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multimediocrity
08-18-2009, 11:53 PM
I would like to know people's opinions about animated gif avatars.

Many people, especially those who are particularly computer-savvy, make animated gifs for their avatars. Are they cool? Annoying? Good if tasteful, bad if not?

What's your opinion?
Stephen Philbin
08-19-2009, 06:50 AM
I generally dislike them, but there are a few that I've liked. However, they all get old eventually. I'm not particulairly keen on the GIF format regardless of whether or not they are animated anyway. The all-or-nothing approach to opacity/transparency makes the feature almost completely useless, and loading animated GIFs from a server that's under heavy load makes them ugly and annoying.

That's just my opinion, though. You'll no doubt find plenty of people that think that the GIF format is better than sex.
multimediocrity
08-21-2009, 05:00 PM
I actually think the simpler, the better. Animations are usually extra flare that detracts from the quality of the icon itself.
scragar
08-21-2009, 05:09 PM
I have seen a few animated avatars that were subtle enough to actually be really really cool, I think someone on here once had an avatar of a duck where the eyes would flash, I really liked that one.
multimediocrity
08-21-2009, 05:19 PM
I'm not saying they're all bad, but subtlety and tastefulness is important.
NogDog
08-21-2009, 07:47 PM
They suck. Only a complete idiot would use one. Unless it's mine, which is so cool that it's the exception that proves the rule.
andr105
08-26-2009, 09:00 AM
No, I'm not interested in such trifles.Just don't have much time for it
Sunny G
08-29-2009, 12:43 AM
I have seen a few animated avatars that were subtle enough to actually be really really cool, I think someone on here once had an avatar of a duck where the eyes would flash, I really liked that one.Thank you, thank you.
scragar
08-29-2009, 10:01 AM
Thank you, thank you.

You still on 666? I thought you would have posted somewhere else before now.
NogDog
08-29-2009, 03:03 PM
You still on 666? I thought you would have posted somewhere else before now.

Nope. As documented elsewhere in the Coffee Lounge, for whatever reason, Sunny G has decided that keeping his* post count at 666 is more important to him than actually contributing to the community in any of the "real" sub-forums. I think the admins should include Coffee Lounge posts in the post totals -- at least for a few weeks -- just to really p1$$ him off. :cool:

____________
* Sorry, I can't recall off the top of my head if you are male or female, so if the latter, just do a mental search/replace on my pronouns. :confused:
Stephen Philbin
08-31-2009, 01:10 PM
I had a look again, but I still couldn't find the option to bump his post count to 667. I know it can be done, because I've dropped my post count a few times a few years ago.
JPnyc
08-31-2009, 06:07 PM
I find them annoying/distracting, and in the case of older computers, they take up unnecessary resource. Of course you can turn them off in most browsers...
GrizzlyTiger
09-05-2009, 12:53 PM
Depending on what the image is i general like them.Though some can really distract my attention and such p me off.
Seawitch
09-06-2009, 08:31 AM
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a115/Seawitch_/friends/seawitch-animation.gif

I think they are usually like a mirror pendant in a car....a distraction!
That said they are still a case of what you do and how you do it.
One place I do have a large animated gif for an avatar is on an aircraft forum I'm with.
If you don't have one there:rolleyes: you'll be left behind! I'm called Seawitch there too and above is my avatar for that place alone..
Seawitch
09-06-2009, 11:57 AM
Meanwhile I wonder how long I can put up with the lightning flash........:p
opifex
09-06-2009, 03:33 PM
gifs aren't all that bad if they are tasteful AND optimized!
multimediocrity
09-08-2009, 11:57 PM
Tasteful and subtle.
Stephen Philbin
09-10-2009, 03:01 PM
Tasteful and kept offline. ;)
multimediocrity
09-10-2009, 03:36 PM
I should make an avatar in Flash... which makes noise... and never stops animating based on math formulas I provide... and pops-up or gets larger when you mouse over it.
opifex
09-12-2009, 12:13 PM
@Multimediocrity... that would be absolutely sinister... if tastefully done
democidist
09-13-2009, 04:29 PM
I accually saw an animated jpg before, it freaked me out 'cause I didn't know that was possible...
Stephen Philbin
09-14-2009, 04:51 AM
You sure it actually was a JPEG and not just a GIF with a .jpg file extension?
scragar
09-14-2009, 04:54 AM
I accually saw an animated jpg before, it freaked me out 'cause I didn't know that was possible...

That's sort of because it's not.
multimediocrity
10-05-2009, 01:18 AM
Which ones are your favorite?
6StringGeek
10-07-2009, 08:53 AM
I think they're fine, unless they're giving me a seizure.
multimediocrity
10-25-2009, 12:54 AM
Where can I find a collection of annoying gifs?
scragar
10-28-2009, 12:01 AM
Where can I find a collection of annoying gifs?

Geocities is dead now, or I'd point you in their direction.
multimediocrity
10-30-2009, 11:23 PM
Ha ha ha.... lots of people are saying that Geocities had a bad design. What was it?
Sunny G
11-09-2009, 04:39 PM
...Geocities had a bad design. What was it?Geocities was a free web host. The only cost of using their services was your soul, and advertising they'd force upon your viewers by use of frames. Because it was free, sites on geocities were setup by folks with a limited budget, and little design experience. As a result, they often used blinding color schemes and crappy graphics. You can't blame them, it was difficult to upload stuff 'cause you had to use geocitie's online interface and not ftp.
jamesbcox1980
11-09-2009, 05:09 PM
Insignificant. Not worth pondering.
PunkRockMonkey
11-18-2009, 02:26 PM
I don't mind the subtle ones. The blinky ones that induce seizures, however, I could live without. (Sorry, Seawtich!)

I also think that there's a time & a place for animated gifs. If you find yourself on /b or in a LOLcats forum, then by all means, animate until you're blue in the face.

In a forum for coders, though? Probably not so much. You can get away with it, but as I said, subltety is the key.

How's that for $0.02?
davidthompson
11-27-2009, 01:33 PM
i tried making myself once.
but i checked out that you can not design a animated avtar of your own.
criterion9
11-27-2009, 07:00 PM
i tried making myself once.
but i checked out that you can not design a animated avtar of your own.

Then how does everyone else get one? Is there an animated avatar police that prevents you from creating your own, or is it that you do not know how?
opifex
11-27-2009, 07:48 PM
Be nice, criterion9! He just hasn't mastered Smoke and Mirrors 301 or learned the rubber chicken sacrifice ritual to appease the animated gif gods.

Blessed be those who wallow through the quagmire of Window$ tainted with a mystical feather and multicolored hot-air balloon, for they too are offered the freedom of FOSS to expand their horizons and break the shackles of their shame. Amen. ;)


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