If you’d like to show the author’s avatar within a WordPress post, we’ll show you how in this article. While the functionality is not built into WordPress (version 3.2.1 as of this writing), you can surprisingly accomplish this task with just one line of code.
In this article, we’ll update the top part of the post that says “Posted on” so that it shows the author’s avatar. Refer to the screenshots below to see the results.
In this article, you will learn how to show an author’s avatar within WordPress.
Showing an Author’s Avatar in WordPress
- Log into your WordPress Dashboard
- In the left menu, under “Appearance”, click “Editor”
- On the “Editor” page, find and click “content.php” in the list of files on the right of the page
- Find this section of code:
… and replace it with this:
That’s it, you’re done! In this tutorial we placed the author’s avatar at the top of the post (for the homepage). If you’d like show the author’s avatar from anywhere else within the post (or on other pages), simply use the following code:
<? echo get_avatar( get_the_author_meta('user_email'), $size = '50'); ?>Congratulations, now you know how to show an author’s avatar within WordPress!
Hi there, your code worked on my site, but how do I get it to display on older posts please? It only displays on the current post.
regards Kate
Hi,
I’m sorry it’s not working for all of your posts. I suggest looking into the WordPress reference or contacting our live support for additional assistance. They will be able to take a closer look and assist with a solution.
Working good, but if i add <img> tag of html and echo it in src its not working so how can i add css to it to display a round image instead of sqare
As I understand, Gravatars are by default square. You maybe able to find a plugin that allows you to customize the Gravatar shape.
it does not work for me. Just display a transparent png image.
The direct reference for doing this can be found in the offical WordPress Codex on this page. If you continue to have problems we would need more information about the issue in order to investigate in more depth.
Hi,
By using the above code, I’m getting only thumbnails.
Any way to retrieve the bigger images? Please help.
You can adjust the size of the avatar by changing the ‘size=50’ to a larger number.
Also after displaying user avatars within wordpress you can set so many different effects to avatars using a new useful free plugin Avatars Effects (https://wordpress.org/plugins/avatars-effects/). This plugin will help you set beautiful and interesting effects on avatars without writing any css code..
And that will never happen.
Hello Kev,
There is currently no time-frame for when this guide will be updated, but the information is covered in the official WordPress Codex.
Alternately, there are many plugins available for adding an Avatar in WordPress.
Thank you,
John-Paul
So when is that tutorial going to get made?
Great Great Great. i was looking for this fro last 12 hours with lot of google search and headache but didt found solutions, and your post worked like a magic for me
Bundle of thanks again dude 🙂
You wouldn’t necessarily have to make a child theme or re-do the changes in the theme. You could set up a plugin that filters the_title or the_content and returns the avatar with it.
Hello Megan,
Thanks for your comment! We probably need to update this article as the handling of Avatars has definitely changed in WordPress with the latest versions. Thanks for your input!
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kindest regards,
Arnel C.
To avoid having to do this you need to set up a child theme.
What happens when there is an update to WordPress. THe user will have to manually re-insert the changes again.
Hello Zion,
I would think so. Any time a core file is modified it should be expected that it will need to be redone after an update.
Kindest Regards,
Scott M