Avatar conundrum

[supersonic]

Hi everyone,

Any suggestions as to what is the best place for putting an avatar image to link to? Dropbox and Flickr don't work.

[cuttime]

Photobucket.

[BKK-OZ]

I use http://i.imgur.com because the price is right.

[supersonic]

I got it sorted with Photobucket. Thanks!!

[Shooshie]

I've been using Dropbox since Apple pulled the iDisk or whatever they ended up calling it. Anyway, Dropbox works great for icons, picture posting, or large file sharing.

Shoosh

[mikehalloran]

It's the only reason I still keep a MySpace account. No hassles to buy anything ever, much easier than trying to share photos from FaceBook.

I've not considered DropBox but might if MySpace gets weird(er).

[Shooshie]

It's the only reason I still keep a MySpace account. No hassles to buy anything ever, much easier than trying to share photos from FaceBook.

I've not considered DropBox but might if MySpace gets weird(er).

My son had to talk me into DropBox. I didn't want to fool with it. But I was amazed how easy it was to set up and use. When you open it, it's basically another folder in your Finder. It acts like a Finder folder — drag a file to it, and it moves the file unless you hold down the Option key to copy it. It's just there, has a lot of capacity, and posting anything is just a matter of copying the public URL, easily grabbed with contextual menus when control-clicking.

It also does a lot of advanced things that I've only touched on. My son has used it for collaborating on projects with me and things like that. I basically use the Public folder. Very nice, though.

Shoosh

[mikehalloran]

I hear you. I like DropBox for sharing files between my iMac, iPhone and iPad.

I bought a piece of used gear recently and the usb thumb drive was missing. I called the manufacturer to see if I could buy a new one. Tech support instead shared the latest and greatest version of the software via DropBox and it was quick and easy. I'm a fan.

I've not used it for sharing anything with the public–yet. Looks like I need to investigate that.

[philbrown]

I use Dropbox both for my public stuff like Avatars and dealing with clients sending large files back and forth. It works great- easier than iDisk did for me anyway. I have a Dropbox folder on my desktop with private subfolders shared with individual clients. We get notifications when the other party has uploaded or downloaded anything. It's all drag and drop. It's a really great help in my workflow. One caveat though: always Option-Drag files to Dropbox if you want to keep the original files in place.

[bayswater]

Why not put your avatar in your control panel here on the board?

[cuttime]

Why not put your avatar in your control panel here on the board?

I always thought that they had to be linked to a URL off site unless something has changed.

[bayswater]

Why not put your avatar in your control panel here on the board?

I always thought that they had to be linked to a URL off site unless something has changed.

There is no link showing for mine. There is a size restriction of 180 x 220 pixels.

[HectorOsborn]

Best thing to do is get your own hosting and host the files yourself. I don't trust these file hosts anymore.

[philbrown]

Best thing to do is get your own hosting and host the files yourself. I don't trust these file hosts anymore.

That costs money, or you need to maintain a server. Dropbox is free for (I think) up to 2 GB. The OP was asking about hosting avatars and such which certainly isn't sensitive material. I have 2 web sites and still use DB for its convenience. YMMV.

[bayswater]

That costs money, or you need to maintain a server.

It would make no sense if all you want is somewhere to put avatars and a few pictures. As for trust -- everything you put here is perused by google/bing/ bots.

But if you have other uses for file servers, and you already have a static IP address, there is no cost, and maintaining a simple server consists mostly of keeping it plugged in. Domain hosting with a full set of services with a large amount of space and bandwidth can be had annually for the cost of a no brainer plug-in.