quote:
Originally posted by Unknown...
surely I'm not the only one who finds this annoying.
indeed, you are not alone...
in fact, the first time the oversized DP patch was introduced, I suggested to add a restriction on it as I knew it would lead to the situation it is now (people abusing it and MS who restricted it in their new messenger)....
Anyways,
quote:
Originally posted by Attitude Extreme
if we do make this there will be more features aswell as this.
The "only" options/features I could see are:
+----------+----------+-------+
| Settings | Advanced | About |
+-+----------+----------+-------+-------------------------------------+
| |
| (*) Convert all the display pictures to 96x96 |
| ( ) Convert the display pictures from contacts I select only |
| |
| +--Contact selection--------------------------------------------+ |
| | | |
| | +--My contact list--+ +--Selected Contacts--+ | |
| | | other contacts | [ Add -> ] | | | |
| | | contactname 1 | [ <- Remove ] | | | |
| | | contactname 2 | | | | |
| | | contactname 3 | [ Add All -> ] | | | |
| | | contactname 4 | [<- Remove All] | | | |
| | +-------------------+ +---------------------+ | |
| | | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------------+ |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------+----------+-------+
| Settings | Advanced | About |
+-+----------+----------+-------+-------------------------------------+
| |
| +--Convertion method------------------+ |
| | | |
| | ( ) Convert by using pixel pesizing | |
| | ( ) Convert by resampling | |
| | | |
| | (*) Convert by cropping | |
| | +++ | |
| | +++ | |
| | +++ | |
| | | |
| +-------------------------------------+ |
| |
| +--Background color-------------------+ |
| | | |
| | ( ) Solid color: [###] | |
| | (*) Transparent | |
| | | |
| +-------------------------------------+ |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Explaination:
- The "contact selection" is indeed the same as the one used by Plus!. This also means that the frame is disabled and greyed out when you select "Convert all the display pictures to 96x96"
- The "other contacts" are all other contacts who are not listed in your contactlist (eg: people on your reverse list).
- "pixel resizing", "resampling" and "cropping" are the methods used to convert the DP back to 96x96.
- "pixel resizing" and "resampling" will only convert DP's bigger then 96x96; smaller ones are not converted (AKA magnified), but simply centered in the new 96x96 DP. Also, the aspect ratio is kept as it is. (when you allow the aspect ratio to change too, it would make very ackward DP's which is not the purpose and thus also not usefull for this addon.)
- "pixel resizing" is the easiest one to program, it will result in what you see when you resize an image in your browser; AKA no anti-aliasing.
- "resampling" means resizing with anti-alias methods (like bilinear resampling, bicubic resampling, etc.) often used in paint programs. If you like you can make it so that you can even select the resample method with an added dropdown list.
- When "cropping" is choosen, you can select which corner square (96x96 px) is used to crop the image: upper left, upper middle, upper right, middle left, center, middle right, lower left, lower middle, lower right.
The blue in the example depicts the lower right corner.
Blown up, the whole control looks something like this:
+---+---+---+
| | | |
+---+---+---+
| | | |
+---+---*****
| | * *
+---+---*****
well, you know what I mean 
Of course some bits of the image can't be selected if the image is too big. But making a control where you can move the square freely around on the DP would be too much "freedom" and this is also rather useless as the position would be image specific and the contact may change the DP. Thus, only 9 positions, is more then enough "freedom" IMO...
When the original DP is smaller then 96x96, selecting a different crop-square wouldn't make any difference in the result as each square is 96x96 pixels anyways. In this case the DP will be centered in a 96x96 square (with a background color surrounding the original DP).
- "Background": In case the original DP is smaller then 96x96, the area around the DP needs to have a color. Or when the image is resized/resampled and the aspect ration wasn't 1:1, then there is also a blank space on the sides. The background color to fill that space can be selected here.
quote:
Originally posted by Unknown...
It'll be hard enough to resize the display picture before it gets displayed.
Indeed, this "plugin" (more like an addon for messenger, due the way it has to be made) wouldn't be easy to make at all; You need advanced programming knowledge for this: You need to intercept the DP and change it before it is saved in the cache of MSN Messenger. So this addon needs to deal with the protocol. Putting it in another way: you need to make a proxy also.
/ 
