WordPress.com Goes Gravatar Crazy
Howdy there bloggers! You’ll no doubt remember that when we acquired Gravatar.com, just over a year ago, we intended to fully integrate it into WordPress.com. It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally replaced the WordPress.com avatar system with those Globally Recognized Avatars. What does this mean? It means your WordPress.com avatar can now follow you around the web. Your avatar can show up on any Gravatar enabled site, regardless of its affiliation with Automattic!
The old avatar tool in your WordPress.com profiles has been replaced with your current Gravatar (left.) If you click on that icon you’ll be taken to Gravatar.com (and automatically logged into your account) where you can easily change your image (right). You can upload an image from your computer, paste in a link to an image on the internet, or even take a picture of yourself using your computers webcam. Cropping and rating your images are as easy as ever. After you finish your new image will automatically attach to your email address (assuming you only have one email address on your account,) or you will be presented with a simple-as-pie list of your email addresses, and you can attach the new image to any or all of them! Just close the Gravatar window when you’re done.
Of course all of the standard Gravatar features are available to you. Upload as many images as you wish, switch them as often as you like, add as many email addresses as you want to your account, and more features still in the works.
If you find that you have an “old” image for your Gravatar, simply click on the link to change it and then click on the “Use your last WordPress.com Avatar” link to get the new one back. There are bound to be some small hiccups here and there. Just let Support know when something doesn’t work quite right, and we’ll get everything ironed out in no time.
Cheers!
DK
Posted: Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 1:59 am. Filed in Avatars, Dashboard, Features, New Features, settings, WordPress.com.
Dec 8th at 2:36 am
Thanks for contstantly upgrading the wordpress community .
Dec 8th at 2:43 am
Sweet thanks for the upgrade.
Dec 8th at 2:49 am
Many surprises this month! =D
Dec 8th at 3:13 am
wew, i like things like theis…
i was confused too……
PERTAMAX !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dec 8th at 3:15 am
Once again, great feature!
Have a great holiday season!
Dec 8th at 3:27 am
I think cranky old geeks should be read – and not seen. But, I’ll give it a try.
Dec 8th at 3:29 am
Saya sangat bersyukur bisa bergabung dengan WordPress.com, yang semakin hari berkembang semakin canggih, lebih mudah mengakses, lebih spesifik dan lebih up to date. Pencetus/pengelola WordPress, makasih buanyak ats perubahan-perubahan yang selama b ergabung sudah banyak kemajuan. Maju terus di dunia maya, dan saya khususnya siap mendukung untuk perkembangan lebih lanjut. Terima kasih.
Dec 8th at 3:40 am
awesome! this is cool!! WOWOWOWOW!
http://www.thebillionairejournal.wordpress.com
Dec 8th at 3:42 am
very cool! i’m loving seeing my blovatar around town and now this! yay!
great work, WordPress!
Dec 8th at 3:52 am
i’ve just tried on my WP.com dashboard
cool!
Dec 8th at 4:50 am
Nice… as always WordPress gets better and better
Dec 8th at 5:05 am
Great! I’ve give a try! ^_^
a like these new changes! *_*
Dec 8th at 5:24 am
worked like a charm for me… thanks
Dec 8th at 5:25 am
So that’s what happened? I was so confused
Dec 8th at 5:43 am
Have already used it, in fact. I like it, of course, just as I like everything WordPress.
Dec 8th at 6:57 am
thats cool.. thanks for inform me..
Dec 8th at 7:14 am
that’s exactly why i shifted and will stick to wordpress forever. thanks for the nice job!
Dec 8th at 7:16 am
What are they good for? I suppose that I will have to try it since I’m clueless about this feature. Thanks for the hard work.
Dec 8th at 8:45 am
Gravatars are part of your identity online. They are the images that appear next to comments you leave on any gravatar-enabled blog. And, as for a cool offline use, Gravatar images were used to create badges for WordCamp San Francisco 2008. Pretty neat! Check out http://en.gravatar.com/site/about to find out more about Gravatars.
Dec 8th at 7:28 am
Um, I blog anonymously. Does this mean I need to make a new email address for my blog?
I definately don’t want to find my avatar being linked with the real me on other sites (where previously it seemed safe to use the same email)
Dec 8th at 6:14 pm
Your Gravatar is connected to your email address, so if you leave comments on another blog and you want to remain anonymous, make sure that the Gravatar connected to that email address is an appropriate image.
Dec 8th at 7:59 am
Thank’s for your information, It’s nice to try
Dec 8th at 8:02 am
Thats a nice feature, the favicons especially. A new feature every week and you people keep reducing the reasons one needs to go for a self-hosted blog.
Dec 8th at 9:10 am
Gravatars and blavatars are different. At WordPress.com, favicons are created using the blavatar from your blog’s Settings page while Gravatars appear next to comments and are created in your account profile page or at http://gravatar.com/
Dec 8th at 8:03 am
Thanks. This is very nice.
Dec 8th at 8:19 am
Well, I am glad to see that Gravatar has a good home. ^_^
Dec 8th at 8:34 am
gravatar on old comments will change too when I change my gravatar now?
Dec 8th at 8:53 am
That’s right, as long as the images next to the old comments are Gravatars, they will change when you update your Gravatar through your WordPress.com profile or at http://gravatar.com/.
Dec 8th at 9:11 am
Wish all you guys at WordPress a great holidays! Thanks again for the upgrade! <3
Dec 8th at 10:29 am
@Sheri, You’re wonderful. Love you from here, Indonesia. check me out http://twitter.com/wimkhan
Dec 8th at 10:33 am
Nice, I really like the this gravatarand blavatar feature
Dec 8th at 10:48 am
cool…. ill try it
Dec 8th at 10:55 am
This is cool. Thanks, WordPress community
Thank you for this feature.
Dec 8th at 11:29 am
I’ve tried it just now… but it seems like you have to wait a lil bit long until your gravatar changed.
Dec 8th at 5:20 pm
Your Gravatar should update right away. However, some browsers may take a while to show new Gravatars. Clearing your browser cache and cookies and completely restarting your browser may help.
Dec 8th at 11:31 am
I don’t know why I struggled for so long on a self-hosted blog.
This is just another good reason to remain with WordPress.com
Even all my old comments show the new Gravatar image.
Dec 8th at 1:36 pm
Cool, im gonna try it out right now!
Dec 8th at 1:37 pm
Oh Good lord, what will be the next!!!!!! :-O
Dec 8th at 2:10 pm
A very cool feature to reflect graphically one’s profile -> via Gravatar.
Can a gravatar be animated? or contain a smiley ?
Dec 8th at 7:14 pm
Gravatars cannot be animated. The only way to include a smiley would be if the smiley was a static graphic that was part of the image.
Dec 8th at 2:29 pm
Yep, I’ve noticed. It was a good idea and most of my friends also thought so. Speaking on the behalf of those, who do not know English. Greetings!
Dec 8th at 2:41 pm
gravatar ROCKS!
Dec 8th at 3:37 pm
goods….
http://basingbe.wordpress.com
Dec 8th at 4:12 pm
why is there so much white space at the top of this page? It forces the text into the margin and I am unable to read the words on the right side of the blog or whatever and cannot even scroll over. (Not a gravatar issue but you can see what I am talking about up at the top here. Thanks
Dec 8th at 4:45 pm
Is this the explanation for the picture of myself – that I have been using happily since I started blogging here – suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a random pattern?
Dec 8th at 5:39 pm
That random pattern is called an identicon. If you see a random pattern instead of your Gravatar, then you should check your WordPress.com profile page to make sure your image is showing up properly there. Also, keep in mind that blog Administrators can choose whether or not to show Gravatars from their Settings -> Discussion page. If your Gravatar is not showing up on a blog, then they may have chosen not to display Gravatars.
Dec 8th at 5:10 pm
buena noticia
Dec 8th at 5:18 pm
Sweet. Thanks y’all.
Dec 8th at 5:19 pm
I think I remember that Gravatar is also a default for IP Board (popular forums).
Dec 8th at 5:41 pm
I’m not (gr)avatar-minded …
Dec 8th at 5:44 pm
I’d like to have an option to not have a Gravatar.
It seems that once you have one, you either have to either have a pictures or show a blank white space.
It would be nice to say – no Gravatar please – it would save space on my RSS reader.
Dec 8th at 6:03 pm
You can delete your Gravatar if you’d like. To do that, simply hover your mouse over the image in the list at the bottom of your Gravatar manage page, and click the red “X”. See http://en.gravatar.com/site/faq/ for more Gravatar questions and answers.
Dec 8th at 6:24 pm
Ah, cool. Nice to not have to update two sites any more. Good job.
Dec 8th at 6:34 pm
Can we forget the word Blavatar then? Or are they two different things?
Dec 8th at 7:07 pm
They are different. A blavatar is a blog avatar and it is displayed in the web address bar next to your blog URL. A Gravatar is a globally recognized avatar and it is displayed next to your comments, in the Authors widget, and some other places depending on how your theme was designed. Gravatars can be used on other websites and applications too. You could see your gravatar on any web-enabled blog or website.
Dec 8th at 7:04 pm
Gravatars, Blavatars – where should I get all the pictures from
Dec 8th at 7:17 pm
Thanks so much for all the integration!
Dec 8th at 7:28 pm
Thank you, great gravatars for blue
Dec 8th at 7:50 pm
so if I leave comment use another email address that isn’t connected to Gravatar, my gravatar isn’t show up..?
Dec 8th at 8:28 pm
I think Gravatar is a nice feature hope to come up with a picture !Thanks WordPress!
Dec 8th at 8:48 pm
Very Good!
I hope that more sites have the option to use the gravatar available.
Great idea.
Dec 8th at 9:26 pm
Thanks for all the cool features! Happy Holidays!
Dec 8th at 9:28 pm
thx! cool update, youre the best, guys
Dec 8th at 9:34 pm
Another GREAT WordPress idea. Thanks : )
Dec 8th at 10:06 pm
Faaaaaaantastic-
Dec 8th at 10:11 pm
Cool and seems very nice, thanks.
Dec 8th at 10:15 pm
Blavatars, Gravatars…it’s getting a little dizzying, folks!
Dec 8th at 10:19 pm
I loved the new feature.
Dec 8th at 11:01 pm
I’m just learning about all this. Looks very cool! Thanks!
Dec 8th at 11:05 pm
Thank you for your hard work, WP!
Dec 8th at 11:25 pm
It must be fun to leave us luddites in the dust. But it sure is exhausting trying to figure out that “write” is now “post” and you can’t save a draft anymore. Ever thought of giving us a choice NOT to update? Ah, DOS. Now THERE was a program. . .
Dec 9th at 12:11 am
haha the members of wordpress are so polite.
Thank you kindly mr. word press.
*bows*
Dec 9th at 12:11 am
Wonderbar!
Dec 9th at 1:03 am
Very good. Thanks, innovation without stoping ….
Dec 9th at 1:14 am
Gravatars are just awesome, thanks!
Dec 9th at 1:19 am
sooo WordBest!
Dec 9th at 1:21 am
Ah WordPress.org! Nice… As usual. Great job!!!
Brother John
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania USA
Dec 9th at 2:11 am
j. Es muy interesante. Gracias. Felicitaciones.
Dec 9th at 3:34 am
Sweet upgrade. Gonna try it out soon! ^.^ Thank you~
Dec 9th at 3:36 am
Sweet! finally! thanks man.
Dec 9th at 3:37 am
wow. very good
Dec 9th at 3:38 am
Now, just to find a decent photo of myself… …
Dec 9th at 4:20 am
Well, a gravatar is something that would be useful if you’re the type who wants to have her photos updated depending on the mood. Nice!
Dec 9th at 5:02 am
Thank you WP community for this great effort. More power!
Dec 9th at 5:58 am
This is awesome! I think the gravatars add a lot of character and personality to the blogs. There’s a lot of funny pictures that can be used, if you decide to quit showing your mug, or if you have other characters (which seems to happen on my blog).
Dec 9th at 6:18 am
Bravo! Thanks!!
Dec 9th at 8:46 am
Thanks a lot. thats Great!
Dec 9th at 9:21 am
Good, good. Now how about enabling adsense?
Dec 9th at 10:07 am
Pretty cool stuff. A quick glimpse at the future.
Dec 9th at 10:41 am
Perfect
Dec 9th at 11:02 am
thanks:)
Dec 9th at 2:04 pm
WordPress Simply rocks..
cheers!!!!!!
Dec 9th at 2:29 pm
good idea….
cayoo WP
Dec 9th at 4:55 pm
Great
!
Dec 9th at 5:02 pm
The one thing you guys seem to not want to do with gravatars is to make them act like the Post Avatars plugin for WP. There you can choose an image to go at the top of your post, similar to LiveJournal. Blogs with multiple authors would particularly benefit from this, and it seems to me easy to implement on WP.com. That’s really the only use I see for Gravatars in this context 9and outside of comments).
Dec 9th at 6:04 pm
que bién
Dec 9th at 6:09 pm
my computer freezes for a minute everytime i get on a website with the snow. why is that?
Dec 9th at 7:20 pm
That’s great news! Thank you!
Dec 9th at 7:46 pm
Great changes! Looking forward to what other improvements you guys make.
Dec 9th at 9:17 pm
this is soooo cool
Dec 9th at 9:18 pm
phenomenal. absolute genius
Dec 9th at 9:19 pm
REQUEST!!!!!
Please disable right-click on the gravatar — then the thiefs cannot steal your gravatar and use it to make posts under your name.
But thanks for a great product …..
Dec 9th at 10:42 pm
I think it is great. Now I needn´t care about my avatar in the Internet. Now I have my personal signature (I mean avatar) everywhere. Thank you a lot.
Dec 9th at 11:05 pm
This place is like… amazing… great…
Dec 10th at 12:02 am
Beautiful! Avatars can now roam the Blogosphere and beyond!