for the avatars without losing the clarity? Mine looks so pixel-y and it was a very good photo.

for the avatars without losing the clarity? Mine looks so pixel-y and it was a very good photo.

I use Microsoft Picture Manager. Crop everything you don't need and resize.

And try and keep it simple. It's gonna be a tiny image. I cropped the picture of me with Hugh Hefner at the ears.

--t

I use Microsoft Picture Manager. Crop everything you don't need and resize.

Two great bits of advice there. Crop first, then resize. Secondly, your image editing software does make a difference. If you don't have Microsoft Office installed (or even if you do), you might want to find another editor. There are good free editors and great editors that come with a price.

I use adobe 1.1 business edition, it's awesome, I crop then resize then 'save' so the file is small but the clarity is nice. I love it for avatars!

If you've got the bucks, use Adobe PhotoSlop.

If you've got a Macintosh, LemkeSoft's "GraphicConverter" is decent.

If you have a scanner, it probably came with some sort of image manipulation program. Mine came with something called "ColorIt" that does a decent enough job.

If you're using Windoze, Linux, or MacOS X, "The GIMP" is really good, the next best thing to PhotoSlop, and it's free (both as in free speech and as in free beer), and it's open source. The only problem is that the user interface, especially on the early versions, is kind of lame (pun intended). And yes, that's really what it's called; it's an acronym for "GNU Image Manipulation Program." I use an old Linux version at home, and a very new WinDoze version at work. In fact, if I have an image manipulation job that's too heavy for my poor little nearly-decade-old Mac, I'll move it over to my Linux box, and do it in GIMP.

Whatever you use, keep in mind:
1. When forming an avatar, crop out all but the barest minimum, so you won't have to resize it much. This is especially true on boards that constrain the size of an avatar (MousePad is rather generous in that regard, for those who have the privilege at all).
2. If possible, try and keep the scale factor to a "small whole number ratio." As in 1/2, 2/3, 1/3, 3/4, 1/4, &c. Even with really good image manipulation software, that will give you a better result, and with crude stuff, it's essential just to get tolerable results.

When I'm at work and have no access to a decent picture editor I use the standard Windows Paint program, but this cause screw ups to the pictures that are saved in a GIF format. When I'm at home I like to use Macromedia Fireworks to work on my photos.