Round avatars have been implemented as part of today's update

Dr Zaius

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Xenforo 2.1 will bring a number of fairly significant changes to the GameSquad forums. Version 2.1 is still in the beta stage, but anticipated for general release within a few weeks. We'll keep on posted on that.

Round Avatars

As part of the update to Xenforo 2.1, avatars will be rounded by default.

There's been quite a bit of discussion regarding this change over at the Xenforo support forum, with some developers loving it and others hating it. Personally, I'm undecided at this point. I'll reserve judgement until the update is complete and if I don't like the way it comes out, I'll search for a way to disable this feature.

On the plus side, the 2.1 update will put small avatars on the thread list for both the thread starter and the last poster, and will also add small avatars to the forum home. I like that change as it makes it a bit easier to keep track of who started discussions, etc.

If you want to see an example of a forum running the 2.1 beta with the new avatars on the forum home, check out the official Xenforo support community.



 

von Marwitz

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So far I only see the round little flags where they used to be text for the country.

Personally, I preferred the text, because now the 'colors' seem a bit overcrowded with avatars and the flags IMHO.

von Marwitz
 

Paul M. Weir

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I'll be a square, man, I'm not hip with those roundy things, not cool. Not something I'd get too upset over, but I prefer rectangular.
 

Paul M. Weir

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/seconded.

von Marwitz
Your post reminded me of a downside to round ones, any ASL counter avatar will get brutally circumcised. In my case, Halo (on my shoulder) will get beheaded.
 

von Marwitz

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Your post reminded me of a downside to round ones, any ASL counter avatar will get brutally circumcised. In my case, Halo (on my shoulder) will get beheaded.
And, worse yet, Oberst von Marwitz will be deprived of his Iron Cross!!
Likely, that Major von Schoff behind this as part of some intrigue at staff. ;)

von Marwitz
 

Dr Zaius

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There are a couple of downsides to keeping the square ones.

  1. First, the Xenforo developers are clearly taking the software in the direction of giving everything a softer, more rounded theme. So reverting to square avatars kind of cuts against the grain. A few people have experimented with it on various test forums running beta versions of 2.1, and it can look a bit out of place. Over time, the developers are rounding more and more forum elements, meaning it may not be a great idea to try to fight against that and make a square peg fit in a round hole, so to speak.
  2. Second, rounded forum elements are hardcoded into 2.1 in all sorts of places. So trying to keep to square look would require me to go through the software and edit a bunch of templates and CSS properties, which is time consuming and annoying. Worse, this editing process would likely have to be done every single time the forum software gets updated to a new version, which is a giant waste of time.
  3. 2.1 introduces a complete revision to the emoticons, adding hundreds of new smilies which can be used to spice up your posts. In addition, there's a new 'Reactions' feature, which is sort of a visual Like or Unlike system for posts. All of this stuff was created with the new rounded theme in mind, so again keeping the old avatar design tends to cut against that. We would end up with square next to circles, next to squares next to circles. Not a great look. You can already see it with the way the round flags and the square avatars don't really compliment one another on the current GameSquad forum running 2.0. Considering there are hundreds of these new rounded elements in 2.1, it would be totally impractical to attempt to go back and square them all off. I would literally have to spend months redrawing all the graphics in Photoshop, and I simply don't have the time or inclination to do that.
Xenforo 2.1 should be ready for release within 1-2 weeks. Once that's installed I'll take a hard look at the overall style and see what, if anything, needs to be customized. But right now I'm leaning toward sticking with the rounded elements which will be the new default, because it's just not a great use of my time to reinvent the wheel.
 
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Dr Zaius

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Along with the other style updates, the avatars have been updated to the new style as well.

Some of the avatars were randomized during the update, so you may find you need to update your profile. Check the Avatar Forum is you need help with a new one.
 

Tooz

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Just noticed this image to the left by my name. GS did this on its own? I notice that others have different avatars as well. Cool, but can we still change ours to one of personal preference?
 

Justiciar

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Yes. Go to your own page, click on your avatar image. The you get options to load new/old one. Though I am not sure how to make it 'square' again or if it can be. That is why my old FT Tank had to be replaced.
 

Dr Zaius

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Just noticed this image to the left by my name. GS did this on its own? I notice that others have different avatars as well. Cool, but can we still change ours to one of personal preference?
Yep. To make things easy, there are tons to choose from in the avatar forum.
 
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