How do you disable user icons?

sheffieldbleep · January 2008

How do/can you disable user icons in vanilla? I'm using the default theme. Cheers

Fyorl · January 2008

Perhaps giving a default role icon of a blank image would accomplish that.

Daniel · January 2008

By editing some theme-files?

Wanderer · January 2008

I'm sure it's in the vanilla.css file, set to display:none maybe?

dan39 · January 2008

uh, none of the suggestions above are good ways to turn off the icons because the users will still see an option to activate the icons from their Profile page.

squirrel · January 2008

Fyorl is right, setting the icon of the "Member" role to a blank image will override any icons that members specify in their Profile pages.

Fyorl · January 2008

@dan39: Users still see an option to add an icon even if Role Icons are set. So you have exactly the same problem if you set any type of default role icon, not just a blank one.

sheffieldbleep · January 2008

Found it; to disable icons you need to edit the code in the 'account_identity_form.php' ps tell me if this is bad practice but it takes the ability to add icons away so *thumbs up*

Wanderer · January 2008

It's only "bad practice" because you have edited a core file and will probably need to do it again when Vanilla is updated.

Maybe some clever person is able to make it an extension for you?

Posted: Tuesday, 29 January 2008 at 9:18PM

Fyorl · January 2008

Why make an extension or hack a core file when you can do it without any of that?

Wanderer · January 2008

OK, so how?

Fyorl · January 2008

By using the method I suggested in the second post of this discussion.

dan39 · January 2008

Doesn't that just insert an empty box next to everyone's name? That's not really a solution. sheffieldbleep's idea is better, but it has minor drawbacks. The proper way to edit account_identity_form.php is to make a new theme and edit the file within that theme to remove the preference from the account page. Of course, if you already have users who've added the icon to their profile, that won't remove their icon. You'll need to edit the comments.php file in your theme as well. Making a new theme is the best practices approach because it will make upgrading to new versions of Vanilla easier.

Fyorl · January 2008

It is a solution as it solves the problem. It may not solve it to the extent that you imagine it should but that's not reason enough to label it as not being a solution at all.

squirrel · February 2008

If the empty box is 1x1 pixel and transparent, who really gives a rat's ass?

ChrisGwynne · February 2008

But that's a dirty hack to what should be a default feature.

Fyorl · February 2008

It's the least dirty of the hacks posted here, but yes, it probably should be a default feature.

Minisweeper · February 2008

More appropriately, user icons shouldn't even be in the core - if you're gonna go *really* vanilla about this.

Fyorl · February 2008

Ha, in fact, we shouldn't have whispers or categories or even profile pages.

Minisweeper · February 2008

Yeah. Whispers got taken out once but adding them as an extension slowed the thing down far too much so they went back in the core. Categories have been on the verge...

squirrel · February 2008

Hold up, I'm all for "vanilla" but truly there is a minimum level of functionality that people expect from a forum out of the box.

sheffieldbleep · February 2008

Putting a blank image as default is not good due to the modifications I plan for the theme. My aim was to take away the ability to choose an icon rather than disable them, perhaps I should have called the thread that. It's only a small edit in the account_identity_form.php (just delete a few lines) so I can live with that when it comes to updates. Would be great for an add-on to do the job though. I've also taken away the ability to choose an account image (edits the same file).

Fyorl · February 2008

Well... I suppose I could write an extension. I'm kinda busy right now so you won't see it for a while. Are there any other takers?

Wanderer · February 2008

I like graphics, a user icon and to a lesser extent, an account picture would be an essential aspect of any theme. I wouldn't spend any time on such an extension.

ChrisGwynne · February 2008

An extension to remove a bit of core coding, seems redundant.

Wanderer · February 2008

As I understand it, the user icon stuffs up his theme design so he wants it gone and out, fair enough.

He also wants the reference to the user icon removed from the account page so people don't waste their time assigning an icon then wondering why it's not showing up.

It's a fair request given all of that, no less worthy than some of the other requests on here.

Posted: Sunday, 3 February 2008 at 9:28AM

Fyorl · February 2008

Why would it be redundant? If the core code doesn't allow the option of removing user icons then it should be added as an extension. After all, that is what extensions were designed for. Core code doesn't do something -> Create an extension to implement it. As an example the core code doesn't take into account the role priority settings when allowing users the change roles. That means anyone with the role change permission can promote themselves to Administrator and demote everyone else. I wrote an extension to fix that. Is that redundant? It doesn't remove any core coding but it certainly replaces it.

sheffieldbleep · February 2008

Thanks for the replies, I realize most people love icons/avatars pictures but lots prefer a minimalist clean look too. An extension would definitely be cool to take out those facilities even if it isn't used by many.

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How do you disable user icons?

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