Creating a personal sig for your profile...

Firstly, I apologise if I'm posting this in the wrong place...

I've noticed since I joined that very few (if any) members bave a sig (signature) attached to their posts, and wondered if this was because maybe you are unsure how to create one. You will see that I have created a relatively simple sig for myself.


[IMG]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab176/steven9761/Untitled-1.jpg[/IMG]

Now, I will try to explain the process of creating your own sig.

The following process applies to Adobe Photoshop/Photoshop Elements. It may need a bit of exploring if you are using a different program:

Let's begin by creating the background (I chose a black background for my sig). On the top left of the Adobe toolbar, click FILE, NEW, BLANK FILE. You don't really need to name this background. PRESET the dimensions to 750 PIXELS wide by 40 PIXELS high. A resolution of 72 pixels/inch is fine. COLOUR MODE is set to RGB COLOUR, and BACKGROUND CONTENTS is set to BACKGROUND COLOUR (black). You have now created the foundation of your sig.

I have downloaded the Pentax logo from wikipedia, as they have it in various image sizes. I also grabbed a photo of the K-r from the official Pentax website. Once I had both images, I then removed the background from them with the MAGIC ERASER TOOL.

Insert the Pentax Logo to the left-hand side of your black bar, resizing to fit the bar. This should be created as a new layer. Likewise, add in the photo of the K-r in the right-hand side, again as a new layer.

Now, we need to personalise the black bar by adding our sig. Using the TEXT TOOL select the area where you want to place your personalised sig, in the above example it is STEVEN9761. Choose your COLOUR and FONT, then simply type in your name or nickname. If the image you have created resembles mine (above), then simply save it in your preferred folder (My Photos).

Now, because your sig requires an IMAGE CODE, you will need to use an image host to upload your newly-created sig to. My preference is for Photobucket (http://photobucket.com). If you already have a PB account - GREAT!!.. If not, sign up - it's free to use! Once you are logged in, click UPLOAD. You should see a progress bar near the top, indicating that your image is being uploaded. Once it has been added to your ALBUM, you should hopefully see a BLUE BAR (save/edit/delete/move). Below this blue bar lies the golden treasure that is your newly created sig. DOUBLE-CLICK the box to the right-hand side of where it says IMG CODE to highlight the text (it will look like [IMG]http;//....). Now RIGHT-CLICK this, and select COPY from the drop-down box. Now go to MY SETTINGS on this site, then select PROFILE INFORMATION, and finally, where you see SIGNATURE, RIGHT-CLICK and PASTE the IMG CODE that you just copied from Photobucket (or your own choice of image host). Just one last step, and you're done...

Click on WEBSITE OPTIONS in MY SETTINGShere. Where is says (near the bottom) ALWAYS ATTACH MY SIGNATURE, ensure that you have set it to read YES - THAT'S IT!!

Now, every time you reply to a thread, your personalised sig should appear!

Thanks steven

It's really because the T&Cs ask us to make signatures simple and unobtrusive - no complex lists of equipment, no links to your website, etc.

These T&Cs aren't pursued unless someone goes OTT, but it would have to be pursued if it became a problem.

It's what you post that's important, not the signature, but in any event I'll move this thread to General Digital Chat.

I knew that.

I'm glad you pointed out the T& C's, John. I understand about loading hyperlinks, etc as I' a moderator for my friends' footy website, and we have pretty much the same T & C's there too. The aim of this topic was to help people who wanted to add a bit of individuality to their posts if they so wished. You are correct in saying that it's what you post that's important, but by adding a sig perhaps people will use it as a visual cue to remembering a particularly helpful comment, with any thanks attributed to the correct member, in pretty much the same way as each persons' avatar creates individuality.

Anyway, many thanks for moving this to the correct forum - I wasn't too sure where to best place it.

And me..........

Well now I know your username is Steve9761 and you use Pentax.

Oh hang on .. I knew that anyway.

I think you need to adjust your viewfinder by a couple of dioptres, Mike... it's STEVEN9761..!!

Well it's lucky you have it on there twice every time you post then.

Still better than a ruddy great list of equipment though .. never understod why people feel the need to do that.

When I feel inspired, I'll create a new sig. I set this (and a couple of variants) up to see how this site loads sigs, as my mate's footy website is a bit different, although we're about to migrate that site over to Wordpress/Buddypress, which will mean that I have a whole nerw learning curve again!!