Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

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KurtisC
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Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by KurtisC »

So, the end user goes to the UCP, then 'profile' but then you have the 'avatar type: No avatar selected.' Why? What's the point? What was wrong with having your options laid down in front of you without having to select from a dropdown first? It seems like you've needlessly made it a little more complicated than it has to be in this particular case. It was much easier I think where you had your options setup, you placed the URL where it needed to be (or hit 'browse') and clicked 'submit.' Quite straight-forward. Am I missing something here?

Ideally, personally, I'd like to go back to just having the options there as it was in 3.0.12, but if you insist on having a dropdown menu then at least having it selected on a default (such as 'upload avatar / browse for avatar').

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Louis7777
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by Louis7777 »

Are you talking about the "Select your avatar" section?

Edit: I see. 3.1's way seems more elegant to me.
Last edited by Louis7777 on Sat Jul 05, 2014 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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KurtisC
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by KurtisC »

Louis7777 wrote:Are you talking about the "Select your avatar" section?
Yes.

It looks like it's that way before you set an avatar so I can see the point of it (I was missing something :? ). I still think it was better the way it was before though where the options were just listed, but that's just me.

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MattF
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by MattF »

KurtisC wrote:Am I missing something here?
Each type of supported avatar has different field input requirements.

It would actually be more confusing to try and present all of these at once. The 3.1 implementation is much cleaner, as the user simply chooses the type of avatar they want to go with and are presented, cleanly, with the only fields necessary to achieve it.

The 3.0 implementation, looks quite cluttered and confusing to me now, upon revisiting it. 3.1 is handling it better now.
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KurtisC
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by KurtisC »

VSE wrote:
KurtisC wrote:Am I missing something here?
Each type of supported avatar has different field input requirements.

It would actually be more confusing to try and present all of these at once. The 3.1 implementation is much cleaner, as the user simply chooses the type of avatar they want to go with and are presented, cleanly, with the only fields necessary to achieve it.

The 3.0 implementation, looks quite cluttered and confusing to me now, upon revisiting it. 3.1 is handling it better now.
I'm not sure I agree.

I'm personally one of those people who would rather just have everything laid out unobstructed. If necessary, the theme could fix this issue of confusion by saying 'if you wish to upload an avatar, put link here' and making the different sections very clear.

As far as the end user is concerned though, there isn't any difference between 'link to' and 'upload from' directories, the only difference being how the server handles the request (upload the file locally or simply link to it). This, more than anything would be a confusion for the user and it could be a better option of having a boolean between 'upload / remote link' in this case. Then the third option is browsing directly from the computer. There isn't much scope for confusion therefore, in my opinion, I don't think the current setout helps prevent it.

I honestly think it should be defaulted to something, I'd say 'upload avatar' if that function is available, or 'link to' if not. Having to change it to another type of upload is adding unnecessary steps that could easily be reduced.

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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by Nicofuma »

But now you can use 3 providers for your avatar: Remote, Upload and Gravatar and the extensions can add new providers. I'm not sure that you can have a clear UI if 10 different form are displayed.
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Sumanai
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by Sumanai »

If only one type of load (eg only Upload or only the Gravatar), then immediately displays the desired field? A selection menu to show only when there is plenty to choose from.
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KurtisC
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by KurtisC »

Nicofuma wrote:But now you can use 3 providers for your avatar: Remote, Upload and Gravatar and the extensions can add new providers. I'm not sure that you can have a clear UI if 10 different form are displayed.
Well, it would end up looking similar to the Profile page with a ton of options in there as well. The only difference is you can only use one of them at a time. I'm not sure why you would need ten different ways of uploading a picture at the end of the day though, the three that're provided are sufficient in most cases (and a good mod / extension would please the odd administrator who wants even more options).

sajaki
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by sajaki »

did the edit avatar "display gallery" button dissapear in 3.1 ? i'm not seeing it here on area51.

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nickvergessen
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Re: Why is the avatar function now under a dropdown menu?

Post by nickvergessen »

Sumanai wrote:If only one type of load (eg only Upload or only the Gravatar), then immediately displays the desired field? A selection menu to show only when there is plenty to choose from.
This sounds like something we can/should fix, so I added a bug report: https://tracker.phpbb.com/browse/PHPBB3-12822
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