Eng:User Icon

A user icon (also known as a logo or a profile picture) is an image on a user's profile. It is used to represent the user and can often identify the Scratcher. New accounts start out with the default Scratch cat icon created by Yickpoo, shown to the right.

The old default icon was not a cat, but a human silhouette. Once the user set a different user icon, they could not change it unless they created another account, or imported the default.[clarification needed]

Now, it is possible for one to easily change their user icon at any time they wish.

Get a User Icon
One can get a user icon in one of many ways. These include:
 * Making your own in a photo manipulation program, such as MS Paint, GIMP, Paint.NET, Photoshop, or even the Scratch Paint Editor!
 * Finding an icon on the internet.
 * Requesting one in the Requests forum.
 * Using a picture already on your computer such as ones you have scanned or example pictures, or even photographs loaded onto your computer.

Set a User Icon


To set a user icon, you must:


 * 1) Go to your profile page.
 * 2) Hover your mouse over your current user icon.
 * 3) When you hover over your picture, you will see the word "Change" in the upper left-hand corner.
 * 4) You will be led to your computer's file browser when you click "Change".
 * 5) Find and select the picture you want.
 * 6) Click "Open" and you're done!

There are some restrictions on what can be uploaded. They are:


 * Must be a bitmap file format
 * Cannot be larger than one megabyte.

Animated GIFs
Animated GIFs are GIF files that have more than one frame, and can thus contain animation. Once users realized they could set these as their icons, they became very popular. One can make GIF files in many of the aforementioned paint programs, as well as Pivot Stickfigure and Stykz. In the Requests forum, some users run "shops" where they give people animated GIFs for icons. To make your profile picture an animated GIF, go to a website with GIFS, save one to your file, and follow the same steps you usually do to change your icon. Animated icons are very popular and often used as user icons.

User icon
User icons can be seen throughout the Scratch Website. Specifically, they can be found:


 * At a user's profile
 * Alongside every comment made by a user
 * Next to every forum post by that user (this location presents the largest size and best quality)

While few, each of those items can be seen many times.
 * In a Scratch Wiki signature on a talk page, created by signing with four tildes ( ~ ).