Greetings tech fans, and welcome to the second installment of "How to..."

This time it's how to make and display a personal signature, and how to alter your avatar and profile.

OK. The easy bit first. Changing your profile and personal settings is easy. Just click on the Control Panel link on the main page, and then click Edit Profile.

Fill in whatever drivel you wish to have known about yourself and then "save changes".

Making a signature. You can make a signature out of virtually anything, images, word-art, designs of your own. They should be no more than 50 pixels high.

Try and save your signature as a transparent gif. this will help the image be displayed clearly, without a white background.

There is no space on the site for members to save images, so you will need to obtain a host server such as someone elses website. Basically you need a webaddress which specifically links with your picture.

When you want to display your signature, go into the edit profile page, and type the following in the box for your signature.

[ IMG ]http://www.myfriendswebsite.com/thepagewheremypictureis/the name of the image.gif[ /IMG ]

(I had to put gaps in here, just in case there happens to be a file called that somewhere in the world, you never know what you will end up with!!! So there shouldnt be any gaps from the start to the finish...)

This should when updated, display your image at the bottom of your posts.

Any problems contact netniV, the signature specialist!!!



Changing your avatar (the little pic under your name) is a simple process.
From the control panel click "edit options". At the bottom of the page, it says "Change avatar." Click on that, and take your pick! You have one free change of avatar when you register with the site, and further changes can be bought or earned on site, see the FAQ for further details!

If you are looking for space for your signatures pics, or any pics for that matter, try http://www.photoisland.com/ and get a free account there. It as Minxoid that originally recommended it on Dogbomb. When the pics are uploaded, just click "link for auction, etc" on PhotoIsland and use the link where needed.

with regards to changing your avatar- I would like to use one of my own and not one from the galleries. How would I do that?

first you need to have at least 100 posts under your name. Then it's roughly the same premise as changing you sig, type in the URL of the GIF you want (You need it on your own webspace) and it will be used. Remember you need 100 posts first.

Mark, I wouldnt reccommend photo island as a sig host, as it only holds your images for 30 days. Which is fine for an article or post, as they have a shorter shelflife, but you would have to keep updating it and uploading it for a signature.

Ah. I don't read the small print often. If you've got an ISP like AOL or Freeserve, they usually give space, so try uploading there.

OK. Well, I uploaded a picture to geocities (i have a site there). http://www.geocities.com/eenuiterstvoorbeeldigejongeman/SFKworldsmall.gif
I put it in my signature (with the [ IMG ] and [ /IMG ] commands without spaces). But it doesn't work! Probably did something stupid wrong.

Damn that geocities! Probably can't link to there, right?

I went to look and ur pic isnt available for viewing. There might be a problem with your server. Make sure there are no gaps in your link! or in the [IMG] boxes. Hope this helps!

Well, you just can't link to a picture uploaded on geocities. But i'll upload it somewhere else. Thanx for the help though

Actually, I've heard that you can use geoshities if you change the file name to txt instead of gif or jpg.

if any of the newbies want me to host their sigs then please let me know. I would be more than happy

Email the_did@hotmail.com

You wont have no probs with them like geocities!!

Likewise. PM me and I'll give you details. Thats all I use my webspace for nowadays.

If anyone is worried about where the "How to send a PM" thread is gone, its coz doggy has now set up a FAQ on the subject in the FAQ section, which is an excellent place for newbies to catch up!


You can find the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at the top of the page on a button. Simply Click and Read (tm)

Lot's o' good info here. Thanks a lot.

As the signature specialist, I can recommend the following:


Keep all images in your signature no higher than 50 pixels high.

If you want transparency (which is best) then use your imaging software and save as a Compuserve GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) file with Transparency set to the color you wish to be transparent.

Anyone looking at the raw pictures I host/convert will notice I always use a VERY bright colour in contrast to the rest of the picture to help easily identify the transparency colour

Do not put more than 2 images into your signature, unless they happen to be the same one, or are of a small nature - then no more than 4.

Try not to have your signature span more than the space that would take up 6 to 8 lines of text.

Do not use the freebie websites for hosting your images. Most have anti-use technology that prevent linking from outside of their webspace, or only provided it for limited amounts of time.

If you get really stuck, send an email to dogbomb_signature@netniv.com


Please note, that I charge 1,000 Dogbomb Credits for each email, 5,000 for each second of work, and your soul upon completion. As a special bonus, I am also giving away 50,000 credits if I give any thought to the work I do.

I like this puppy pound ! one day hundreds of us (going by all the people that VIEW the post) will be up there posting away and looking good on the boards and takeover ! !
Then the ULTIMATE lesson, how to become a big huffy bastard and leave the site !

No, you'd have to be a little huffy bastard to imitate any of the recent huffy people... when you become a big bastard like myself, you don't have to huff any more, people just get out of you way.

You probably already missed me appearing on Hard Barst*rd's on C5 - Sunday Nights.

Are you sure that wasnt night fever on channel 5 on saturday nights?

No definately Sunday, as I was attempting to defile the Lords day.

Seems like the appropriate thing to do. Everybody else seems to do it.

Everyone is 'messing' with their profile?! Isn't that like illegal, and degrading or something? What would those privacy groups have to say!?

Will these lessons be every week or what ?
I need to learn fast,so I can impress Minx.
Before that nasty Netniv plays with her mind ! and other things !

I've already played with her mind, many times... and I've also unrivalled her mind when others attempt to play with it too...

You unrivalled my mind? U got that right first time ;)

Night Night little thread. You served us well...

I'd like to add to this thread the following:

Signatures are now Top Dogs only. In order to become a Top Dog you must donate a mere £10 towards the site.

Contact a moderator for more details.