Question Banner in Signature

Hello,

Maybe this is not the right forum, but im not sure if Kunena already allows this. I want users the ability to add a banner in their signature. Is this possible? If so how is this done?

G'day, bigmike, and thank you very much for your question. It is a feature of Kunena - as with just about every discussion board software that I've used - to incorporate images as part of a user's signature. Even though I'm personally not a big fan of the idea (because, if you have one person posting lots of messages in a discussion topic, frequently recurring images tend to dominate the visual impact of your forum pages and your users will probably resist this blatant "advertising" and tell you to "shut up" - politely of course ) ... inserting images is easy but they can cause a few technical problems.

I am surprised that this information is not included in the documentation Wiki, but the answer is that you can insert images, or banners as you described them, using standard BBcode. In other words, simply write [img=...]the-URL-of-my-image[/img] in your signature and it will appear as an image in your signature. Large images cause technical problems because they may be rescaled to fit in the display area. Older versions of Internet Explorer don't handle large size images at all well as the rescaling mechanism doesn't always work with the result that big images can adversely affect the layout of your forum pages. From K 1.6, Kunena will not be supported on IE versions before than IE8

Thank you Sozzled! Is there a way to allow users to have bigger signature areas and permissions(like banner image) than others? I'm trying to come up with some perks for regular contributors to my site. This may need to be moved to hacks possibly...

bigmike0601 wrote:

Thank you Sozzled! Is there a way to allow users to have bigger signature areas and permissions(like banner image) than others? I'm trying to come up with some perks for regular contributors to my site. This may need to be moved to hacks possibly...

No sadly this is not possible with the current K1.5 as it does not include ACLs but once they are include in about K2.0 then this kinda of restriction will be possible

*** off-topic discussion ***

As I wrote before, I am not a big fan of "banners" (images for signatures); if you like, you may interpret that to mean that I am mildly irritated by their presence in discussion forums. As a discussion forum user - you might describe me as a veteran discussion forum user - I'm primarily interested in the messages; I tend to look past the signatures - sure, I read them occasionally - but if signatures diminate the forum then I find it increasingly difficult to interact with the forum.

Gimmicks, gadgetry, rewards, etc. are all important stimulants to get users interested and involved in your website. But when these gimmicks become self-serving needs in themselves, they can actually undermine from the quintessence of your site. Let me rephrase that in plain English: the gimmick becomes the objective and your efforts are poured into satisfying the needs of the gimmick instead of being able to enjoy the fruits of your work ... and to be part of those discussions.

Let's say, for example, you create a website to discuss something that you are interested in (and that you think other people might have an interest in) and you encourage these discussions by offering "prizes" for the best contribution. OK, so far so good. But two things will happen:

1. By having people compete against on another for prizes, you set up conditions for winners and losers (and maybe some people will more naturally be winners), the losers may feel marginalised, become disillusioned and stop contributing altogether and the winners will eventually tire of the game because there's nothing and no-one left to compete for. Is this what you want?
2. You spend increasing amounts of your time supporting the rewards system to the point where prevents your involvement in the things being discussed. You have to referee disputes about the rewards and ultimately you may even have to pull the plug. I've seen this happen time and time again.

But the real killer is the amount of screen space that's taken up to display signatures - so I go for the minimalist approach (as my signature demonstrates).

I go to websites for information - that's my real incentive! I like to get to the information as quickly and as simply as possible. I'm a very busy person and I don't have time to mess around. As long as the site has clear signposts to follow, has a clean layout, a "pleasant" and "comfortable" feel about it, I'll enjoy my visit. I may even enjoy it so much that I might go back a second time. But, if I visit a website and the discussion forum mainly provides its users with an opportunity to out-do one another over who has the snazziest, biggest, bulging-est, eye-catching image in their signatures ... well, I mean ... these are games that we played when we were kids. "I've got a bigger one than you have"

Do you get my point?

*** end off-topic ***

Kunena allows you to insert images in signatures using BBcode. There are limitations on the size of the image that you can use.

Sozzled,

I run google ads on the site now, 2 per page, but have been approached by users to pay for space. I am toying with the idea of allowing them a banner in their sig, but I don't want to spend all day moderating this thing either. That's why im investigating the potential helpful tools kunena can offer. Overall, I agree with everything you say, but why not at least entertain the idea of making money on my passion and labor? I thought, at the very least, a banner in sig would promote activity to display their ad, within strict rules of course. It is working nicely on some other boards I frequent, but now you make me wonder...I know nothing of the 'correct way' to monetize my site with mininal content impact.