I'm new to AARoads and I have a ton of questions to ask (and, by the way, hi)

[-NCX75-]

Whelp, this is it. I've finally registered here on the good ol' AARoads forum. It's taken me a bit, as I've mostly been lurking, so, umm... yeah. Hi. 
I am 14 years old and I live, not in Dallas, but close to it in Plano (don't hate me, please), and a quick 5-minute drive to my namesake, the Central Expressway. (US-75, if you want to get technical. And I've seen some posts on here. People here love to get technical.) I have been interested in roads, (gasp) public transit and (gasp) airports since I was about four. (I won't talk about the latter two here, of course.) Roads, primarily freeways, interest me because it always provokes in me a sense of wonder, as in, where does this road go? What's this road like up ahead? Does it get wider, narrower, older, newer? How does the terrain change? How is the ride through the city of suchandsuch? When I exit a road, I wonder what it's like up ahead. Where's that car  going, where did it come from? Stuff like that.

Anyway...

Before I become a super-user of this forum, I'd kind of like to, y'know, build up my account a bit, and like many of you, I figured a good way to do that would be to give myself an avatar. I have a design lying around that I'd like to use, but every time I try to use it, it says that the file is either too big (I shrunk the .png down to 5 kb so that shouldn't be a problem) or it isn't an avatar (what's that supposed to mean, anyway?). Could it be the fact that part of the design is partially transparent? I figured that if anybody had that problem it would be people that use the forum (obviously), and I'd like to ask for clarification on that front.

Also, how do you add a picture to your signature? Once again, I have one in mind that I'd like to use, but as far as I know you can only enter words (and we all know about the dangers of excessive typing... right?)

Moving to a more general area, what should I keep in mind when posting/commenting? For example, I have some "standards" that I apply to roads, but I don't know too much about the "typical" roadgeek... for example, is all Clearview considered bad? Most Clearview I see is good enough, and it looks better in my opinion than its counterpart on other signs, but the mindset here seems to be that the typeface should be burnt at the stake. I understand that not everybody has the same tastes, but there seems to be a set of opinions in which generally everyone has here. (Which isn't a bad thing.)

This seems out of the blue but what exactly is Alanland? I hear about it but don't actually know anything about the place. I checked online, it seems to be a fictional state or something. It looks to be tossed around everywhere here. What are other little "inside ideas" (hesitant to say "jokes") here?

...And that was the normal set of questions from a new user, which to be honest there doesn't really seem to be that many of. I apologize for the longish post, I'm not always this wordy. I am, however, looking forward to more posts and comments in the future!

[sammi]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Read the Forum Guidelines well.

I figured a good way to do that would be to give myself an avatar. I have a design lying around that I'd like to use, but every time I try to use it, it says that the file is either too big (I shrunk the .png down to 5 kb so that shouldn't be a problem) or it isn't an avatar (what's that supposed to mean, anyway?). Could it be the fact that part of the design is partially transparent? I figured that if anybody had that problem it would be people that use the forum (obviously), and I'd like to ask for clarification on that front.

My avatar is partly transparent too (and so are many others here), so it's definitely not that. It might be the size limit though.

Also, how do you add a picture to your signature? Once again, I have one in mind that I'd like to use, but as far as I know you can only enter words (and we all know about the dangers of excessive typing... right?)

Upload an image somewhere, then take the URL and put it in [IMG] tags. There's also a size limit on signature images (see the Forum Guidelines).

Moving to a more general area, what should I keep in mind when posting/commenting? For example, I have some "standards" that I apply to roads, but I don't know too much about the "typical" roadgeek... for example, is all Clearview considered bad?

The FHWA has some guidelines on Clearview here: Design and Use Policy for Clearview Alphabet. So no, not all Clearview.

Most Clearview I see is good enough, and it looks better in my opinion than its counterpart on other signs, but the mindset here seems to be that the typeface should be burnt at the stake.

Personally, I find Clearview's numbers ugly, especially in route shields. The letters are fine. Clearview can be done right, and that's when you follow the guidelines (see the FHWA document).

I understand that not everybody has the same tastes, but there seems to be a set of opinions in which generally everyone has here. (Which isn't a bad thing.)

Some of us dislike Clearview, some others like it, the rest just don't care. More on Clearview in this thread.

This seems out of the blue but what exactly is Alanland? I hear about it but don't actually know anything about the place.

You're in for a loooooong read... The Alanland thread is at least 70 78 pages long!

[US71]

This seems out of the blue but what exactly is Alanland? I hear about it but don't actually know anything about the place.

You're in for a loooooong read... The Alanland thread is at least 70 78 pages long!

Alanland is like Willoughby

[Zeffy]

Welcome to the forum! 

You're in for a loooooong read... The Alanland thread is at least 70 78 pages long!

The first rule is you do and don't talk about Alanland. Okay, those jokes are pretty stale now. Carrying on...

Anyway, your signature image is pretty big. By pretty big, I mean "You probably want to shrink it down before the mods remove it" sort of big. I believe that the images are allowed to be pretty wide (can't exactly remember the width restriction), but the height restriction is 100px tall.

Moving to a more general area, what should I keep in mind when posting/commenting? For example, I have some "standards" that I apply to roads, but I don't know too much about the "typical" roadgeek... for example, is all Clearview considered bad? Most Clearview I see is good enough, and it looks better in my opinion than its counterpart on other signs, but the mindset here seems to be that the typeface should be burnt at the stake. I understand that not everybody has the same tastes, but there seems to be a set of opinions in which generally everyone has here. (Which isn't a bad thing.)

Clearview is considered bad when it's used incorrectly - and that is a good 99% of the time in my book. Of course, everyone has different tastes, but the good news is that Texas A&M released a study recently that proved that FHWA Series E was more legible with modified spacing (basically EM minus the stroke width) than Clearview. Now, the FHWA has since rescinded the interim approval for states to use it on guide signs it seems. Of course, that only applies to people like me who think that the font sucked when used incorrectly, which caused it to suck in general.

All in all, there's not many restrictions on what you can talk about - signs, interchange design, how x should be an Interstate (wait, no, don't do that), how this sign looks, etc. Just make sure you keep politics and stuff that may be considered questionable to post out of the forum. Otherwise it's pretty laid back as long as you don't engage in harassment of other members.

[vtk]

If you like Clearview you might want to go into your forum preferences and pick a different display theme. One of them has everything in Clearview.

[hotdogPi]

Welcome!

[Zeffy]

If you like Clearview you might want to go into your forum preferences and pick a different display theme. One of them has everything in Clearview.

Which renders half of the forum illegible, especially on a mobile device. 

[-NCX75-]

Thanks guys, I expected these sorts of answers, but they are still immensely helpful for someone trying to learn the ropes. Zeffy, I made my signature image a bit smaller, hopefully it helps. I guess I'll try to avaid talking abut Alanland if I can help it.

[Zeffy]

Still a bit big. Here's an image that the admins won't find too big:



Feel free to use this. No credit needed, unless you want to give it to me! (Even though the only thing I did was take your image and make it more forum suitable!  )

[Molandfreak]

Just get rid of the transparent area on the image. I think it's an ok size.

[vtk]

If you like Clearview you might want to go into your forum preferences and pick a different display theme. One of them has everything in Clearview.

Which renders half of the forum illegible, especially on a mobile device. 

It looks fine in Firefox on my desktop and in Android Browser on my mobile terminal.

[txstateends]

Still a bit big. Here's an image that the admins won't find too big:

Hey neighbor (well, down the street a ways anyway ).... good to see another TX member around here.

Wow, Zeffy did a good job on resizing your signature pic!  You still get Central/Lovers, and your avatar logo--it may seem a little squished vs. what you may have originally wanted, but at least you have a pic/graphical option here.  Some forums I've been to are absolutely anti-pix/graphics/avatars and others are a mix.  Either way, Zeffy worked his usual magic and it looks good.

14, huh?  You'd have to be one of the youngest members on the board.  Welcome!!

Hard to believe you're not old enough to know about many of the road/non-road changes in your part of DFW first-hand.  Like the original look of Central, or when Ave. K was US 75, or when 15th Street went by the name 'Mechanic Street', or when many of your streets were originally rural, white gravel roads.  Aging myself much?  OK. well, I'm not old enough to have seen all of those in person, but some of them.

Anyway NCX, don't be a stranger, and if you have any local ??s, I can try to help.

[texaskdog]

Don't apologize for being a Texan!

[sammi]

Don't apologize for being a Texan!

He was apologizing for living just outside of Dallas instead of in it.

[-NCX75-]

Once again thanks Zeffy for the tip, and for even doing the legwork for me (for the signature pic). I changed it, and you're awesome for it. And sammi is right, I don't want people to belittle me because I don't live in Dallas proper. Oh well, people here probably aren't so concerned about it as opposed to other forums. Again, a big thanks guys! 

[Zeffy]

Once again thanks Zeffy for the tip, and for even doing the legwork for me (for the signature pic). I changed it, and you're awesome for it.

No problem. 

[US81]

There are enough Texans now to have a great Texas road meet! 

[Alex]

Welcome to the board!

One of our long time contributors lives not too far away in Richardson.

[texaskdog]

There are enough Texans now to have a great Texas road meet! 

Yeehaw

[vtk]

I don't technically live in Columbus either. Don't sweat it.

[JoePCool14]

Welcome to the forums!

BTW, 13 is the youngest here! (ME)

[amroad17]

^I used to live at that Erlanger exit in your sign of the week.