Hi all!  Daniel has been really busy over the last week making some MAJOR improvements to the most important part of the site, the interface you use to manage your images.  The new setup is easier to read & understand.  More importantly we finally were able to add in a feature you've all been asking for since early on... you can now automatically make any image in your portfolio your avatar!  We also left the ability to upload a different image as your avatar if you don't want to give up an image slot.  While doing all of this Daniel find time for a couple of other minor tweaks.  We know that sometimes folks find navigating things here a little confusing, so I'm going to do an illustrated step-by step on the changes & how to navigate them.  (If you don't need the directions, scroll down to the BOLD paragraph for updates on what's coming next!  And the very last paragraph is important too!)

First off (we know this's is too many clicks to get to your image manager, we're working on that), to access the new image manager:

In the main site menu click on "MyAccount"


Then "Manage Portfolio"


Then "Images" in the new sub-menu


The old image manager looked like this, with confusing & useless links, not enough info on the image, and no clear way to edit it:


Now it looks like this, with all the info right there, easy to understand buttons, AND the "Make Avatar" button plainly visible:


If you have a lot of images you don't have to just scroll thru the list, you can sort by gallery name, upload date (newest or oldest first) or filter down to just one gallery.  Sort by upload date works even if you don't have separate galleries, just your default.

Clicking "Set as avatar" automatically makes that image your avatar.  If the image you choose isn't Front Page Safe then a pop-up will remind you & ask if you're sure.  The system will then take you to the Avatar Manager:


The large icon is what appears on your profile & forum posts.  The smaller icon appears (for instance) on the front page by casting calls, and in the "activity stream" and "friends' activity" on the front page & in your profile that's similar to your Facebook wall.  You can crop & adjust the SMALL icon so if, for instance, your avatar is a topless nude but with a great face shot you can make the tiny icon JUST the face so it is front page safe even if your main avatar isn't.  This's exactly like the setting on Facebook for small vs large image.  Note that if you used an image that's NOT front page safe & you try to change the setting here you will get a warning message.

You don't HAVE to do anything on this page, once you click that button on your image your avatar changes.  This is only if you want to adjust it, it's optional.  Notice there is a link to go immediately back to the Image Manager as well as to Profile Settings, which leads to our next feature.
While some sites have ways to "cheat" and make an image that's not in your portfolio your avatar, we made it a feature.  From the "MyAccount" menu, click on the "Settings & Info" button to get to your profile settings:


Then in the sub-menu click "Avatar":


That'll take you to the Avatar Manager:


Then you just use the "Browse" button to select & upload any image on your hard drive, rather than using one in your portfolio.  So two stones with which to kill one bird, use an image in your portfolio OR upload something else.    Easy, and more options.

Next up on Daniel's agenda (he's working on it as I type) is streamlining & cleaning up the Gallery Manager to make it easier to use, remove overlap with the Image Manager, and make all of these things take less clicks to get to, aka "easier to find".  We want it ALL streamlined & less complicated.  That'll be done shortly.  If you have any specific feedback on changes in the Gallery, Avatar, or Image Managers that you'd like to see we need to know!  Post it here!

While Daniel was working on this, Brooks posted a thread in our "Suggestion Box" forum.
He pointed out that when you hit the "Log In/Register" link on the main page (if you were logged out, obviously) that the actual box to log in popped up on the far left, even tho the link was on the right.  So Daniel flip-flopped it to (logically) put the log-in on the right where it belongs:


So that's a little less mousework for you all.  In that same thread, Brooks identified a long time bug we could NOT fix with out old forum software.  Images over 650 pixels wide linked (using [ img ] tags) didn't break our forums or cause the image to be rejected, as happens on some sites, but the entire image wouldn't display.  Daniel adjusted this so now a large image (like some I've posted in this thread) shrinks to fit BUT will open at full size when you click on it!  So you can post what you like without messing up the forums OR your images!

We mention this to point out that we really DO listen to & value your input and suggestions.  We strive to fix bugs as fast as possible, and we implement your suggestions whenever we can, even when we're working on other projects.  We can't do EVERYTHING that fast (some things take much more time!) but we do the best we can.  So PLEASE, talk to us!  Use the Suggestion Box, or the "Site Related" forum, tell us about bugs, make suggestions about what we should fix and we WILL listen.  This is the COMMUNITY'S site!