Wirehead Studios

Let's just make this the signature discussion topic then, since continueing a closed topic is stupid.

And you know what we should do with HUGE-ASS signatures? ;]

Observe:

(http://www.tabun.nl/tmp/huge_ass_sigs.jpg)
Figure 1: Huge-Ass-Signatures

Now, Let's do some interesting math here:

84 pixels is the message (that is, a message in HUGE lettering - making it twice the size in height of the same message in normal type -  so keep that in mind).
285 pixels is the signature.

First, the difference: 201 pixels. The signature is TWO-HUNDRED-AND-ONE pixels higher than the actual message.
Then, the ratio: 1:3.39. The actual message fits almost THREE AND A HALF times in the signature.

I propose we put a stop to this around now, and limit signature height to, say, ~100 pixels or so? perhaps ~120. Anything including text should not exceed 150 pixels. Come to think of it, I consider my signature to be ridiculously high, actually. Anything over that means that all that scrolling you will do, will be mostly because 3/4ths of any page is signature...

Okay, so let's look at yours, Kruz:

(http://www.tabun.nl/tmp/huge_ass_sigs2.jpg)
Figure 2: Also Significantly Large Assed

153 vs 205 pixels. That makes your signature still a great deal larger than your (average) post. It is also quite bright and bold, and could easily convey the same message while being about 1/5th the size.

Here's some good baselines to work with:
My signature is 144 pixels, including text and graphics.
Tabun's signature is 175 pixels.
ConfusedUs's signature is 173 pixels.

I'm counting total area from the little dashed line to the bottom edge of the text box.  Really a signature should be no taller than what Tab's got, text and picture.  Here's a few more helpful guidelines:

A signature should tell us something about yourself, your likes, or your thoughts.
A signature should not be excessively visually distracting.  Remember the focus of a forum is on what people write.
A signature should not be a 500k flash animation that bogs down a website (we'll prune those without asking)
A signature should not be vulgar, crude, or involve language not approved for all audiences.
A signature should not be a political soap box or attack ad (we'll prune those without asking too).
A signature should not be an advertisement for a competing mod, product, or anything else that might really irk the forum admins.
Animations are generally a no-no.  Phoenix can have his animated because it's not excessively annoying and he's a Lord of the Arena.

We have nothing against signatures.  We like them, or we'd not permit them on the boards.  We just want to have a good balance so the actual meat isn't drowned by the sauce.

Just to get something cleared up before we use my sig as a means to set a maximum height: It's 136 pixels high at the tallest I can make it.. I don't know how it can appear as 175 on your setup, but that's certainly not desireable... Can you make me a screenshot, so I can try and fix it?

It should look like this, btw:

(http://www.tabun.nl/tmp/huge_ass_sigs3.jpg)


I agree with everything stated in Phoenix's post. We don't want to 'ban' sigs, because they liven up the boards, but let's keep it a sane undertaking.

I see what happened.  The spacing under the signature varies slightly in each page post.  I took my screenshot from this topic (http://forums.wireheadstudios.org/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=2640) and this is how it ended up:

I've reduced mine. Sorry for the trouble guys. Was testing it out at the time and seeing how it goes.

I limit myself to 150 pixels for my image. Then I also have 1 line of text under it, so whatever. If you don't like it, screw ya then... :)

Remove the spacing and it's perfect, Kruz.

Btw, I don't know what is causing that random extra spacing Pho, but I'll see if I can prevent it from happening :]

edit: Never mind, I see what's causing that. If the content of the avatar-box is taller than the post itself, the latter gets stretched. Since not everyone is seeing IP-addresses like we are, I don't think that happens as often for everyone else Pho ;]