*smiles*~Alicen I have spent some precious 7 hours of my life yesterday on a carnival ride with norton,hp and microsoft following conflicting advice,downloading,and general mayhem,all in the vain effort to get the husbands PC safe(Bad Husband,bad! lol)....This site is a breeze in comparison. Now I still have some minor tweaking to do and hope to have it all fixed sometime today.....either that or it's hammer time.  

900 by 400 pixels, or graphical color dots.

900 by 400 is slightly larger than the box in which we type in comments.

 Sagefever:  Sometimes I HATE my computer with all my life's blood.  I hate it hate it hate it.  I have been on a merry-go-round with the "experts" who leave me with the feeling -- no, the absolute intellectual knowledge -- that I am a pea-brained lame-brained twit.  I know what you mean about the hammer.  Grrrrrr. 

My satisfaction is the knowledge that before I had been given all that precious "advice" by my computer's maker (who shall remain nameless, because that's what it IS), they'd asked me if I would like to answer a survey, and, to their consternation I'm sure, I said, sweetly, "yes."  They wound up with a perfect "0" in satisfaction.  Then they had the true grit to ask me why.  I answered them.  They'll never ask me to fill out another survey!

ALICEN, couple of things:  What software are you using to shrink your image?  There should be a way to resize your image in the "edit" tab of your graphics software and then next to the "size" field there should be a "units" field where you can select pixels.

As for your "save changes" issue, you might be having a problem with cookies.  What page are you on when you're having that problem?

Alicen    I too was repeatedly asked to save my changes.  I thought it was a design "feature".   After saving try proceeding to view profile and see if your changes were saved.  I'm pretty sure that worked for me. 

Sage, I am sooooo sorry.  Microsoft is trying to put in its own safety software so it blocks some Norton stuff and Norton tries to block some Microsoft stuff.  You gotta get everything piled up just right, then tiptoe away slowly.  Tell Mr. Sage to get a cheap "porn 'n' virus" computer and use that for his online surfing.

ApolloDawn:  Truly, truly did I believe -- on one of my go-rounds -- that my avatar was smaller than 900 pixels by 400 pixels (guessing that pixels was what was meant).  Then it went through so many alterations (altercations???) that I now no longer know how many, if any, pixels there are in the thing.  All I know for sure is that it's geting so small on the page that one might need a magnifying glass to see it at all. 

Also, I know that I am so determined, even if frustrated, that I am not going to be stuck in that snowdrift for the rest of the summer! 

Thanks for your advice.  I need all the help I can get, as you can see.

ALICEN, if you're getting stuck, can you load the picture into your "my media" folder and post it in a comment here?  Someone can grab it and get it to the size you need.

I've had similar problems with the "saving" thing before. I never understood it and always thought it was my old XP.

I've never had a problem with resizing an image, though.

*Why Tom,whatever do you mean?* ROFLOL... 

TomW:  I have resized according to pixels; I have resized according to inches, and it seems as though I've resized my own brain in the process.  Not really.  I can still write, at any rate. 

When I'm attempting to save my changes, I'm right here on the good old Bakersfield blogger site -- the place where changes to blog site may be made.  Changes such as avatar.  Changes such as subject matter.  That's one of the reasons for my frustration.  I have added the new avatar, gone to the bottom of the page and clicked the "save changes" (or whatever) button, and then I'm told (at the top of the page that I need to click the save changes button at the bottom of the page or -- guess what? -- my changes won't be made!!!  Then I've taken the tack of clicking the change button repeatedly (after the green progress window is filled AGAIN). 

And to sys_mom, many's the time that I checked to see if my changes were made.  Each time I wound up with that hideous, hideous white-out blizzard that I am so tired of!  As I said in the blog entry, I am just really frustrated with it all, and I know it shows.  That's not pretty, either. 

TomW:  I'm going to try the "My Media" option.  Just don't be too scared when you see it.  It's scarier when it's the size I actually sketched it.  Of course, it will be smaller in the "My Media" option. 

Thanks.  (But maybe I should just stick with the snow!)

Robinislost:  maybe, just maybe, the problem is not with us.  Maybe, just maybe, the problem is with someone or something else.  Who that might be or what tht might be I can speculate about, but I ain't saying. 

Hi Alicen,

To change your avatar, click on "my settings" then on "about me. " Or just click on this link http://people.bakersfield.c...

From that page, browse your computer for the picture and then click the "save" button at the bottom of the page.

Let me know if that doesn't work. You can also email the picture you're trying to upload to Jason and we can get it straightened out.

Thanks!

It sounds to me as if there's a glitch with the site - I don't think you're doing anything wrong ALICEN.

Pixels are little squares that make up your image. If you want to see one, put a magnifying glass on your screen and you'll see a bunch of them. 

I wonder if you guys are having problems because you aren't using Firefox. You can also try Safari 3 which is a free download from the apple website. Both browsers are way better than Internet Explorer, and they're more secure. 

I do feel some of your pain with dealing with viruses, etc. and my suggestion to you is to buy a mac next time you get a computer. You'll be virus free, and you don't even need anti virus software as long as you don't go installing everything in sight. 

Alicen   after you select save, scroll to the top of the "page".  Is there a message in red text about something?  I was trying to change a link earlier and I had a typo.  It took me three times before I saw the message.  I have so many photos that the entire page is not always visible.  Therefore the save box and the message box are not visible together.

 sys_mom:  Unfortunately, there has always been a message in red text with respect to the new avatar.  I've always watched the green progress indicator, then gone to the top to see what it says.  I'm always hopeful that I won't get any of those horrid red messages, but .... well, I just have to keep trying. 

 TomW:  I've used several different software programs in an effort to shrink this sketch to a usable size.  I've even used WordPerfect XP, which actually works well in the actual shrinking; however, it INSISTS on adding ".wpd" at the end, even though I've saved it with a ".png."  And if I delete the ".wpd," then the document no longer exists long enough to add it to the Bakersfield blog.  I feel like I've stepped through the looking-glass.  I KNOW I've stepped through the looking-glass.  I've used my scanner.  I've used a couple of different photo "shop" software programs.  I've tried very hard to get this thing off the ground, and it's so far to no avail.  However, I'm not giving up --- yet. 

If you're scanning the image, you can shrink it with your scanner software to start. What program does it scan into?

With wordperfect, likely you are only inserting the picture into a document rather than manipulating or resizing the photo. 

ProgressivePete2:  Picture-It 7.0 or 9.0. 

ProgressivePete2:  Yes, with WordPerfect, I'm only inserting the pic into a document, although with the graphics software on WordPerfect, I can resize, make a comment, and make other revisions.  But what I can't do is copy it onto my profile here.  I've scanned it to a CD, tried to copy it here on the blog site from the CD, but nuthin' doin'.  I've almost gone bonkers.  Almost, you understand. 

I don't know if it's the case here, but some sites have both a pixel restriction AND a file size restriction, yet neglect to tell you about the later. So how big is the shrunken file? If too massive, it can be compressed with various image software to a more manageable file size.

Edit: I should mention that PNG files can get large at times. Saving it as a JPG with moderate compression should significantly reduce the file size without making the image quality too bad.

To anybody:  I've even put the thing on my desktop, but I can't copy it onto the Bak. site.  That's what I did with that dratted snowstorm, and that worked fine.  I had the shortcut on my desktop for that snow for a long time, but now I've at least hidden the shortcut. 

Justinian:  thank you for your advice; I believe I will send this "problem" sketch to Jason.  He probably needs such a diversion!  He probably doesn't have a thing to do except worry about my avatar. 

Can you post the image online somewhere that I could grab it? I have Photoshop on my computer (MacBook) and my computer also comes with a program called Preview that will resize the image and establish the format. If you can post the image somewhere, give me a link to the URL where you posted it.

Schwaine:  All the site says is that the image must be 900 by 400.  It doesn't even say what.  Obviously it can't be inches!!  (Even I know that one!)  And one of the requirements specified by the site itself is that the extension must be a ".png" or a "jpeg" and maybe one other, but I don't remember it at the moment.  ".png" extensions and "jpg" extensions aren't trouble; however, "jpeg" is somewhat more trouble -- converting.  It's obvious I haven't had a lot of experience at this; there are others who change avatars probably as often as outerwear.  Unfortunately I'm not one, and that's why all this bother. 

I appreciate everybody who has offered assistance.  Truly. 

HusbandMaterial:  I thank you and appreciate your offer of assistance.  The one thing I'm going to do right now, though, is take a break from snowstorms, etc., and just take a break.  When I return, I'm going to drop this problem in Justinian's hands so that he can drop it in Jason's hands so that Jason can drop it in somebody else's hands.  And one of these days I WILL have a new avatar.  I will.  Just watch.  Thank you again. 

Try emailing it to Husbandmaterial or myself. I have the latest version of photoshop and can fix it up for you. I don't know anything about Picture It. Is that a microsoft product? 

ProgressivePete2:  Yes, Picture It is Microsoft.  And, yes, it's old -- I don't use it much, obviously. 

JPG and JPEG are the same thing. Most image programs should give you a "Save As" option to convert it automatically into JPG and other standard image formats. If Picture-It doesn't have that option, download GIMP for Windows from www.gimp.org

GIMP is totally free. It has many features, but of interest to you would be the fact it can resize images and convert to different image formats. Once you've started it, choose File->Open and open your image. Then choose Image->Image Properties to bring up a dialog box that will show you the current image size (both pixels and the file size). If the pixel size is above 900x400 pixels, choose Image->Scale Image and enter 900 pixels for the width. Let the program calculate the height (it will scale it to keep the same width/height ratio) by clicking on the Height field but entering nothing. If the height is greater than 400, then enter 400 for the height and click the Width field to force it to calculate the appropriate width. To compress the image in JPEG format (and thus lower its file size), select File->Save As, then change the extension from png to jpg and click Save. A dialog box will pop up asking you what JPEG settings you want. The defaults should be fine so click OK.

 Schwaine:  It never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge is "out there."  When one "works" in a vacuum, as I do mostly, much of the useful technology swiftly flies over my head and is gone before I even knew about it.  The info you've imparted is very useful; I'm going to attempt to copy your comment so that I can refer to it in the future (near and, well, into the future).  I have to try this, you know, before I give up totally and rely on the site "handlers" themselves.  I do hate to do that -- give up.  I've been close, and I may yet.  We'll see.  And, of course, if the new avatar looks really, really bad, I suppose I'll have to go to something more harmless looking (boring, in other words).  Thanks!

Okay, Alicen.  You'll notice that your avatar has changed.  All I did was download the file as you emailed it to me onto my hard drive, then log into your account and upload it on the "edit about me" screen (browsing for it on my hard drive then scrolling down to the bottom of the screen to save settings--then when it reloaded, that was your new default image).  So I don't really know what the issues you were having were, b/c I didn't do anything to the image you sent me, resizing or anything, unless you did that first before you sent it.  At any rate, I'm glad so many folks chimed in to try to help.

 Dear Jason:  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your completely successful effort to get my new avatar in place.  Now, maybe it's not as pretty as the snow was, but I still have that snow picture and will be able to replace it as my "new" avatar when December rolls around.  I, too, appreciate all those who chimed in to help -- I had no idea there were so many willing "geeks" in the Bakersfield blog.  (Oh, the things I don't know!  -- it would fill a book or two.)

ALICEN, don't feel bad about what you don't know ... just take a look at my blog today!!!!

OFF THE SUBJECT..3-2-1...GOODBYE..HEALTH AND HAPPINESS TO ALL..LINGTAOWOO SIGNING OFF.....