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
Email Newsletter

December 8th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Thanks for contstantly upgrading the wordpress community .
December 8th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Sweet thanks for the upgrade.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Many surprises this month! =D
December 8th, 2008 at 3:13 am
wew, i like things like theis…
i was confused too……
PERTAMAX !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 8th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Once again, great feature!
Have a great holiday season!
December 8th, 2008 at 3:27 am
I think cranky old geeks should be read – and not seen. But, I’ll give it a try.
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:40 am
awesome! this is cool!! WOWOWOWOW!
http://www.thebillionairejournal.wordpress.com
December 8th, 2008 at 3:42 am
very cool! i’m loving seeing my blovatar around town and now this! yay!
great work, WordPress!
December 8th, 2008 at 3:52 am
i’ve just tried on my WP.com dashboard
cool!
December 8th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Nice… as always WordPress gets better and better
December 8th, 2008 at 5:05 am
Great! I’ve give a try! ^_^
a like these new changes! *_*
December 8th, 2008 at 5:24 am
worked like a charm for me… thanks
December 8th, 2008 at 5:25 am
So that’s what happened? I was so confused
December 8th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Have already used it, in fact. I like it, of course, just as I like everything WordPress.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:57 am
thats cool.. thanks for inform me..
December 8th, 2008 at 7:14 am
that’s exactly why i shifted and will stick to wordpress forever. thanks for the nice job!
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 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)
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Thank’s for your information, It’s nice to try
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 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/
December 8th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Thanks. This is very nice.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Well, I am glad to see that Gravatar has a good home. ^_^
December 8th, 2008 at 8:34 am
gravatar on old comments will change too when I change my gravatar now?
December 8th, 2008 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/.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Wish all you guys at WordPress a great holidays! Thanks again for the upgrade! <3
December 8th, 2008 at 10:29 am
@Sheri, You’re wonderful. Love you from here, Indonesia. check me out http://twitter.com/wimkhan
December 8th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Nice, I really like the this gravatarand blavatar feature
December 8th, 2008 at 10:48 am
cool…. ill try it
December 8th, 2008 at 10:55 am
This is cool. Thanks, WordPress community
Thank you for this feature.
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Cool, im gonna try it out right now!
December 8th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Oh Good lord, what will be the next!!!!!! :-O
December 8th, 2008 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 ?
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 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!
December 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
gravatar ROCKS!
December 8th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
goods….
http://basingbe.wordpress.com
December 8th, 2008 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
December 8th, 2008 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?
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
buena noticia
December 8th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Sweet. Thanks y’all.
December 8th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I think I remember that Gravatar is also a default for IP Board (popular forums).
December 8th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I’m not (gr)avatar-minded …
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Ah, cool. Nice to not have to update two sites any more. Good job.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Can we forget the word Blavatar then? Or are they two different things?
December 8th, 2008 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.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Gravatars, Blavatars – where should I get all the pictures from
December 8th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Thanks so much for all the integration!
December 8th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Thank you, great gravatars for blue
December 8th, 2008 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..?
December 8th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I think Gravatar is a nice feature hope to come up with a picture !Thanks WordPress!
December 8th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Very Good!
I hope that more sites have the option to use the gravatar available.
Great idea.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Thanks for all the cool features! Happy Holidays!
December 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
thx! cool update, youre the best, guys
December 8th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Another GREAT WordPress idea. Thanks : )
December 8th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Faaaaaaantastic-
December 8th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Cool and seems very nice, thanks.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Blavatars, Gravatars…it’s getting a little dizzying, folks!
December 8th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I loved the new feature.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I’m just learning about all this. Looks very cool! Thanks!
December 8th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Thank you for your hard work, WP!
December 8th, 2008 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. . .
December 9th, 2008 at 12:11 am
haha the members of wordpress are so polite.
Thank you kindly mr. word press.
*bows*
December 9th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Wonderbar!
December 9th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Very good. Thanks, innovation without stoping ….
December 9th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Gravatars are just awesome, thanks!
December 9th, 2008 at 1:19 am
sooo WordBest!
December 9th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Ah WordPress.org! Nice… As usual. Great job!!!
Brother John
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania USA
December 9th, 2008 at 2:11 am
j. Es muy interesante. Gracias. Felicitaciones.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:34 am
Sweet upgrade. Gonna try it out soon! ^.^ Thank you~
December 9th, 2008 at 3:36 am
Sweet! finally! thanks man.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:37 am
wow. very good
December 9th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Now, just to find a decent photo of myself… …
December 9th, 2008 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!
December 9th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Thank you WP community for this great effort. More power!
December 9th, 2008 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).
December 9th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Bravo! Thanks!!
December 9th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Thanks a lot. thats Great!
December 9th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Good, good. Now how about enabling adsense?
December 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Pretty cool stuff. A quick glimpse at the future.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Perfect
December 9th, 2008 at 11:02 am
thanks:)
December 9th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
WordPress Simply rocks..
cheers!!!!!!
December 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
good idea….
cayoo WP
December 9th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Great
!
December 9th, 2008 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).
December 9th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
que bién
December 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
my computer freezes for a minute everytime i get on a website with the snow. why is that?
December 9th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
That’s great news! Thank you!
December 9th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Great changes! Looking forward to what other improvements you guys make.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
this is soooo cool
December 9th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
phenomenal. absolute genius
December 9th, 2008 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 …..
December 9th, 2008 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.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
This place is like… amazing… great…
December 10th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Beautiful! Avatars can now roam the Blogosphere and beyond!