Thanks. All true.

I used your uploaded animation and downsized it. The original file size was around 3 MB and that is way too big for a forum avatar. Most forums require something no larger than 250-300 KB.

Using your file and Photoshop CS6, I reduced the pixel dimensions from 260x195 to 150x113 (appears the maximum longest side is 150 pixels in this forum) and limited the number of colors from 256 to 128. This is easily done for a GIF file in CS6's "Save for Web". These modifications gave me a reduced file size of 283.5 KB.

When I downloaded you original avatar (w/o the animation), I saw it was a jpg file. I think what happened was you tried to upload your 3 MB animated GIF as an avatar and the system kicked it out, saving only the first frame as a jpg file.

It's just a GIF file, but it has a lot more frames (240) at a time delay of 0.08 seconds. That is why it is "more fluid". There are not many pixels in that simple illustration, so the file size can be reduced a lot. The file size is only 260 KB.

By comparison, EdJ0307's is 50 frames with a time delay of 0.14 seconds per frame.

I think the problem is your file size. Try this one:

GIF files are an option in your profile. There may be some file size limitations, but I just loaded a GIF file for my avatar. It shows in my profile, hope it works here.

Edited to add, it works just fine. It's subtle, just watch for a few seconds.

Actually, I'm glad to see this post. I had not heard of the Peak Design before seeing it here, and I frequent UHH over the last several months and a few other photo forums as well. I don't disagree with you, just saying I would have missed the discussion without knowing about the product.

Agree, and an 18x24 mat with an 11-3/4 x 17-3/4 opening gives 1/8-inch overlap onto the print for mounting. That will give you an even 3-1/8-inch mat border around the print and fit nicely into a standard 18 x 24 frame. That is one of my standards for matting and framing.

Using the crop tool in Photoshop Elements you should be able to insert the desired dimensions as 11 inches and 14 inches. You will need to use the crop tool and not "resize image". The image area to be lost will be darkened on the screen with this tool. Re-sizing alone does not work because if you set the horizontal dimension to 14 inches, the other will just resize to keep the same aspect ratio as the original.

I can see why you would not want to crop out the sides of your image. Another option is to add image area to the top and/or bottom to get to the desired 11 x 14 aspect ratio. This may be beyond your current Photoshop (and Photoshop Elements) skill level.

Do you understand how to crop an image? An 11 x 14 image will fit on a 13 x19 piece of photo paper. Maybe someone can walk you through the steps if you provide a little more information and/or upload the image file.

You need to crop and enlarge your image to 11x14 inches with a pixel density of 240 pixels per inch (or more). If you can't, or don't want to, crop the image area, then you will need a custom-cut mat.