar and photo and vice versa.

I think a lot of people would prefer to have both a photo and avatar, so it wouldn't be a good idea to remove one entirely. But maybe there should be an option to disable photos and use avatars in place. Or when you upload an avatar, have a checkbox underneath that says "Use this same image as your photo" and vice versa when you upload a photo.

[TrixieTang]

I think both have a different purpose, but I feel that photos should only be shown on profiles and avatars should be shown everywhere else. The way that it's currently done with avatars only on posts and photos everywhere else is confusing and makes very little sense in my opinion.

[airworks]

I think both have a different purpose, but I feel that photos should only be shown on profiles and avatars should be shown everywhere else. The way that it's currently done with avatars only on posts and photos everywhere else is confusing and makes very little sense in my opinion.

That is another solution that I would agree with that. Not being familiar with IPB, I was viewing the gallery and clicked "use this picture as your avatar" however the image at the top left next to my name didn't change, I thought it was a bug until I posted a test topic in the test forum and realized the image at the top is my profile pic and avatars only show on posts.

[3DKiwi]

I agree with Kotonoha. The only place a user photo should used is when you are viewing a member's profile. Everywhere else it should be the avatar.

3DKiwi

[dfadmin]

+1 here

[MageLeif]

i disagree, their 2 completely different things.

Well, I'm only requesting an OPTION to do this - it wouldn't be standard. I understand they're completely different, but my forum really has no use for user photos, and therefore I'd like to be able to remove them.

I also agree with the placement of user photos and avatars.

[Jυra]

Personal photos even show in the chat add on. I don't even upload such a photo on 99.9% of forums I visit or register to. Neither do most people.

[Josh]

We've discussed this a few times internally, I kind of agree that merging them would probably be a better way to go. However, the current system has been in place for a long time, so I doubt we will do that. There are a number of problems, such as during upgrade, does the avatar or photo become the unified image? If we do change anything, the most likely change would be something like adding a checkbox to the photo page that says "Also use this as my avatar", or something like that.

[airworks]

We've discussed this a few times internally, I kind of agree that merging them would probably be a better way to go. However, the current system has been in place for a long time, so I doubt we will do that. There are a number of problems, such as during upgrade, does the avatar or photo become the unified image? If we do change anything, the most likely change would be something like adding a checkbox to the photo page that says "Also use this as my avatar", or something like that.

How about the suggestion above to only show the photo on the user profile and no where else? This way your not totally removing it, but still avoids a lot of confusion for some users. I think by default it should work this way, even with the checkbox added.

[TrixieTang]

We've discussed this a few times internally, I kind of agree that merging them would probably be a better way to go. However, the current system has been in place for a long time, so I doubt we will do that. There are a number of problems, such as during upgrade, does the avatar or photo become the unified image?

I can see some benefits for IP.Gallery users in completely getting rid of photos, because then there could be better photo integration with IP.Gallery, you could choose a Profile Photo gallery and set one as your photo on your profile. But that would be something that would only be available to those with IP.Gallery and it wouldn't help people who don't use IP.Gallery.

That's part of the reason why I keep suggesting that avatars be used everywhere except profiles, because there are people who'd still benefit from photos on profiles and who wouldn't benefit from any form of IP.Gallery photo integration. If it weren't for that fact I'd probably agree on merging them completely.

If we do change anything, the most likely change would be something like adding a checkbox to the photo page that says "Also use this as my avatar", or something like that.

A checkbox is not what most of us seem to want and it's not the solution to the problem, it keeps being suggested and a lot of people keep saying that that's not what they want.

The solution would be using avatars everywhere except profiles and using photos on the profile because that's what makes sense. The current using avatars on posts/PMs/announcements and photos on everything else makes very little sense and is just confusing, and adding a checkbox could potentially make things even more confusing.

[Ryan H.]

Fully agree with Kotonoha.

[Jυra]

If we do change anything, the most likely change would be something like adding a checkbox to the photo page that says "Also use this as my avatar", or something like that.

But then you'd have people who don't bother checking that box and along with not uploading a profile photo.

[Luke]

Technically speaking it would be easier to have an option to replace the avatar's with the personal photo's given that the personal photo is already used everywhere else. You'd loose the "avatar gallery" thing, but I've always found that quite annoying anyway.

[T3XT3]

I think both have a different purpose, but I feel that photos should only be shown on profiles and avatars should be shown everywhere else. The way that it's currently done with avatars only on posts and photos everywhere else is confusing and makes very little sense in my opinion.

Never understood this, too...

Why photos in the blogs? Quite confusing!

[Gérard de Lux]

I think both have a different purpose, but I feel that photos should only be shown on profiles and avatars should be shown everywhere else.

I agree; the present situation is a bit confusing.

[Bartosz Misiak]

I'd like to join the request. There are plenty of users with avatars on my forums and almost none of them has ever set a photo. I wouldn't care if it was only about the picture to the left on the user profile page, but it's also about friends functionality, where they would get those blank spots instead of avatars.

Or at least make sure it's possible to replace pictures with avatars thanks to the new 3.1 data hooks. :)

[madLyfe]

ya having diff ones is we todd did...

[Miss Moiraine]

A checkbox is not what most of us seem to want and it's not the solution to the problem, it keeps being suggested and a lot of people keep saying that that's not what they want.

The solution would be using avatars everywhere except profiles and using photos on the profile because that's what makes sense. The current using avatars on posts/PMs/announcements and photos on everything else makes very little sense and is just confusing, and adding a checkbox could potentially make things even more confusing.

I agree completely; I do not understand this strange aversion to regulating the profile pic to, you know, the profile page.

[Aggiefans.com]

Gonna agree here.... we just made the official switch yesterday (from vb) and its something we have already noticed that got a reaction from our community. Its more work for our users to understand so we told them to just use the same image in both places for now.

I do agree the best solution is to use the photo in only the profile and avatar everywhere else. There really is no good reason imo why the avatar is used in some places and the photo is used in others. Really needs to be one that is used almost everywhere and the other gets used in a few cases if there has to be 2 pictures.

[Commander Galaxy]

I also think that the avatar should be used everywhere, and the photo only in the profile. Acually, I'd rather users just have an avatar used everywhere, and just scratch the photo altogether.

[SuperBlob]

I agree with Kotonoha. The only place a user photo should used is when you are viewing a member's profile. Everywhere else it should be the avatar.

3DKiwi

I agree with this. When I first signed up here and picked an avatar out of the Avatar Gallery, I was really confused when the box at the top right of the screen didn't change at all, until I found out it was a personal photo field. Honestly, the current system just seems very overcomplicated to me, as if someone just closed their eyes and went, "Ok, this spot is going to use the avatar, this spot is going to use the profile picture, this spot..." It seems like it would make a lot more sense to, like the quote says, keep the photo restricted to the profile, and use the avatar everywhere else.

I can see some benefits for IP.Gallery users in completely getting rid of photos, because then there could be better photo integration with IP.Gallery, you could choose a Profile Photo gallery and set one as your photo on your profile. But that would be something that would only be available to those with IP.Gallery and it wouldn't help people who don't use IP.Gallery.

That's part of the reason why I keep suggesting that avatars be used everywhere except profiles, because there are people who'd still benefit from photos on profiles and who wouldn't benefit from any form of IP.Gallery photo integration. If it weren't for that fact I'd probably agree on merging them completely.

A checkbox is not what most of us seem to want and it's not the solution to the problem, it keeps being suggested and a lot of people keep saying that that's not what they want.

The solution would be using avatars everywhere except profiles and using photos on the profile because that's what makes sense. The current using avatars on posts/PMs/announcements and photos on everything else makes very little sense and is just confusing, and adding a checkbox could potentially make things even more confusing.

I agree with this too, especially the IP.Gallery integration part (although that's really a separate issue).

[bbcentral]

My users are only going to use Avatars when I switch from vB3.8. I guess I understand why some forums would want to have both avatars and photos, but it's just going to confuse my members.

All I want is an option to disable the User Photos, and use the Avatars in their place.

Maybe I'll just have to do template edits to change display avatars wherever user photos are displayed. It's a pain, but it's still easier than trying to explain to thousands of people why they have to upload 2 separate images.

Most of us can't recognize other members by their photos, only by their avatars. When I see a particular avatar, I know exactly who it belongs to, it's how we identify each other.
So having user photos on profile pages to show who we're friends with will only make life confusing.

[KittyCanuck]

I know this thread is a bit old, but I agree with most people posting in that it seems really random where photos vs avatars are used.

The place where members get to know each other best is in the forums. It's where you can see how/what other people think, and where friendships are born. In the forums, everyone is recognized by their avatar (which is, in fact, the entire point of an avatar - something you use to represent you when interacting with others on the site). Adding profile photos to the mix just confuses many people, since they mainly know and recognize each other by their avatar.

I second the idea of relegating the profile photo to the profile page, and leaving the avatar everywhere else. Or at least giving us the option of doing so on our boards.
That way, the people whose members like having a profile photo everywhere can do it, and those of us whose members who don't want to upload two things, or can't recognize each other by a superfluous secondary image that serves no purpose on our boards can keep avatars as, well, avatars.

Once I finish getting my IP Board set up, I'm making the appropriate template edits to display the avatar instead of the profile photo in the most relevant places (eg in the Members List, up at the top login box, etc.)