Default Avatar Options – Identicons

Now you can customize how avatars show up on your blog, including some cool never-before available options.

You can find these options under Settings > Discussion.

Here’s what you can do:

  • Turn avatars on and off, which applies to their display on your blog.
  • Choose a rating, which right now only works for Gravatars but as we integrate WordPress.com and Gravatar avatars better will apply to both.
  • Choose a default other than blank or the mystery man.
  • Laugh manically as you contemplate your new-found power.

I would highly recommend trying out Identicons, which are a cool math-based image idea created by Don Park that’s unique to the commenter, so even if someone doesn’t have an avatar yet they have a consistent (and handsome) image next to their name when they comment.

We’re probably going to make Identicons the default for the dashboard instead of the mystery man, we just need to make a few tweaks to Gravatar infrastructure first. (The generated avatars are CPU-intensive to create, and it’s Sunday, a day of rest for the busy Gravatar servers.)

Also, don’t Identicons sound like something from Transformers?


Missing out on the latest WordPress.com developments? Enter your email below to receive future announcements direct to your inbox. An email confirmation will be sent before you will start receiving notifications—please check your spam folder if you don't receive this.

Join 4.7M other subscribers

317 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. Nemuriko

    “Also, don’t Identicons sound like something from Transformers?”

    You are a great man! 😆

    Like

  2. museditions

    The options are very cool. I’ll be interested to see what the generated logos look like. Never liked the mystery man, particularly since 56% of bloggers are women. (No idea if that’s true, I just made it up.) Will generated image users now be eligible for front page/news departments inclusion? Thanks, all.

    Like

  3. Matt

    Right now people without uploaded avatars will still be excluded from the WP.com front page. That could change, just no plans right now.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Aguair

    Holla!

    Nice guys!

    Like

  5. unseen

    very nice!!!
    thanx WP!!!

    Like

  6. Fredi

    They sure do.

    Identicons, attack!

    Like

  7. Cristian Giménez

    Cool!!!

    Like

  8. BookGirl

    Neat. 🙂

    Like

  9. Pingback: Identicons Deploy « Gravatar Blog
  10. Pingback: Raanan.com Now With Identicons ! « Raanan Bar-Cohen
  11. DespairsRae

    Where do I find the option?

    Like

  12. Matt

    Under Settings > Discussion.

    Like

  13. iaoj

    I always feel glad to see developments at WordPress. You guys are nice people from whom every one gets admiration. Thank you for this wonderful Identicon. WordPress deserve to come right on the top. Thank you

    Like

  14. Manuel Reis

    I saw them yesterday by evening, and I couldn’t be happier.

    Like

  15. dontbesadblog

    May is already a busy month for WordPress. Astounded at how hard you work for us. Gald I’m not stuck with an other platform.

    Thanks*

    Like

  16. Scott Fillmer

    I love the new gravatar options, just wish my theme had integrated the code… no big deal, just added a great avatar plugin and works great. You can really see the improvement on the wordpress based blogs (wordpress hosted blogs).

    Like

  17. uemai

    Always improving with nice features.
    That’s it guys, we portuguese have a saying, which translation is something like: “Stop is to die”
    Keep going.
    Thanks!

    Like

  18. cjwriter

    Thanks, this is a great feature. I’ve been doing it manually by replacing the email address; it’s certainly a lot less work! Is there any way it could be tweaked to set a different avatar for the comments in Akismet? I almost approved a spam comment because of it.

    Like

  19. wweadam

    Awesome! Thanks for the update. I love the Wavatars!

    Like

  20. iamthelostgirl

    Thanks for adding this fun new feature, had a right giggle looking at the monster avatars 😀

    Like

  21. BriarCat

    Cute.

    Like

  22. pKay

    Awesome! I was getting sick of all those mystery men faces when surfing in tag surfer. At least a random generated avatars would make the blogger look more colourful!

    Looking forward to seeing that implemented on all those bloggers that dont have a image yet!!

    Keep up the great work! Looking forward to more features!!

    Like

  23. Dave

    Thanks for the option to turn them off without using CSS. Will there be an option to get them off the Dashboard, too?

    Like

  24. Craig Hodgkins

    Thanks again, Matt, for all of the hard work, and for keeping things fun. Most comments coming to my blog are currently “identicon-less” (or from “Mystery Man”), so I’ll see if I notice any difference. Looks like the settings will be good to experiment with, though, just to see what shows up!

    Like

  25. wallacegsmith

    Great idea! After being surprised by a few not-too-family-friendly comment avatars on my blog, I had hoped there would be a solution for filtering them somewhat without deleting the comment, itself. Thanks for the new addition!

    Like

  26. Pingback: Default avatar options are in trunk cour … « WordPress Development Updates
  27. AKHMAD SUDRAJAT

    very nice!
    thx Matt

    Like

  28. Queni

    cool
    I did a brief explanation on my blog (Spanish)

    Like

  29. Muslimah

    Hi Matt!

    Thanks load for this new feature as I’ve been waiting for, and finally my dream just came true.

    Keep going!

    Terima kasih! (the Indonesian for thanks)

    Like

  30. Arun Shanbhag

    Thanks Matt!
    love that Rating feature too!
    (sorry, don’t know if that was always there – just noticed it!)

    Is it possible (now or in the future, to have multiple custom avatars, which I could switch from time to time?

    Arun

    PS, am switching an EE blog to WP sometime this summer – can’t wait! 🙂

    Like

  31. katm

    Awesome. Now I don’t have to put in my own gravatar to get rid of the ugly shadow man.

    Thanks team!

    Like

  32. ThePearLady

    Y’all all [@WP] are just freakin’ cool, Matt. 😀

    Like

  33. Moon

    I’ve already noticed…
    Fine.

    Like

  34. ChenZhen

    I was kind of hoping that I could upload my own default avatar, but oh well.

    For now, I am reserving the right to assign deserving commenters their avatar using my super cool Chamber emblems. lol

    Like

  35. ChenZhen

    Also, could we customize the avatar that appears for pingbacks?

    Like

  36. Viper007Bond

    Heh, glad to see my code being put to use (I wrote the defaults patch). 😀

    Like

  37. legoless

    My readers were actually discussing the default avatar yesterday… Awesome ideas guys!

    Like

  38. furoshiki

    Really a very cool option. I was, too, very much unpleased with the MysteryTar Invasion. Thanks WP!

    Like

  39. coolsmurf

    this identicons is the best add-on for eons years. thanks!

    Like

  40. Dimas

    Guy’s you are so creative! Brilliant person! Well Done!

    Like

  41. Bruninho

    very good!

    Like

  42. FXSmom

    I saw this earlier and totally dug it. It makes my comment widget look so much prettier since 90% of those who comment are from elsewhere. 🙂

    Mucho Gracias

    Like

  43. m@q

    I don’t like the MYSTERY MAN avatar…
    So… welcome Identicons!

    Like

  44. persikoglass

    Very good WP team. I’m impressed. Keep it up!

    Like

  45. Red

    Neat.

    Like

  46. Chittaranjan

    We’re fast running out of ‘words-of-praise’ for WP! Nice, Cool, Awesome, Good all sound so passé now…..what with WP doling out one after another goodie!!!

    Wouldn’t it have been nice if the humans in Transformers were called ‘Identicons’? Mebbe WP/Gravatar/Automattic could have “sponsored” the Identicons 😛

    I’m kinda sitting idle now….so…..

    Lexicons – Bot-followers of Lex Luthor
    Beacons – Light-emitting Bots
    Silicons – sandy Bots
    Pros n’ Cons – 😐

    Like

  47. fightingwindmills

    The Identicons are very beautiful. Thanks for making that an option!

    Like

  48. Pingback: Kaleidoscope-y Gravatars! « My Wierd Wired World
  49. F4154LMAN

    i’ve tried that wavatar and monsterID avatar identification,
    haha.. those monsters are so funny 😀
    love it

    Like

  50. loveparadox

    cool thanks!

    Like

  51. Brian

    I love how this gives all the spam comments nifty avatars too. They were so lonely before. 🙄

    Like

  52. *~{š†ΣLLªr}~*

    I did notice that. That IS a good Idea, I’ll have to check that one out for myself.

    Like

  53. Guineapig119

    I think it is a cool idea
    Next thing ya know, you guys will allow people without avatars to create there own! :mrgreen:
    Great Job!

    Like

  54. The Bagel of Everything

    I love this! Especially the ability to set a maximum rating. I had previously cropped off more of my avatar than I’d have liked, for the sake of any family blogs I may visit.

    How are the ratings set? Does each user set the rating of his/her own avatar? I looked in my profile settings, but didn’t see an option.

    Like

  55. ismailimail

    Hi, is there any trick to it? I enabled it to show identicons but they aren’t showing up on the blog.

    Like

  56. ismailimail

    I guess the icons are showing up on the individual blog posts, but they aren’t showing up on the front page next to individual’s names. It would be helpful if the icons could also show up on the front page of the blog so they may be enticing for people to click and read.

    Like

  57. winenegress

    Thanks. I think I already have an avatar.

    Like

  58. thomasarie

    Hohohohoh! Nice! Very nice!

    Like

  59. Tubbo & Dubba Tubba

    Great post!

    Please come to our site.

    -The Tubbo Twins

    Like

  60. Gerald Ford

    I was wondering what those colorful squarish-patterns were by guest commenters. Very cute feature. I love it.

    Like

  61. saiful

    Cool….man..

    Like

  62. legalize

    Probably the best avatar! Thanks
    May be will be interesting a linkable avatar page in WP.
    Give us a present Matt

    Like

  63. Eru

    Another surprises (there’s a lot of cool announcements today)

    Great Job!

    Like

  64. b oe d

    cool 🙂

    Like

  65. JavierTC

    Cool!

    Like

  66. QuillDancer

    Too cool. And the avatar generator, as well.

    Like

  67. ФHi

    thx, it’s great !! coz i dont like the MysteryMan 😉

    Like

  68. Freya/Buildabearvilleblog

    Awesome!! How do I get rid of the picture in my current avatar to try it out on myself?

    Like

  69. politiconews

    Excellent. Been wanting an avatar myself. will get one now.

    Like

  70. politiconews

    Thanks for the auto generated identicon .
    Can I use this in future with slight changes in colour?

    Like

  71. nurussadad

    Good job

    Like

  72. Fay

    Cool!

    Like

  73. vibesandstuff

    im gonna go try it now 🙂

    Like

  74. daeng limpo

    thanks MATT

    Like

  75. dkpresents

    Always thinking on our behalf. Brilliant…

    Like

  76. thegrip

    Can you make an avatar that looks like some dude who just smoked a bunch of sherm dust?

    Like

  77. parentingislami

    That’s nice Matt. Thanx

    Like

  78. grokcode

    Any chance of having ravatars included in the admin panel? I think its a nice addition since it allows greater customization of icons by the blog owner while still showing unique avatars for all the commenters (but then again I wrote the plugin so I’m biased.)

    I had been debating about the best way to handle the admin screens when upgrading the plugin for 2.5 until I saw this post. It seems pretty obvious that having it included alongside the other options would make the most sense. Anyway if anyone out there is interested, let me know and I can help out with the integration.

    Like

  79. udom

    VERY COOL 😀 I like it.

    Like

  80. propaganda press

    this is a good thing cause am tired of that grey black square

    Like

  81. deftoned

    The Gravatars icon has sorely been needed! As awesome as it is, a lot of people still don’t know about it! Thank you for this!

    Like

  82. BKB

    I really want to use my own default image though.

    Like

  83. Nanang Suryana

    very nice!!!

    Like

  84. penyobenny

    thanks!

    he he,
    didnt know how many CP people there were!

    http://play.clubpenguin.com/ !!!

    you must be under 16!!!

    Like

  85. penyobenny

    HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

    Like

  86. Ale

    Cool!

    Like

  87. sunshineforlife

    cool!

    Like

  88. Hameedullah Khan

    Very nice feature. Thanks once again!

    Like

  89. campsimplicity

    Thank you, that’s a great idea. 😉

    By the way, I’d like to have an animated avatar. Would that be possible?

    Like

  90. famoon

    Awesome!

    Like

  91. Pingback: Avatar Baru di Wordpress « My Simple Blog
  92. wuryan

    Good job and very nice

    Like

  93. harbicoil

    Awesome upadate guys!

    Like

  94. Alessio in Asia

    cool

    Like

  95. ><>narniapengi<><

    Great idea, love it!

    Like

  96. MondoFree

    Thanks a lot for this option.

    Like

  97. Pingback: Spielereien « Socks Street
  98. Ratssafwevbn

    cool 😉 thanks wordpress 😛

    Like

  99. Ratssafwevbn

    i hope you dont screw it up 😆 jk jk jk cuz sometimes when u try to go to a blog it says system error it’s probaly matt’s fault 😆

    Like

  100. Ray

    Awesome!
    Keep it up ..and hey, it’s Tuesday already! 😉

    Like

Create your new blog or website for free

Get Started