Option to force default icon when viewing "my style"

[noracharles]

Title:
Option to force default icon when viewing "my style"

Area:
styles, usability, reading

Summary:
I would like to be able to choose only to see other users' default icons when I load a page in my style.

Description:
I find the many different icons some users post and comment with very confusing and distracting. I keep having to double check who is who, and sometimes think one user is another if they use a similar icon.

I know I have the option to not show any icons and differentiate users by assigning them a color, but I prefer a calm black on white lay-out, and I don't think I would be able to distinguish the colors well enough to tell people apart anyway.

For me, consistent icons are the easiest way to recognize users, and it would make dreamwidth more accessible if there was an option to always show the default icon, or alternatively, to assign an icon to a user the way we're able to assign a color to a user now.

The good thing about forcing default icons is that users would have a say about how they represent themselves, and that it would probably be relatively simple to code. The minor draw back is that a few users might change their default icon so often that they remain difficult for very visually oriented users to identify.

Assigning an icon to a user in my style would be my preferred solution, all things being equal. I'd like to pick one of their personal icons that I feel that I can reliably recognize, the way that we now have the option to pick a color on the manage circle page. I would be happy to use one of my own icon slots for every icon I assigned, that way it wouldn't be a problem if they deleted their icons.

I'd be very happy with either solution.

Poll #1675 Option to force default icon when viewing "my style"

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
6 (16.2%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
13 (35.1%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
12 (32.4%)

(I have no opinion)
5 (13.5%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (2.7%)

Comments

[afuna]

Hm, I have an idea, that makes your suggestion possible, but you'll need to do some CSS code for each user. First, go to http://www.dreamwidth.org/customize/options?group=customcss

Then add this to your custom css (sets up basic formatting for all userpics):
.userpic a { background-repeat: no-repeat; width: 110px; height: 110px; background-position: 4px 4px;}

Then for every poster whose image you want to change, add this:
.poster-[user_name] .userpic img { display: none; }
.poster-[user_name] .userpic a { background-image: url("[http://...]"); }

That's three different things you need to add for each person :-)

(No opinion on building an interface for it, though)

[noracharles]

It works! Thank you very much, afuna :-D

[afuna]

You're very welcome! Glad I could help :)

[foxfirefey]

I wonder if we could have a

http://foxfirefey.dreamwidth.org/icons/default

That would automatically serve up a user's default icon. Then, this could all be accomplished in a really simple GreaseMonkey.

[noracharles]

Wouldn't that only work for firefox? I think it would be better to have it be serverside and independent of browser.

[afuna]

Hmm, well there's

http://afuna.dreamwidth.org/data/userpics

or

http://afuna.dreamwidth.org/data/foaf

Potentially http://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/endpoints/getuserpics as well, but I can't see any indication of which is the default.

[ninetydegrees]

I would like to be a separate setting from style=mine. To me style=mine has to do with style (duh) and not content and icons are content.

[zvi]

+10,000

[eruthros]

+1

[kyrielle]

Agreed, and I can see someone not minding a different style, but having issues with the icons, too; so the two settings should be independent of each other.

[ratcreature]

Yes! Icons are an integral part of the post and convey meaning much more directly than a layout. I mean, it's one thing not to display pictures at all, then there is a description instead, but I would not want my default icon forced on random posts when I wanted a different one. For example I have icons to express my emotional state, and my default is vaguely happy, which would suck to be forced on a post for which I had chosen a depressed or a grieving icon.

[cheyinka]

Right. If this is implemented at all, it shouldn't be style=mine - or =light, for that matter!

[cesy]

An option to force default icons in style=mine sounds good. I'm not so sure about assigning your own icons to users.

[jeeps]

The good thing about forcing default icons is that users would have a say about how they represent themselves

how is this? it seems like forcing default icons would limit users' ability to represent themselves. this idea makes me somewhat uncomfortable, because the icons i choose are often part of my comments and are relevant to ongoing conversations.

either way, i feel that the last paragraph is a little extreme. if dw did implement this suggestion, i think that if people chose to change up their default fairly often it would be something default-icon-viewers would just have to deal with.

[noracharles]

A limited say, then. Believe me, I don't like not getting half the message of a post or comment - or even not getting any of it: some people just post to say "see icon". But it's still a lesser evil than not knowing who's saying what.

I used to just block all the icon images I don't recognize from loading, to force myself to read the user name, and set all animated gifs to statically show the first frame. Sometimes if I can tell that I'm missing something, I ask what the icon is.

I think most people like icons, and want to see them. I think they're really pretty and funny too, and I like looking at icon galleries. I can't imagine anyone would choose to block icons unless they find them hopelessly confusing and distracting like I do, or just plain don't like them, and then whichever icon you chose to go with your post would be wasted on them anyway.

I thought the default icon option would be easiest to just make a checkbox for, and I agree with you, users who checked that box would just have to live with people changing their default icons. Now, thanks to afuna, I can assign icons to anyone I want, and anyone else who prefers that option over default icons can do the same :-D

[rho]

Oh, for the love of puppies, yes please!

Whenever the whole "more icons" discussion comes up, either here or on LJ, I always feel like I'm alone thinking "but I liked it when nobody had more than 10 icons". Back then at least I had a chance of remembering which icon went with which person. These days, icons just don't work as a way of quickly recognising a person, which is what I mostly feel their point should be. If I could just see people's defaults on my reading page I would be really happy.

[justhuman]

I agree with the idea - I wouldn't be interested in using it, but I am a frequent user of style=mine when I can't read someones customized page. I'm just not sure what's the best approach to implement.

[kyrielle]

Case-by-case would be better, and IMO, force-to-default or force to a single one of theirs, but not to impose a userpic that isn't theirs. (If you force to a single one of theirs, it should store URL, so if they shift the keyword to another icon it doesn't move. If that icon gets deleted, it should either show default or show the little red-X no image thing, one of the two.)

[ratcreature]

I really dislike this idea of a standard option that allows other people to pick pictures for my posts, when I take great care for my icons to have specific meaning appropriate and often important to the post.

Of course people can do all kinds of things manually through customized CSS in their browser anyway, but then they can choose to run a word replacement greasemonkey script on my text too, whether to avoid swear words, or to do random things like replace all instances of "book" with "gnargle" or whatever, so I realize that if someone wants to see automatically edited versions of my content I can't stop them, but this should not be a standard option.

If the forced default icon became a style option that would be better in a minuscule way than for them to be allowed to pick random icons to assign to my posts but I still would not like that at all and be really uncomfortable with this automated edit. (It would btw be even worse if otheres were allowed to cache those icons if I chose to delete one just so they could have consistency as the suggestion seems to want, I'd really object to others using my icons after I deleted them, even if they used them to change the display of only my posts).

[noracharles]

It's not like other people can see which icon an individual user uses to represent you or anyone.

This is an accessibility issue. If I could use icons the way you want me to, I would. But I can't. I just want to be able to identify who is saying what.

[sky]

+1

This idea makes me very uncomfortable.

[turlough]

+1

[susanreads]

I favour having an option to see only people's default icons, as long as it doesn't affect what third parties see (i.e. not part of style=mine).

[instantramen]

+1

[kate_nepveu]

I'm sorry, how does ?style=mine affect what third parties see? Doesn't the effect of that intrinsically vary by viewer?