Your WordPress site can display profile images or avatars alongside comments, profile pages, and anywhere else that WordPress needs to display a profile picture.
However, the profile picture is not set within your WordPress dashboard. This is because WordPress relies on the 3rd-party Gravatar service. Gravatars are Globally Recognized Avatars because they “follow” you around the web.
Gravatars are linked to your email address. Once you link your email address with Gravatar and choose an image, the image will display when you use the email address on a site that supports Gravatar.
- Sign up for a Gravatar account
- Choose an image to associate with your email address
- Use your email address on sites that support Gravatar
Signup for Gravatar
To setup your profile picture, you must first signup for a free Gravatar account. Visit the Gravatar website and click the Create Your Own Gravatar button. You’ll arrive at the page below.
A WordPress.com account is different from the user account to login to your own website. A WordPress.com account gives you access to Gravatar and other related services by it’s parent company, Automattic, e.g. Akismet, Polldaddy and Jetpack. Learn more.
If you have one, click the link at the top of the page that says “I already have a WordPress.com account!” Otherwise, signup for a WordPress.com account to use Gravatar. Look for registration confirmation emails from wordpress.com and follow the instructions to setup your Gravatar.
The email address you use for Gravatar should be the same one used in your WordPress site. After completing the signup, click the Add an Image link at the top of the site. Upload an image, crop it and finally choose a rating.
Congratulations! You now have a profile picture for your WordPress site. Your Gravatar will now appear on your site within a few minutes.
Multiple Gravatars
Gravatars can be associated with multiple email addresses e.g. one for work and one for personal use. Go to your My Gravatars page to add a new email address. You can assign different images for each email address you have.
In the example above, I use a profile picture with my image for my personal email address. I then use the ClickWP icon as the Gravatar image for my work email addresses.
