Thank You so much. I should have been able to figure that out, maybe it was too simple and I was looking for complicated.

An "avatar" is the physical manifestation of a deity.  In the cyberworld (forums, chat rooms. etc.), the term is now used to mean a graphical or digital representation of the "user".

So it is basically a photo or image used to represent you.  In this forum, there is a library of avatar images that can be selected to represent you - several people can use the same image (this is the easiest).  Or you can upload a photo or image of your own from your computer.

The file extensions (the letters after the name of a file on your computer) gif, jpg, jpeg, png represent digital image or photo files that are acceptable to upload as your own avatar.  Any file with those extensions may be used, but you may have to shrink the image as the size for an avatar is limited.  We can help walk you through the process.  Or you can email us the image you would like to use (some readers have done this) and we can shrink it and set it up as an avatar for you.

Under the "Pictures" topic in this Forum Tips forum is an explanation of how to insert a photo into your post if the photo is located somewhere on the web (in a photo gallery, for example).  That same explanation works for photos in your "signature".  Few people have done this, so I am checking into simpler methods. 

 

   

I decided to use this topic to do my first post so I could check out what my avatar and .sig looked like. Next time I'll try and have something useful to contribute.