What is an Avatar

An avatar is a computer user’s representation of himself or herself in the form of a two-dimensional icon (or small picture). It is predominently used on internet forums and other communities and applications like the comment section in blogging sites, and social media applications and websites and as instant messanger profile image.

What is a Gravatar

When the Gravatar service got created and launched not only did it make it possible to attach an avatar image to your name, it set itself up as a service that allowed multiple blogs and even forums to tap into its “Globally Recognized Avatars” service.

Many blogs do not have the functionality of the older internet forum model, where avatars have become the normal default setting for many forum frameworks. Traditionally, blogs commenting would show your Name, Website and Comment (the Email request is usually for administrators only). The ability to have a visual representation that could identify you to other participators across multiple blogs was not possible like it was with forums.

With the Gravatar service this all changes. As an internet user, you just have to upload your avatar image ONCE through their website. After uploading your avatar you could comment to your hearts delight across the blogosphere, and if the blog site you comment on has the gravatar service installed into its framework, then voila, your “gravatar” appears automatically! This even works retroactively–ANY comment you’ve ever left will automatically update to include your avatar!

Why Use a Gravatar

If you comment often across the web, wouldn’t it be great if people could finally attach a face to the name? If putting your photo online isn’t your thing, maybe you have a branding logo you’d like people to recognize your comments by. Maybe you have a mascot image that you really love, or an image on the web that makes your day happier because if makes you smile–ehy not make that your avatar!

Having an image is proven to increase clickability on your name and thus bring more traffic to your site–not loads more, just more than if you had no avatar at all. Of course, leaving rewarding and insightful comments are always more important that an inviting or provocative image!

How to Activate a Gravatar

The new version of WordPress 2.5 introduced the ability to connect your user profile to a gravatar using the Globally Recognized Avatar web service. If you are interested in having an avatar show up beside the comments you post, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to www.gravatar.com signup page >> http://www.gravatar.com/site/signup
2. Add your email in the input box and click the “Signup” button.
3. You will see a page stating that a “Confirmation email sent”.
4. Check your email and you will see a link 3 lines down: Click it to confirm the activation process.
5. A Gravatar page will open in your browser: Fill in a username and password. This does not have to be the same as the user account created on any site featuring the Gravatars serivice (if you craeted any). Click the “Signup” button.
6. You will need to select an image for your avatar, hopefully you’ve got some ideas already! Click on the “Add one by clicking here!” link .
7. You will be shown 3 options: My computer’s hard drive, an image on the internet, and your WordPress.com Avatar.
8. For the “my computer’s hard drive” option, just click the “Browse” button and find an image on your personal computer. Find your image of choice, confirm it, and hit hte “Next” button.
9. You may need to crop the image to fit the square dimensions of the avatar. You can scale up or down the dashed square guidelines that appears. What appears in the highlighted space will be the final image which is also previewed on the right side of your uploaded image. When happy, click the “Crop and finish” button to confirm it.
10. Choose a rating for your Gravatar: G, PG, R, or X, by clicking on the appropriate choice.
11. The email you signed up with will be on record and automatically attached to your newly uploaded avatar as seen on the next page. You can always add more photos and switch them up if you like later on!
12. In a few minutes your avatar will appear beside any web comments you left across the net on websites with the gravatar functionality!