Request- Sigs Causing Problems

Hi Guys

I am asking for a favour here, and I suppose I am asking it also for anyone who cannot get broadband etc and are stuck with dial-up, that we do something about the time it takes to view a page because of the excessive size of the information that has to be downloaded when all the sigs, avatars and gif animations are added together.

Just as an example, I tried to view a page on the CelticBhoy thread and I had to stop loading the page at 1.4mb (yes 1.4mb) and 6 mins of downloading because it was getting ridicolous.

Now, I undertsand that many of you have broadband, but there are some of us who cannot get it and are stuck on dial-up with a download rate of about 4kbs!

I think the whole page was about 1.5mb in total when everything was added up. I know broadband would download that in a sinch but it is farsical for us guys who are not in that space.

I use Opera 7.5 for a browser which is probably one of the best alongside mozilla browsers and have preferenced that no images or gifs be downloaded. That speeds up the download dramatically but the problem is the page now looks like * and its hard to find the links etc as they are usually images. Caching everything on the browser isnt a solution either as it just creates other problems.

There is no solution for this except that dial-ups will just have to remain * off or stop viewing the pages or we compromise and either remove image sigs and keep avatars or some other solution.

In my own experience, I am a member of another (non-fitba) forum which uses vbulletin software and they limit avatars to a max dimension or max size of 20kbs. No sigs other than text.

The forum in question looks great. Everyone is still instantly recogniseable due to their avatar, but the pages download very quickly for all including dial ups.

So I suppose my point is this.

I really would like to see sigs removed from the posts and maybe more emphasis put on creative avatars at a size limit.

I am requesting this not in any way arrogantly, but as humbly as possible as
I understand that many of you like your sigs. However my point is that this is a forum and not an art gallery and I think that the priority for mrmbers should be that they can access the forum to 'post' rather than be frustrated by the size of the pages, and in a way segregated from the rest of the forum.

I know Celtic_Mad had previously asked for opinions on this matter a while back and I wonder if he had this problem in mind (for dial-ups).

I would very much like to hear the opinions of the site-owners and the rest of the gang on this to see if we can come up with a fair solution to a big problem for us with dial-up.

I hope that this request is read in the good spirit in which it is posted and we can look at the problem constructively.

Many thanks

HailHail

 

TBH i don't mind dropping my sig must be a pain in the * waiting for a page to load.

 

Totally agree mate....i voted to keep them both (sigs and avs) but did not know that this affected peoples experiences on the site..

With this in mind i would vote to remove sigs...think everyone should have a fair look at whats going on...even tho' i never agree with you...except this time of course (wont happen again tho..) LOL

 

Thanks Dubs. I appreciate your support on this. It really is a * pain the *. there have been loads of times where I just havent bothered waiting for a page to load and went to another site for Celtic stuff.

 

My sig has now gone...

 

have to agree, this aint an art gallery, i wouldnt mind loosing my sig on this forum to help others

 

there's my contribution, have to keep my "welcome the chase" smilie though, we have become quite attached.

 

just thought....... Celtic bhoy is out of a job. LOL

 

Cheers Bath_Bhoy.

 

Thanks Lupin mate, you know what to do then! Appreciated.

 

See your point, but if we concentrated on creative avatars say less than 20kb then that would be a full time job in itself.
Or if people wanted to have an art gallery forum where they could post their sigs there and leave the rest of the forum free.

Your we 3kb sig isnt a probem.

 

Done and Done
glad i can help

 

Cheers Lupin. Thanks.

PS Did the Northern territory or WA get any of the Tsunami?

 

sigs were alot worse at one time, and celtic_bhoy limited them.
i've only had broadband for a few months, i admit it does take long.
i don't think we should get rid of the sigs totally, but make the mb's smaller!

 

if sigs are gotten rid of, i'm sure celtic_bhoy could carry on with avatars!

 

If it helps other members view the site easier, then im more than willing to give up my sig.

 

Cheers BOBO. much appreciated.

Did u enjoy ure Spanish hols? Laughing at the riot you left behind?

 

http://www.talkceltic.net/forum/showthread.php?t=968

 

I used to have Dial Up and just got broadband. I used to hate the loading for the forum but obviously it's not an issue with BB. Is it mainly the sigs that cause a problem for you or other things like the graphics to make a new post, etc?

 

Yeh Mark

It's the sigs plus the avatars plus anything else. But I think if the sigs were'nt there then it would be bearable.