How to Add a New Cover Picture and Profile Picture

You might have noticed that we have a Profile Page which has the option for both a profile picture and a cover picture. We currently don't have it programed to be able to upload a picture from your computer. BUT, what you can do is link to an already existing image, that's posted anywhere on the web--including here on permies.

First, you find the image that you want (if you don't have one online, you can always attach it to one of your posts), right-click on it, and select "Copy Image Address"



Then, go to your profile settings and paste that URL into the form for either "Profile Picture" or "Cover Picture." Scroll to the bottom of your settings and click "Submit." You're new profile &/or cover picture should now be visible!

Hi Nicole!

Not sure if this is the correct place to report this, but the "change profile picture" button on the new profiles does not appear to be functioning correctly (at least not on the most recent versions of Google Chrome or Firefox).

When you preview your public profile and hover over your profile picture, the site offers to let you "change picture", but clicking on the link brings you back to the main profile info page. It seems like another dialog is opening up very briefly (I've caught glimpses a few times) and then automatically redirects to the profile page.

I may also just be confused. If the intention of this button is just to send one back to the main profile and use this method to link to an existing image in Permies, then I guess it's functioning as intended!

Nicole Sharpe wrote:

I may also just be confused. If the intention of this button is just to send one back to the main profile and use this method to link to an existing image in Permies, then I guess it's functioning as intended!

That's currently how it's set up. It'd be lovely if it didn't send someone to their profile, but I think that takes a bit of extra coding, and our developers are rather busy right now! Thank you for checking and pointing it out!

Hi Nicole,  Until I found this little tutorial (the light at the end of the tunnel) , I spent an hour trying to figure out how to change my photo. Therefore, I was wondering if a brief description (or even just a link to this post) could be added right next to the word "Picture" and "Cover picture" within the "General Information about yourself " section of a person's profile. I've noticed that many people don't have a customized picture possibly due to not knowing how to add one like me. Thanks!

I had photos at my profile and then they disappeared after awhile.

I think it's because I used pictures that I had at facebook and for some reason those don't stick permanently elsewhere.  
I don't have them any place else on line....they are all stored on my computer and flash drives.  Possibly others who have them on their phone or other devices can't load them to their profile by the current method either.

I wonder if a thread here just for folks to post their profile pics to copy from would help...not too redundant

Maybe that's why so few have loaded photos to their profile?

Judith Browning wrote:

I wonder if a thread here just for folks to post their profile pics to copy from would help...not too redundant

Maybe that's why so few have loaded photos to their profile?

Excellent idea. I just tried linking to some pics I have on flickr but this doesn't seem to work. So a thread for uploading pics without deviating / spamming other existing threads would be fine. Thanks!

Anita Martini wrote:

Judith Browning wrote:

I wonder if a thread here just for folks to post their profile pics to copy from would help...not too redundant

Maybe that's why so few have loaded photos to their profile?

Excellent idea. I just tried linking to some pics I have on flickr but this doesn't seem to work. So a thread for uploading pics without deviating / spamming other existing threads would be fine. Thanks!

I began a thread here  https://permies.com/t/98269/post-photos-profile-line-load

Judith Browning wrote:
I began a thread here  https://permies.com/t/98269/post-photos-profile-line-load

Awesome Judith! Thank you!.....but........only solves half the problem  

Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here (sorry), but for people who don't know anything about how to get pictures to show in their profiles in the first place, could there be a link to this thread or short description of how to do this in the "General info about yourself" ?  

Gerry Parent wrote:

Judith Browning wrote:
I began a thread here  https://permies.com/t/98269/post-photos-profile-line-load

Awesome Judith! Thank you!.....but........only solves half the problem  

Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here (sorry), but for people who don't know anything about how to get pictures to show in their profiles in the first place, could there be a link to this thread or short description of how to do this in the "General info about yourself" ?  

you're right! a link to this thread seems like a really good idea as it might be hard to write a short, clear description...it took me awhile to understand that the photos had to already be on line rather than stored on my computer

I think that's a great idea! I'll see if we can make it happen

A little suggestion for this feature

It could be very helpful to know what sort of size pictures work best for these options.

My 1st attempt at the cover pic, all the best parts were cropped out leaving the worst of the pic.

I have since cropped a pic and tried again. Though still waiting to see if it will load into my profile pic. Just getting a blank cover area now.

I can see your profile picture, but not your cover picture. No idea why!

I think we were able to get measurements for the profile picture. With the cover picture, the problem is that it scales to your browser screen. So if you zoom out, or zoom in, or make your profile narrower, you'll get different amounts of the picture you posted.

Interesting, well I did another less banner shaped crop, and this one now works.

Must be something about the scaling that makes too letter box shaped images not work. Which is funny since that is the shape I saw in my browser so figured I should make it that shape.

Devin Lavign wrote:Interesting, well I did another less banner shaped crop, and this one now works.

Must be something about the scaling that makes too letter box shaped images not work. Which is funny since that is the shape I saw in my browser so figured I should make it that shape.

My cover photo is cropped to a 'banner' shape and seems to work.  I first tried pictures I had used at face book and they would disappear for some reason.  Posting here at permies first and then adding to my profile ended up working well.  Maybe because permies has an auto adjust for pixels? My original photos are high resolution and I usually forget to resize before posting.

This is the shape of my cropped cover photo...