Remove rounded border edges on avatar

[pr0way]

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Product Feedback

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I'd like to find option (toggle switch in profile settings) to get rid of avatar round edges (or to be more specific - round grey border/box shadow) at profil page and in right top corner (as a logged in) . If you have profile picture that uses alpha channel, you don't need this. Moreover SVG support would be nice touch.

[github-actions[bot]]

💬 Your Product Feedback Has Been Submitted 🎉

Thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us! Your feedback is invaluable as we build a better GitHub experience for all our users.

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• Your input will be carefully reviewed and cataloged by members of our product teams. 
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• GitHub staff may reach out for further clarification or insight. 
  • We may 'Answer' your discussion if there is a current solution, workaround, or roadmap/changelog post related to the feedback.

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[Saad200724]

💬 Responding to the GitHub Discussion

Since the user is asking for a new feature (a toggle switch) for design control, the best response validates the request as product feedback.

1. Acknowledge and Validate

The GitHub avatar design is controlled by the platform’s core CSS.

"Hello! That's a great piece of Product Feedback, and I can certainly understand the desire for more control over visual elements, especially when managing a professional brand like yours (ZnForge/Cyber Hub).

Currently, the shape of the profile avatar (rounded edges/circle) is defined by GitHub's default CSS and there is no official toggle in the user settings to change this to a square or rounded rectangular style."

2. Explain the Technical Reason

The image is cropped into a circle using CSS.

"The avatar is rendered using the CSS property border-radius. On your side, the uploaded image is typically displayed as a square, but GitHub applies styles like border-radius: 50% to make it circular or rounded. This is a common web design pattern.

Your point about SVG support and alpha channels is very valid—a toggle to allow users to use their source image's shape (like a custom square or an irregular shape via SVG/alpha transparency) would require GitHub to remove or modify the default CSS styling for logged-in users, which is a significant UI change."

3. Provide the Workaround (for personal viewing only)

While you can't change it for everyone, you can change it for yourself using browser extensions.

"For personal viewing and debugging, users can employ browser extensions like Stylish or Stylus to inject custom CSS into the GitHub website, setting the avatar's border-radius to 0 to make it square. However, this only changes the appearance for your own browser and is not a solution for all visitors.

Since this is a Product Feedback discussion, the request for an official toggle is the right path forward to get this feature officially supported."

I hope this helps the user understand the limitation and the correct way to handle this as a feature request, Sir.

For a demonstration of creating a custom avatar, which often involves setting borders and shapes using CSS, you might find this video helpful: Build an Avatar Generator with HTML, CSS, JavaScript | Project Tutorial.