Updating profiles October 12, 2019 11:29 AM Subscribe
Okay, this is totally stupid but it keeps bothering me. I have a lot of trouble updating my profile picture.
I can't get the picture small enough without distorting it or the picture becoming pixelated.
This happened the last time a couple of years ago, and I ended up having to download software and it was just a huge pain in my ass. So I just left the picture up.
But it's been several years, and I want to update stuff.
And this is all just a very stupid problem to have and silly, and I apologize. But I just wanted someone to be like, "Here’s your solution," and it not be like a jokey picture of a chicken butt.
Okay, thanks.
I can't get the picture small enough without distorting it or the picture becoming pixelated.
This happened the last time a couple of years ago, and I ended up having to download software and it was just a huge pain in my ass. So I just left the picture up.
But it's been several years, and I want to update stuff.
And this is all just a very stupid problem to have and silly, and I apologize. But I just wanted someone to be like, "Here’s your solution," and it not be like a jokey picture of a chicken butt.
Okay, thanks.
Currently my phone and a combination of photo editor pro and Pixlr. Previously, my phone and laptop and GIMP.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:35 AM on October 12, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:35 AM on October 12, 2019
For the moment, if you’d like, you can email me your photo and I can try to resize it in Preview for you.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:44 AM on October 12, 2019
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:44 AM on October 12, 2019
Okay! Thanks.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:21 PM on October 12, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:21 PM on October 12, 2019
Thank you, LM! I appreciate it.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:50 PM on October 12, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:50 PM on October 12, 2019
Just in case anyone else runs into this, here's what I did:
Starting from a cellphone photo. In the Preview program on a Mac, I opened the picture and went to Tools --> Adjust Size. I checked "resize proportionally" and "resample image". I decreased the height x width size (it was originally in the thousands of pixels in both dimensions, I changed it so the shorter of the two dimensions was 420 pixels, which is bigger than we need but I figured it gives a little extra to work with just in case). I increased the resolution (it was originally 72 pixels per inch, I changed it to 144 pixels per inch, again just on the principle of giving us some extra to work with). Note it's only possible to increase the resolution if you're decreasing the height x width dimensions by enough at the same time. This yielded a file size of 80 kb, well within the allowable size. And I saved the file at that size. Then 80 Cats in a Dog Suit was able to upload it to the profile page and it worked.
I assume there's a way to do these resizing changes on a phone, and if people have suggestions or easier ways to do it, by all means share them.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:03 PM on October 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Starting from a cellphone photo. In the Preview program on a Mac, I opened the picture and went to Tools --> Adjust Size. I checked "resize proportionally" and "resample image". I decreased the height x width size (it was originally in the thousands of pixels in both dimensions, I changed it so the shorter of the two dimensions was 420 pixels, which is bigger than we need but I figured it gives a little extra to work with just in case). I increased the resolution (it was originally 72 pixels per inch, I changed it to 144 pixels per inch, again just on the principle of giving us some extra to work with). Note it's only possible to increase the resolution if you're decreasing the height x width dimensions by enough at the same time. This yielded a file size of 80 kb, well within the allowable size. And I saved the file at that size. Then 80 Cats in a Dog Suit was able to upload it to the profile page and it worked.
I assume there's a way to do these resizing changes on a phone, and if people have suggestions or easier ways to do it, by all means share them.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:03 PM on October 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Now that the problem is resolved, is it now safe to joke about how difficult it is to fit 80 Cats into the same picture?
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:20 PM on October 12, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:20 PM on October 12, 2019 [15 favorites]
That's why I put them all in a Dog Suit. Containment.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 1:36 PM on October 12, 2019 [25 favorites]
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 1:36 PM on October 12, 2019 [25 favorites]
Um, New problem.
I changed my picture and it was fine. Came back a few minutes later and it's the old picture again. Removed the old picture and uploaded the new one again. Went and ate dinner and come back to the old picture again.
Is there a reason the change isn't sticking?
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 3:59 PM on October 12, 2019
I changed my picture and it was fine. Came back a few minutes later and it's the old picture again. Removed the old picture and uploaded the new one again. Went and ate dinner and come back to the old picture again.
Is there a reason the change isn't sticking?
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 3:59 PM on October 12, 2019
Okay, removed the old picture and uploaded the new again. Will come back and peek later.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 4:01 PM on October 12, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 4:01 PM on October 12, 2019
I'll flag this for frimble when they're online next. In the past, IIRC, that's happened because of cacheing and it goes away in time but I don't know if that's what's happening here.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:51 PM on October 12, 2019
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:51 PM on October 12, 2019
Quit and restart the browser. Flush the browser cache. Burnt offerings to your house god.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:19 PM on October 12, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:19 PM on October 12, 2019 [7 favorites]
I’ve updated my picture a few times recently and yes, the size constraints are really hard to work around (is there not a resize widget out there that you could put on the site when uploading a pic so that the onus isn’t on the user to do this?).
I’ve also found that it can take several days for it to ‘stick’ even with cache clearing, etc.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:56 AM on October 13, 2019
I’ve also found that it can take several days for it to ‘stick’ even with cache clearing, etc.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:56 AM on October 13, 2019
I just looked at your profile and since I had not before it wouldn’t be cached in my browser. In the picture I see you are wearing a blue shirt and rectangular glasses that look frameless.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:26 AM on October 13, 2019
posted by hilaryjade at 5:26 AM on October 13, 2019
You can also try logging out and back in again - I found that fixed some weird site problems here in the past
posted by exogenous at 7:12 AM on October 13, 2019
posted by exogenous at 7:12 AM on October 13, 2019
hilaryjade: In the picture I see you are wearing a blue shirt and rectangular glasses that look frameless.
I can reproduce that result.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:20 AM on October 13, 2019
I can reproduce that result.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:20 AM on October 13, 2019
I’m taking a look both at the picture not changing and at the cropping widget that’s in use being pretty terrible on a phone.
posted by frimble (staff) at 7:06 AM on October 14, 2019
posted by frimble (staff) at 7:06 AM on October 14, 2019
The picture is currently the old one. About to go in and update it again.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 7:39 AM on October 14, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 7:39 AM on October 14, 2019
Removed old one. Replaced with new one.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 7:40 AM on October 14, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 7:40 AM on October 14, 2019
And it's switched back again.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 9:06 AM on October 14, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 9:06 AM on October 14, 2019
I give up.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 9:07 AM on October 14, 2019
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 9:07 AM on October 14, 2019
I had the same issue when re-cropping my profile pic a couple months ago. It took a few days for the change to take. Flushing my browser cache had no effect, btw.
posted by theory at 8:33 PM on October 14, 2019
posted by theory at 8:33 PM on October 14, 2019
You are the Reverse Dorian Gray. Embrace it.
posted by jjray at 4:32 PM on October 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by jjray at 4:32 PM on October 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
When a profile pic gets changed, does it get a new name? There are some pretty simple-minded intermediate caches out there in www land.
posted by flabdablet at 10:25 AM on October 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by flabdablet at 10:25 AM on October 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:33 AM on October 12, 2019