Hello ! Can anyone explain to me please,How do I get one of those icons to go with my name?,some have cats others have animated cartoons one even has a dragon that breathes fire!!!!

Pyxybel,

Go into "My Home".

In the "Main Configuration" section, opposite "Personal information, e-mail, password, etc", click "Edit"

In the window for "Your picture", enter the URL of the picture you want to use.

The picture shouldn't exceed 80 x 80 pixels, and it's got to be on the web, not on your hard disk. We are strongly advised to put the picture on our own website (if we have one), or in the FTP space allotted to us by our Internet Service Provider, and not to link with other people's sites: if we link directly with another site, we are "stealing bandwidth".

Hello Tom ! Thanks for that ......a bit to techy for my old brain,think I'll leave it blank ......still it was worth a try
I even managed to mess up putting a quote in my post area

pyxybel, I used to do tech support and am good at putting computer lingo in 'plain english', so let me see if I can help.

Sit at your computer, with no programs open. What you are looking at is called your desktop. Right-click on your desktop (using your right mouse button) and a menu will show up- scroll to "new" and a new menu will appear to the side, scroll to "folder" and left-click to choose this option. The folder will appear, and the words "New Folder" will be typed under it and will be highlighted. On your keyboard, type Avatars and hit the enter key. The folder is now named Avatars.

Now, get on the internet and go to a search engine website, such as Yahoo, and in the search box type avatar or free+avatar or avatar+picture. (those little images are called avatars). You should get a lot of results.

Go through them and anytime you see a picture that you like, that you would like to use, right-click on the picture- a menu will appear, scroll to "save picture as" and left-click to choose it. Now a box will show up, which is asking you where you want to save the picture on your computer. At the very top of this box is a small, long box with an arrow in it- left-click on this box, scroll to Desktop and left-click to select your desktop. Next, double-click with the left mouse button on the folder called Avatars, then hit the 'save' button.
Do this with as many pictures as you would like to save.

When you have collected a nice selection, on the internet go RanchoWeb and sign up for their free image hosting. Once you are signed up, click on the link on the left that says "upload images". A new page will load, which will be full of boxes with buttons next to them that say "browse". Click on the first "browse" button, and use the long box at the top with the arrow (just like when you saved) to go to your Desktop. Then double-click on the Avatar folder. All of your images names are displayed in this box- double-click on the first one. Do this with each image, in a new box line each time. Be sure to uncheck the little box on the Ranchoweb page that says "give unique name" or they will re-name your image. When all the boxes are full, hit the button at the bottom that says "upload". RanchoWeb will then display a page showing you your images, and giving the URL (location on the internet) of where they are.

Decide which image you would like to use as your avatar- when tom mentioned pixels, he was talking about size. You see the size of the current images here, just use one that is that size. (about 1" square) It doesn't have to be *exact* but should be really close- otherwise it won't look right, or may not show up at all. Write the URL down of the image you want to use, as given to you by RanchoWeb.

Now, come here to the forum. When you first log in, the page you are taken to is called "My Home". Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will see a section labeled "Main Configuration", with three sections in it. The very first one says "Personal information, email, password, etc." and way to the right of that is a pencil with the word "Edit" underneath. Click on the word "Edit".

On this page, scroll down to the bottom- there is a box labeled "Your Picture (Entire URL - Picture size is 80x80 max pixels, may be smaller) (.gif, .jpg, .png accepted)". In that box, type in the complete URL of your image at ranchoweb- it will look like this: http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/magickal/28.jpg. That is what mine is, so yours will have your ranchoweb username where mine says magickal, and your image name will be where mine says 28.jpg.

Now click the button marked "submit" at the bottom. It usually takes about 5 minutes to show up.

I know this may seem really lengthy and time-consuming, but it really isn't. The thing that takes the most time is finding a picture you like, and if you're lucky enough to find one right away, then this entire set-up will take you about 10 minutes.

You may want to save these directions for ease in using them when the time comes: what you can do is put your mouse at the beginning of the directions and press down on your left mouse button. Don't let go, and pull down- the words will start to be highlighted. Keep pulling down until you get to the end of the directions, then let go of the button. Now, use your right mouse button and right-click directly on the highlighted text- it doesn't matter exactly where, just so long as where you are clicking is colored. A menu will pop up, scroll to "copy" and select it with your left mouse button.
Hit your "Start" button on the lower-left side of your screen, then choose "Programs", then "Accessories", then "Notepad" and left-click to choose Notepad. In the new notepad, use your left mouse button to click on the word "Edit" at the top, scroll to the word "Paste" and left-click on it. All the text should appear. If not, try again. Then left click on the word "File" at the top, scroll down and left-click on "Save". Ye old box will show up asking where you want it- it's easiest to find if you put it on your Desktop, and name it Directions.

I can't wait to see your avatar! If you have any problems, please send me a PM (private message) by clicking on my name, then clicking the link "Send a Private Message".

ShadowHippie

Thanks so much Shadowhippie. No one is more of a klutz than I in tech matters. This was beautifully clear and Pyxybel if I can do it , anyone can.
I am just waiting to see if my pic comes up
If it does not, it is surely not the fault of Shadow!!
Yay!! Thanks so much!!

You're very welcome Ren
Figure I should put my years in a cube to some use

SH

SH, I'm with ren, very well written .. sounds like you've worked on a help desk.

pity aunty ren couldn't follow the directions properly, looks like she hit a wrong button along the way, and ended up taking a picture of herself with her new toy, lol

I printed the thread and have put it in a sealed mayonnaise jar for safekeeping along with Telly's! Thank you shadow for adding to TW's earlier explanation.

I'm going to try and test mine out, I'm not sure if I did it right. Hmm, guess I did

I finally figured it out! Moo CAN be taught! I couldn't believe how easy it was after taking so long to decide that I could do it. (I am VERY computer challenged.)

I feel real bad I must be your first failure SHADOW,it is too much for me,I got the folder up and thats all ........so will wait until my youngest son comes over at the weekend and i will ask him to do it .Thank you so much

Roobarb, it is alot easier than it sounds. You'll see what I mean in that "eureka" moment when you get it. I read and re-read the posts on how to do it, and was still confused, although I had a better idea of how to do it. Finally I decided to just play around with it until I figured it out. It took a few failed attempts then all of a sudden it came to me.

looks like my first attempt was a failure
will keep trying 'til I get it
Thanks to everyone especially Shadow

yipeee

Nice one, Roobarb.

Thanks Tom nearest to cygnus olor that i could get[so far ] people are so kind helping out

Great pic, Roobarb!

For anyone who had difficulty with my directions: can you tell me where you got hung up? That way I can explain things better in the future, and edit this thread for those who are having problems with this.

SH

Oh dear, I thought I'd added a pic from my hard drive (I can see it!) - perhaps everyone else just gets the horrible little red X in a box????

A red X is indeed all I see....

Can you see it now?

Yep!

Me Too!

Proof! I can see clearly now! Is that you I see at the controls?

I can see it Planely