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enter image description here

Notice how there's a shadow under my avatar? Now I know this shadow comes from the recent addition of the "user card".

However, it just doesn't look good on some avatars. Is there no way around this for people with alpha-transparency in their avatars?

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  • 6
    Solution: stay below 2k rep ;-)
    – Joachim Sauer
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:11
  • That won't be an option. ;)
    – sudo rm -rf
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:12
  • 3
    Or empty your bio. Seriously, I agree that it just doesn't look nice on some avatars.
    – user138231
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:17
  • @Chi: Aaah ... with an empty bio, you won't get a user-card?
    – doncherry
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:19
  • 5
    @Joachim You mean 1k?
    – Jason Plank
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:19
  • @Jason: indeed, I mis-remembered the cutoff value.
    – Joachim Sauer
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:20
  • 1
    @Don: indeed, the bio must contain some text. I see however on your tex.se profile which contains only an image that you got the dropshadow, but not the card. There's some bug here as well :)
    – user138231
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:23
  • I don't know anything about the web design techniques used here, so this is a blue-eyed suggestion: Would it be possible to adapt the shadow according to the outline of the picture with transparency? So that e.g. in sudo's current picture, it wouldn't display the white frame but instead cast a shadow around the right and bottom edges of the round-cornered square in his pic?
    – doncherry
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:24
  • @doncherry: Unfortunately that's not possible with the current specifications of CSS.
    – sudo rm -rf
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:40
  • @Chichiray: I don't have an empty bio on my SO user account. I just haven't filled it in with my other accounts. Fix'd.
    – sudo rm -rf
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:41
  • 3
    Slightly related: How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /' ;-)
    – Arjan
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:46
  • @Arjan: Ha! I've actually never used it myself. I've been content with videos about it. :)
    – sudo rm -rf
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:50
  • @sudo rm -rf: There is a way to turn it off. See meta.stackexchange.com/questions/105220/…
    – user151803
    Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 12:17

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
7

You think you're unhappy?

I've got two shadows.

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5

Hum I think this would indeed be problematic for some user.

If I may try a suggestion, maybe we should change the background colour of the usercard (instead of adding a shadow) for people with profiles?

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  • 2
    How does that fix the problem with the not alpha-transparency-honoring-shadow?
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:20
  • @Strait because you remove the shadowing. The problem is not the color but the shadow am I right.
    – M'vy
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:38
  • Now I get you! Remove the shadow, change color instead. Now I understand.
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Commented Sep 2, 2011 at 14:44
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I agree it should indeed be changed. It's a minor detail, but "breaks" the elegance of many users' avatars.

Personally I now avoid getting a description precisely because of that :(

Just look at the top users here on meta: Jeff, Bill the Lizard, Robert Harvey, Popular Demand, and many more, all have avatars with white or transparent background which are sort of "broken" by this change.

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5
  • There is a way to turn it off. See meta.stackexchange.com/questions/105220/…
    – user151803
    Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 12:19
  • @Saul very cool, but unfortunately this is "client side" - so everything will look fine to me but the elegance of my avatar will be still ruined for others :)
    – Oak
    Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 12:24
  • You missed the +5 comment by Hendrik Vogt. To fix your gravatar for others use <!-- summary: &nbsp; -->
    – user151803
    Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 12:27
  • @Saul very cool, but this disables the user card completely.
    – Oak
    Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 12:33
  • Yeah, that's the downside.
    – user151803
    Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 12:36

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