Forum:Signature restrictions

Recently, many users are creating custom signature and templates. While most of these suit the theme of the wiki, I've noticed that a few signatures are oversized and are adding clutter to the page or its wikicode.

Several users have MW2 Callsign-inspired userboxes as their signature. My problem with this is that the image is at least 3 lines large -- often being larger than the actual edit. Some users (I'm thinking of User:EightOhEight at the moment) whose signature adds multiple lines of code, which at times I've found makes it difficult to find what I want to edit.

Should there be a policy or guideline on how big signatures should be? --Scottie theNerd 03:10, March 17, 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree about the callsigns, those do not belong. As for myself, I've changed that since. Some peoples, such as Poketape, MdDy x GMON3Y and Dark Anomaly have animated emblems that won't move if they're resized. If you don't edit in source mode, then it shouldn't be a problem, though. EightOhEight

There was a small discussion a while ago regarding how large images in a signatures should be. In my opinion, any signature image over 30px is far too large. If the picture gets to the point where it is interfering with the lines of text, then it obviously is too big. 13:36, March 17, 2010 (UTC)


 * Pwoah, that's identical to what I'm trying to say. 30px is used as the maximum for some other wikis I used to frequent (and in fact, some go for even smaller). 100px is ridiculous. This isn't a BBcode forum; it's a wiki. We don't need large-sized icons cluttering pages. --Scottie theNerd 14:21, March 17, 2010 (UTC)
 * Would one like this be ok? -- USMC-E3.png  Griever0311 United States Marine Corps.png 14:43, March 17, 2010 (UTC)
 * That's just about right. --Scottie theNerd 10:47, March 18, 2010 (UTC)

I agree. A standard needs to be set. -- Poketape Talk 03:18, March 19, 2010 (UTC)

Maybe we could have a place where you could enter your signature for approval. Doc.  Richtofen  11:59, March 20, 2010 (UTC)
 * Signatures don't need approval. They just need to conform to size limitations. Anything under 30px is small enough to be unobtrusive to wiki pages. --Scottie theNerd 12:34, March 20, 2010 (UTC)

True. Doc.  Richtofen  19:10, March 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Ok, I don't know much about comupters, so how big is 30 px? Would one like my USC icon fit? 01:43, March 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * The Trojan icon of yours is 35 pixels wide, for reference. 07:08, March 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * So should I get a new one? 00:17, March 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * That depends on what becomes of this discussion. --Scottie theNerd 15:16, March 26, 2010 (UTC)

Leemi guess, mine is to big? T C   E   B 14:15, April 1, 2010 (UTC)
 * Your signature was the one I was thinking of in particular. --Scottie theNerd 16:10, April 1, 2010 (UTC)
 * Then i agree with having to get ur Sig aproved by a 'crat. (for he record mine was aproved by a 'crat seeing as he made it for me) GenCain.jpg C E B 23:57, April 1, 2010 (UTC)
 * It was approved before this discussion. The whole point is to limit the size of signatures so that they wouldn't need bureaucrat approval. Your signature takes up nearly four lines of text on the screen. --Scottie theNerd 04:11, April 2, 2010 (UTC)

The only reason my sig is so big is all the links, FYI T C E B 11:11, April 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm talking about your userbox's vertical size. --Scottie theNerd 13:35, April 2, 2010 (UTC)

To be honest Cain, I thought your old signature was better. Partially because it was less obtrusive. By the way, is mine acceptable? If it isn't could I just put the picture down to 30px? Doc.  Richtofen  19:51, April 4, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yours is 40x. A 30px image would look like this: Richtofen.jpg. As you can see, it stays in-line fairly well and won't force the page to insert blank spaces. I think most of us use images in the 35px-40px range, and the gist is that as long as you're not using something ridiculously oversized (50px or more), it's probably fine with most users. --Scottie theNerd 20:40, April 4, 2010 (UTC)

Would it be possible to make mine smaller, it is just an image, T C   E   B 23:20, April 4, 2010 (UTC)


 * In your signature settings or template, you will need to change the size of the image. At the moment, your wikicode reads 175px. Just change the value to 30px. However, it'll end up looking like this: GenCain.jpg. --Scottie theNerd 05:25, April 5, 2010 (UTC)

I agree about limiting the sizes of images. However, I don't think a need for a signature policy is required. I feel signatures like Doc.Richtofen's, Poketape's and mine are perfect. Also, the default signature is fine. Regarding Cain's sig, I do think your sig is a bit out of place - the image is too big. It's not a huge problem, and if you really like your sig as it is I don't mind, but the pic is quite large. 13:48, April 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, we need somewhere where signature guidelines can be looked up and referenced. We can't consistently point at someone's sig and say "that's fine, but that's too big". --Scottie theNerd 16:04, April 5, 2010 (UTC)

Is my signature too big?  Lt. Dunn  Talk  17:32, April 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * Your signature is 64px, which is double the proposed restriction. --Scottie theNerd 17:53, April 5, 2010 (UTC)

Personally, I don't think mine or Docs is too big. 17:58, April 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * There's a significant problem with your image sizes though. Look at the line spacing between your comment and mine. Compare that to, say, the comments between Callofduty4 and myself. Compared to non-image in-line signatures, your signature images can take over three times the space on a talk page. If everyone had a 40px image and posted on a talk page, it would look way too cluttered and make discussion more difficult than it needs to be. If you look at the top of this section, you see a few blocks of text -- nothing too eyecatching. Scroll down and you see big grey rectangles and rotating missiles. It's a basic in website design not to have too many of these, and users with these types of signatures make the wiki less accessible. --Scottie theNerd 19:14, April 5, 2010 (UTC)

Is this too big? I think it's 35px.  Ukimies  Talk  18:10, April 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * 40px. You can see it in the source code. --Scottie theNerd 19:08, April 5, 2010 (UTC)

I think mine's OK, but to be fair I just pinched some existing code and substituted the new text and image. 19:21, April 5, 2010 (UTC)

Is mine to big?  Cpt. Z   21:55, April 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * You can see it yourself in the source code. If you didn't specify a size in your signature, click on the image and it will tell you how big it is. For reference, the proposed size limitation is 30px, which is this size: [[Image:Balkenkreuz.jpg|30px]]. Your image is 64px. --Scottie theNerd 09:38, April 6, 2010 (UTC)

Do I have to find a whole different image then? This one can't get smaller without stopping the spinning.  Lt. Dunn  Talk  22:07, April 6, 2010 (UTC)

Do the Users with animated pics have to change theres, if they do, the picture stops moving.   Sgt.Ex  Ask the Expert, He'll answer!  22:17, April 6, 2010 (UTC)

I think that the Signatures are OK, making a change unnecessary. BTW, is mine ok?  Commander W567123daniel Wanna Talk? 22:23, April 6, 2010 (UTC)
 * Could you elaborate? I outlined above that image signatures make the pages cluttered and difficult to navigate. --Scottie theNerd 04:50, April 7, 2010 (UTC)

A height of 20 pixels is the wikia-wide guideline for images in signatures. All lines have a height of 20 pixels, and anything taller than that makes the line layout go irregular. I'm not saying we should do that, but if you want a solid guideline, making all images in sigs have a size no larger than x20px is a good one. Remember to outlaw line breaks and template systems in signatures as well. -- Tigernose    Chat   •  Edits   23:46, April 6, 2010 (UTC)
 * I didn't know that. It's solid reasoning and sounds good to me. However, I'd also like to invite other editors to have a say, especially since so many use large signatures. --Scottie theNerd 04:50, April 7, 2010 (UTC)

Can the signature picture be 30-45 pixels for the limit? 22:48, April 6, 2010 (UTC)

Is mine to big?--  Cpl. CheezyDerek  Talk 23:51, April 6, 2010 (UTC)