[F] Changing way of hiding signatures

[Sligneris]

Well, when I browsed forums I often had a problem checking other users signatures, because they disappeared when I wanted to check their content.

Don't you think that slider like on minecraftforum would be better? Link redirects directly to the example of signature.

[Phantom]

I don't think it would be easy to implement that type of feature on a phpbb board (that forum uses a completely different forum software).

I'd prefer not having time wasted on that. If you display so much content in your signature, you're just inconveniencing everyone by cluttering the forums and/or making the forums take longer to load all that content. It's fortunate Unas implemented that signature "block", otherwise it would be VERY annoying to browse forum posts on a daily basis.


I'd rather Unas set an actual signature character/space limit in the phpbb admin panel than give users the option to scroll a member's signature

[Meph]

I don't think it would be easy to implement that type of feature on a phpbb board (that forum uses a completely different forum software).

A scroll bar is actually very easy to implement; it actually uses a bit less code than what we have now for our "press and hold to reveal" system. But I agree. We should be deterring people from having long signatures anyway.

[Unas]

Oh, it should be very easy to implement indeed, it's a matter of a few lines of CSS.
But I won't.

As Phantom said (we do agree sometimes ), signatures with lots of content are an inconvenience, and I intend to discourage their use, not encourage it. Because :

• Putting plenty of big pictures, like some people put in their sigs, slows down page loading. Browsing the forums when you've got a slow connection becomes painful because of those.
• This information takes space, and displaying it under EVERY post makes it take the focus from the post's contents. True, the size limit is here to fight that effect, but it's not enough : when you see a big picture being cut, it is still naturally distracting to the eye.

You see, the purpose of a signature is not to replace a Facebook wall where one just posts everything about his life. It's supposed to help making the user recognisable, much like the avatar.
The difference with the avatar is that a signature can also contain links, so a user can link to other elements that can define his online personnality for the rest of the community - being his own works, things that he supports or really likes, etc. It can be used as advertisement for a user's latest works, though it's not the initial purpose.

But, yeah, if I were to take any action, it would rather be the opposite - make signatures not expandable at all anymore.


Oh, and by the way, if you wish to see someone's signature full size, just look at their profile page, it should be displayed just fine.

[Meph]

But, yeah, if I were to take any action, it would rather be the opposite - make signatures not expandable at all anymore.

Hmm. Maybe we should start doing that. I think we should be more strict about long signatures.

[Sligneris]

Putting plenty of big pictures, like some people put in their sigs, slows down page loading. Browsing the forums when you've got a slow connection becomes painful because of those.

But, how that change anything? In current signature hiding system, hidden pictures load as well, don't they? At least, that was what it seems to me.

[Meph]

In current signature hiding system, hidden pictures load as well, don't they? At least, that was what it seems to me.

Yes, but we're saying that cropping signatures acts as a deterrent for people that try to do that.

[Evo]

Could the signature be shown completely (without clicking) in the profile? Some people have links or spoiler tags in their sigs and when you have to click to let the links be displayed then you can't click on the links. I'd like to be able to click on these at least in the profile.

[Unas]

Oh, I thought it already was the case. Well, scratch that then.
If it's not, I won't do it either.


As Meph said, our objective in this matter is to discourage people from using long signatures. Making them "convenient" is not the way to go...

Though I have to admit that in your particular case, it's fine (since you have a single banner, and only text below, it doesn't get too heavy to load), as a general rule I still want to avoid it.

[Sligneris]

Could the signature be shown completely (without clicking) in the profile? Some people have links or spoiler tags in their sigs and when you have to click to let the links be displayed then you can't click on the links. I'd like to be able to click on these at least in the profile.

...Well, you can do it already. >_>

[Phantom]

^Not with the system as it is...you can't reveal the whole signature block AND be able to click on links at the same time.

[Sligneris]

But, Unas already said what to do with it. You just go to the person's profile, where you can see whole signature and links in it.

[Unas]

Actually, I just checked, and I was only partly mistaken.

In fact, it depends on the forum template you're using.
If you're using the classic grey Avalon, then you can view the full signature on the profile page.
If you're using Meph's AAO6 theme, then the signature is cropped just the same as in real posts.

[Bad Player]

Avalon ftw

[kwando1313]

Actually, if there's an image on the cropped sig (which there probably is, since it's cropped), you can click and drag the picture to see the whole sig. Then, you can click on the links from there. >.<