How to Modify the Size of your Epinions Profile Photo
Oct 29 '01
The Bottom Line There are times when you may need to modify the image tag to suit your needs.
As many of you know, by my profile picture, I am a cute little pug. For those who are non-members, and do not know what I’m talking about, I explain. Many people on this site has a photo to represent them, this photo is displayed in all reviews and on the author’s profile page. Since a few weeks ago, Epinions.com made a decision not to display this photo to non-members. This decision, along with a small site redesign, virtually turned authors into anonymous writers, their username, and few vital stats, buried in a hail of ad banners, and pop-up ads. Gone was the visible, easily loveable (sometimes, controversial) face to go alongside the review. After all, humans are visual creatures, and it is easier to remember someone by their face, than by their name.
Anyway, I digress, the real reason for this opinion [footnote 1, 2] is to reveal to you, how to get around the 100 pixel width restriction on your profile photo. This opinion is for those who need slightly more, or less room to display their photo, or are dissatisfied with the ALT text associated with it.
A little history, I saw this feature used once by a member with a huge profile pic. I won’t mention his name, because I don’t remember. Every time you read one of his reviews, the opinion was squeezed into such a skinny column, that if the guy wrote only 100 words, it would look like a 500 word essay. It may seem disingenuous, but that was not his intent. The member only wanted a larger photo so you can remember him; his review was still wordy and informative if he did not have a larger photo.
Begin by editing your profile page, click on the “Edit Public Profile” link located in your account summary.
Normally, in the box where you (optionally) input your profile pic, you add your photo URL (in the form of)
http://yoursite.com/photo.jpg
Epinions then encapsulates this text string with a beginning (A)
<img src="
and ends it with (B)
" alt="username" width="100" border=”0”>
When you view the html source of your profile page, the line containing the photo url will look something like the example used here: <img src=”http://yoursite.com/photo.jpg” alt=”username” width=”100” border=”0”>
Now, let's say you want to resize your profile pic to 150. Type in
http://yoursite.com/photo.jpg" width="150
Notice the URL has a closing quote appended to it, yet it has no opening quote, and the width; it has an opening, but no closing quote. When this text is encapsulated with (A) and (B), the html will look and function correctly. In this example, the url will be
<img src=http://yoursite.com/photo.jpg width=150” alt=”username” width=”100” border=”0”>
Just make sure whatever you type into that little box (the photo url), has neither an opening, nor a closing quote to it.
*** Question: Wait, now there are two WIDTH specifications on this IMG tag, will the browser display 150, or 100 width?
*** Answer: Web browsers will use the first “width”, and will ignore the second.
*** Translation: I tested this on IE and Netscape, and it works. On other browsers, your mileage may vary. Objects in the mirror, that is your profile page, will appear larger should you follow these instructions.
Ok, cool… Now, what if I want to specify both WIDTH and ALT tags? Easy.
http://yoursite.com/photo.jpg" width="150" alt="your message
Notice that the URL has a closing quote appended to it, yet it has no opening quote, and the ALT has an opening, but no closing quote. The WIDTH, which is safely located in the middle, has both. Rest assured, that when this text is encapsulated with (A) and (B), it works. When you view the html source of your profile page, this example url will look like this: <img src=”http://yoursite.com/photo.jpg" width="150" alt="your message” alt=”username” width=”100” border=”0”>
Footnote 1: This review used to be part of the short-lived EBD w/o, but I have since deleted my contribution, modified the opinion by removing all the gratuitous cursing :) and placing in it here, a more appropriate category.
Footnote 2: THERE SEEMS TO BE A BUG WITH EDITING MEMBER ADVICE ESSAYS. When you submit an opinion in a category you contributed before, and you go to your profile page to click on “update/publish” the unpublished opinion, epinions displays one of your previous opinions (in the same category), and you cannot edit either one. This does not seem to affect regular product categories.
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