3 Members with sideways profile picture

[Nancy Marsh]

I know this may not be a Ning problem. But these three folks recently joined my private network and all three have uploaded profile pictures that are on their side. These people are not very technical but I can't think any of them would load an image that's sideways and expect it would display properly.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can guide them to fix this? I don't see any way in Ning for them to rotate the pic. I know Preview will rotate a picture on a Mac. What's the best way to do that in Windows?

I'm also curious if anyone else has noticed this. I've not seen sideways profile pictures really at all in the last 2 years. Now 3 in the last 3 days. Just wondering.

Thanks, Nancy

[Nancy Marsh]

It seems my members are having a hard time. The photo they upload is proper orientation before they upload. One member said she tried another photo, also correct orientation before uploading, and it was sideways in her Ning profile.

So what's Ning doing to the photo? Is the source file too big? Wouldn't the crop tool take care of that? I'd appreciate some help here. Ning, please give administrators some ability to manage their user's profile. My members seem a little upset that they can't been seen right side up.

I've asked her to send me a copy of the photo by email. I'll see if I can reproduce the issue on my test network, if and when I hear back from her.

[Nancy Marsh]

I found the problem. The photo was taken on a phone and the size of the photo is the issue. The profile photos need to be roughly square in order to display properly - so cropping the photo helped. This is all great when the member is willing (or able) to crop the photo. I've offered to doing the photo editing - again, I feel like jumping through hoops.

Since so many people use phones to take pictures now, this seems like it would be a common problem. Why can't Ning manage the photo better? Or give an error message or some kind of indication that the member has to make some change to the photo so that it works properly? Currently, it just turns the pic sideways, with no indication of why and no option to crop or rotate.

I understand the philosophy of the system (everyone looks after their own profile) but I've been managing systems on various levels for 20 years and not providing your administrators with tools to help users when they are unable to do it themselves is unkind to us and our members.

[Neil Norton]

Nice work Nancy.  This issue was driving me insane.  Until Ning fixes I will just download photos and square them up for members that complain.  Still, I am sure many members do not complain.  I agree, there should at least be a message.  

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