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Feature #1625

closed

Modify Default Avatar and Assignment Process

Added by scott voth almost 13 years ago. Updated almost 9 years ago.

Status:
Resolved
Priority name:
Normal
Assignee:
Category name:
BuddyPress (misc)
Target version:
Start date:
2012-02-08
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:
Deployment actions:

Description

When pages contain links to members, and many have default avatars, our display looks bad. Can we change the default avatar so that is a little less stark? Ideally, can we set up 4 or 5 default avatars, and assign them randomly to members who haven't chosen an avatar. The avatars should be very neutral, but more attractive, and less jarring, when displayed on a page.


Files

defaultAvatars.JPG (111 KB) defaultAvatars.JPG scott voth, 2012-02-08 09:35 PM
Actions #1

Updated by Matt Gold almost 13 years ago

  • Status changed from New to Assigned
  • Assignee set to Chris Stein

Thanks, Scott. Can you point us to a page where you see this happening?

Actions #2

Updated by Matt Gold almost 13 years ago

I remember that our choice of default avatar was affected by gravatar -- maybe in relation to this ticket ? Can't find the ticket I'm looking for....

Actions #3

Updated by scott voth almost 13 years ago

I have attached a screenshot of the main page as an example.

Actions #4

Updated by Matt Gold almost 13 years ago

Yeah -- good point and nice catch.

Actions #5

Updated by Boone Gorges almost 13 years ago

Gravatar offers the ability to show an auto-generated image for users who do not have locally uploaded avatars (or Gravatars). The image is generated based on a hash of the user's email address, which makes them unique and persistent on a per-user basis.

The problem we had with Gravatar in the past had to do with falling back on a local avatar. We had to disable it because it was causing issues with security policies on some GC lab computers. That's because we were sending a local address along with our Gravatar request that served as the fallback if no Gravatar was found, with the result that, on commons.gc.cuny.edu, gravatar.com was requesting a URL that was hosted on commons.gc.cuny.edu. This kind of cross-site embedding request is blocked for security reasons on GC lab computers. So, the blue default avatar is Gravatar's default fallback.

We could switch this out for one of Gravatar's auto-generated options. Check them out here: http://en.gravatar.com/site/implement/images/ (scroll down to the Default Image section - all but the Mystery Man are autogenerated based on email address).

Gravatar aside, I could probably also manage it locally, by choosing from among a number of preselected default avatars. That will take more work, and someone would need to provide these defaults. But it gives us more control.

Actions #6

Updated by Matt Gold almost 13 years ago

I like Gravatar's retro default images and think they'd be a big improvement on what we have now. That's my vote.

Actions #7

Updated by Chris Stein almost 13 years ago

I agree that some option which provides some variety in the default image would be better than what we have currently. In the short term we could do whichever option is simplest to implement.

In the longer term we can think about other options. One idea is to use the CUNY school logos. I know this would take more work though and we have a lot of stuff on the plate.

Actions #8

Updated by Boone Gorges about 9 years ago

  • Assignee changed from Chris Stein to Boone Gorges
  • Target version changed from Future release to 1.10

Switching for 'retro' is easy enough.

Actions #9

Updated by Boone Gorges almost 9 years ago

  • Status changed from Assigned to Resolved

I've made the change to 'retro' in https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac/commit/a88fea944e58820cea8fd24486180a7502da06a4. Ready for your viewing pleasure on cdev. Feel free to reopen if you want this change reverted, but let's open a new ticket to discuss anything more substantial (like Chris's interesting suggestion of using college logos).

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