Shrink the toolness

[Ichthus]

I'd like to start off with saying that I'm a tool. For those that don't believe me, you can check.

To the point of the post: Could we have a wider, but shorter tool icon? The current one is making the posts fairly tall despite the posts not containing much information. It's purely the tool icon forcing the table height.

I like being a tool, but the way it's distorting the forums is a bit annoying.

[Morthe]

I second that. 40 pixels might also work...

[Sean Clannery]

I would even go so far as to say, "give Tools an option to turn the graphic off". I haven't written any particularly long posts yet, and I do find it a little obnoxious that my posts take up so much space anyway.

[Mikalyaran]

Personally the graphic doesn't bother me much. I could see how it would get to others though.

[raphfrk]

I guess the issue is that it is an advertising thing , by displaying it, forum users see that other people are subscribing.

[Archaic]

I'd suggest that it might be better to alter the template so that the Tool icon is in-line with the users avatar, and perhaps restrict the width of avatars to make sure there's no unwanted stretching of table cells.

[Prometheus]

I'll sign this petition.

[AngelOfMercy]

I'll also sign, The image is a little too "Tall" right now :p

[Biigoh]

It does seem a tad tall.

[balder]

Anyone else find it ironic that a picture of Stanley is too tall?

I'll work with Harknell on some other options for this. Won't be addressed any time soon, but will be addressed eventually.

[Arkenputtyknife]

One possibility would be to put the avatar and user information on one side of the page (I know someone has expressed the opinion that they'd prefer it to be on the left) and the Tool logo, if needed, on the other. It would reduce the effective with of the page for message content, but probably not enough to be a problem, especially if it were only the image with no width-hogging information attached.

[Alcazabedabra]

I actually don't mind the current layout. I don't really like it when posts crowd eachother, and my mousewheel is nice and sensitive so I can do a lot of scrolling.

[Archaic]

One possibility would be to put the avatar and user information on one side of the page (I know someone has expressed the opinion that they'd prefer it to be on the left) and the Tool logo, if needed, on the other. It would reduce the effective with of the page for message content, but probably not enough to be a problem, especially if it were only the image with no width-hogging information attached.

While I've not extensively used phpBB myself, doing something like that is generally a huge pain in the ass to try and code up with the templates. The default setups allow for that stat block only on one side or the other, or occasionally on top or below a post. Everything has to be clustered together, it doesn't allow for you to split it up.

[Arkenputtyknife]

While I've not extensively used phpBB myself, doing something like that is generally a huge pain in the ass to try and code up with the templates. The default setups allow for that stat block only on one side or the other, or occasionally on top or below a post. Everything has to be clustered together, it doesn't allow for you to split it up.

I really can't see that this is a problem, at all.

Style sheets make things like this very, very easy. The necessary ‘code’ can be placed in a separate style sheet, in the document's header, or right by the text it's affecting. (Just like JavaScript, in fact.) Putting it in a style sheet is the best way; the affected text need only reference the necessary style. But if for some reason that's not possible (and I don't believe for an instant that that is the case), the style can be placed inline with the text.

[fleazilla]

Instead of having the icon on the other side of the page, maybe it could go right beside the poster's avatar? I dont think this solves the original poster's complaint though since they dont even use an avatar and are still griping about the height used.

[Gez]

If it really annoys you, you can block the image with adblock+ (provided you use Firefox). People will still retain the "I am a tool!" caption under their avatar but the picture doesn't get displayed and doesn't affect layout anymore. Here's the result of a test:

Spoiler: show

Personally I don't mind so I didn't keep that filter.