My sig banner lineup (updated July 28, 2009)

[Pu-239]

Destructionator: yes, there's a PHP script which randomly selects an image from its current working directory every time someone accesses it. The BBS doesn't allow you to put a PHP script inside IMG tags, so I have an Apache RewriteRule to transparently map a JPG file onto the PHP file (in other words, www.stardestroyer.net/BoardPics/Avatars/500.jpg is transparently mapped to http://www.stardestroyer.net/BoardPics/ ... rotate.php ).

I love mod_rewrite...

Anyway, when I save JPEGs using GIMP, uusing 1x1 1x1 1x1 subsampling seems to allow cranking down quality even lower w/ less degradation, and the progressive JPEG option is pretty neat.

[Darth Wong]

Ace: They are hosted on the main www.stardestroyer.net site, which is in turn hosted by Pair Networks, using their connection.

Fast connection. By the way a more general question: In terms of hours put in it, how much is this website costing? An hour a week of maintanence?

The www.stardestroyer.net website costs zero hours a week of maintenance. It hasn't been updated in more than a year, and all system-level maintenance is handled by the good people at Pair Networks.

As for bbs.stardestroyer.net, its maintenance is relatively insignificant compared to the time spent just hanging around and posting on it. An hour a week would be a very generous estimate.

[RogueIce]

In general:

GIF = lossless and supports transparency, but only good for 8-bit images

JPG = the best compression by far, but no transparency support and noticeable artifacts with solid-block text

PNG = 24-bit transparency and superior image quality to JPG, but poor support in IE6 and much larger filesizes than JPG

Well, that's useful information, and explains much of the problem I always had with JPG files (although that whole degrading thing did sometimes work to my advantage without my ever intending it to).

I used PNG a lot because it seemed like the "Next Great Thing" although I wonder if I could've just used GIF and saved a lot of filesize given I don't make many overly complex images.

[Pu-239]

Indexed PNG is supposed to be smaller than GIF.

[Darth Wong]

Indexed PNG is supposed to be smaller than GIF.

True, because it's not lossless. But indexed PNG and GIF are both 8-bit formats, and 8-bit graphics look like shit unless they're simple block-colour jobs.

[Ford Prefect]

Soviet Canuckistan was close to my heart of course, being Australian, and the banners featuring fundie mocking made me smile.

Thanks for the information about file types; I learn something new everyday. But what do you think about .TIFF?

[Darth Wong]

"Hair Club for Men" and "Grand Army of the Republic" banners added.

[RogueIce]

Where'd that cool Clone Trooper come from?

[Darth Wong]

Where'd that cool Clone Trooper come from?

From promotional wallpapers that starwars.com used to have on their official website, but took off when Episode III came out. But just for you, I'll make a copy available, at least temporarily:

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/tmp/CloneTrooper-1024.jpg (1024x768)
http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/tmp/CloneTrooper-1280.jpg (1280x1024)

[Ace Pace]

Wallpapered!

[RogueIce]

Where'd that cool Clone Trooper come from?

From promotional wallpapers that starwars.com used to have on their official website, but took off when Episode III came out. But just for you, I'll make a copy available, at least temporarily:

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/tmp/CloneTrooper-1024.jpg (1024x768)
http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/tmp/CloneTrooper-1280.jpg (1280x1024)

Thanks a ton.

[sketerpot]

I used PNG a lot because it seemed like the "Next Great Thing" although I wonder if I could've just used GIF and saved a lot of filesize given I don't make many overly complex images.

Actually, you can usually save space by converting GIF files to PNG files. PNG uses fancier compression, and it typically does a significantly better job.

The only good reasons to use GIF instead of PNG are browser compatibility (seldom an issue these days) and the fact that GIFs can be animated, like this: .

[Darth Wong]

"Seize the moment" banner added.

[Darth Wong]

For those who are curious about how it's done, this is the PHP script:

Code: Select all

<?php
// This script randomly selects and displays images from the current directory
// It is a stripped-down version of the Automatic Image Rotator script by Dan P. Benjamin.

// Set image filename extensions
        $extList = array();
        $extList['gif'] = 'image/gif';
        $extList['jpg'] = 'image/jpg';
        $extList['jpeg'] = 'image/jpeg';
        $extList['png'] = 'image/png';

// Get contents of current directory
        $fileList = array();
        $handle = opendir("./");
        while ( false !== ( $file = readdir($handle) ) ) {
                $file_info = pathinfo($file);
                if (
                    isset( $extList[ strtolower( $file_info['extension'] ) ] )
                ) {
                        $fileList[] = $file;
                }
        }
        closedir($handle);

        if (count($fileList) > 0) {
                $imageNumber = time() % count($fileList);
                $img = $fileList[$imageNumber];
        }

if ($img!=null) {
        $imageInfo = pathinfo($img);
        $contentType = 'Content-type: '.$extList[ $imageInfo['extension'] ];
        header ($contentType);
        readfile($img);
} else {
        if ( function_exists('imagecreate') ) {
                header ("Content-type: image/png");
                $im = @imagecreate (100, 100)
                    or die ("Cannot initialize new GD image stream");
                $background_color = imagecolorallocate ($im, 255, 255, 255);
                $text_color = imagecolorallocate ($im, 0,0,0);
                imagestring ($im, 2, 5, 5,  "IMAGE ERROR", $text_color);
                imagepng ($im);
                imagedestroy($im);
        }
}

?>

It's saved as "rotate.php" in the "500x100_sigs" directory. Then, I create an .htaccess file in the parent directory which looks like this:

Code: Select all

IndexIgnore *
Options FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /BoardPics/Avatars/
RewriteCond 1 1
RewriteRule 500.jpg 500x100_sigs/rotate.php [L]

Bingo, a rotating sig script. It will randomly select images from its current working directory, and the RewriteRule allows you to mask it as a JPG file.

[Karza]

One question. In "the evil atheist conspiracy" atheists are mentioned to be responsible for the color "cyan". Where does this come from? What makes cyan so heinous ( ) ?

EDIT: oddly enough, I originally typed liberal in place of atheist. hmm.

[Rye]

"Hair Club for Men"

I don't get it...is it saying that you're balding, but you'll still be useful at some point in the future?

[Darth Wong]

"Hair Club for Men"

I don't get it...is it saying that you're balding, but you'll still be useful at some point in the future?

I guess you don't have those "Hair Club for Men" commercials where you live. There are TV commercials around here where they offer "hair replacement" services at a place called the "hair club for men", and the pitchman brags "I'm not only the owner, I'm also a client" while holding up a picture of his former bald self.

[Darth Wong]

One question. In "the evil atheist conspiracy" atheists are mentioned to be responsible for the color "cyan". Where does this come from? What makes cyan so heinous ( ) ?

I don't know where that came from. Somehow, it just looked right in the sentence.

[Dalton]

I guess you don't have those "Hair Club for Men" commercials where you live. There are TV commercials around here where they offer "hair replacement" services at a place called the "hair club for men", and the pitchman brags "I'm not only the owner, I'm also a client" while holding up a picture of his former bald self.

Ahh, good ol' Sy Sperling.

[Trekdestroyer]

For some strange reason, I liked the old sig better than one that changes every time one of Mike's posts loads. I think it was kinda unneeded and a waste of space, but that's just me. I just wish Mike would update the main site and leave the board alone for a few days. I mean, you can't work THAT hard that you can't find free time sometime during the day. I guess with the stuff Mike has to do, we will never see anything new in the main site. The pics are awesome except for the Sodomy one which kinda is a little more than neccesary.
Buenos Días Ustedes

[Crown]

Trying out my fancy new rotating sig! It's a lot like the one I made up for the phpbb.com boards a while ago. Here's the lineup:

<snip>

EDIT 2: Hair club and GAR banners added.

EDIT 3: "Seize the Moment" banner added.

Love the Carpe Diem one, although I thought it's literal translation was 'Seize the Day'

[Darth Wong]

Trying out my fancy new rotating sig! It's a lot like the one I made up for the phpbb.com boards a while ago. Here's the lineup:

<snip>

EDIT 2: Hair club and GAR banners added.

EDIT 3: "Seize the Moment" banner added.

Love the Carpe Diem one, although I thought it's literal translation was 'Seize the Day'

Sssshhhh!!! The slight mistranslation works better with the picture.

[Crown]

Trying out my fancy new rotating sig! It's a lot like the one I made up for the phpbb.com boards a while ago. Here's the lineup:

<snip>

EDIT 2: Hair club and GAR banners added.

EDIT 3: "Seize the Moment" banner added.

Love the Carpe Diem one, although I thought it's literal translation was 'Seize the Day'

Sssshhhh!!! The slight mistranslation works better with the picture.

Don't worry about it, I just looked it up on Merriam-Webster Online and it has the following definition;

Main Entry: car·pe di·em
Pronunciation: 'kär-pe-'dE-"em, -'dI-, -&m
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, literally, pluck the day
: the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future

You have your bases coverd!

[Lord Zentei]

<saves code to hard drive>

Swanky.

The engineering motto is my favourite one, BTW.

"For a less politically correct era"? Did they change it?

[Darth Wong]

<saves code to hard drive>

Swanky.

The engineering motto is my favourite one, BTW.

"For a less politically correct era"? Did they change it?

I'm not sure if they did because I haven't been on campus in years and the motto is not publicized on the website. But the last time I was on campus, I was told that feminists were protesting the motto and saying that it's sexist and should be changed, and that these complaints were being taken seriously by the administration for fear that the continued use of the old motto would lead to some kind of sexual harassment lawsuit.