Get a Gravatar – Your Assignment for Monday

Have you noticed that when I post a comment on one of your comments, a little picture like this shows up?

Yes, you noticed and you wondered, how does she do that? The simple answer is that I am really quite technically adept. Moreso than both of my brothers.

Yes, I am so. 

But the real answer is that the little picture next to my comment is a gravatar – a globally recognized avatar. And an avatar? You can find a detailed description of that here but for our purposes it is really just a picture used to represent you when you respond to a blog post and it’s linked to the name and email address you use when you post the comment.

Now I know you want one for yourself because a) you want to be more technically adept than my brothers too; and b) it personalizes whatever you have to say; and c) it lends to a sense of community and what is Snapdragon Ink anyway if not one big happy virtual family? and d) you want to be the envy of all your friends; and e) it will take Barb forever plus a day to get this done so you can point and laugh at her when you have a gravatar of your own and she’s still just an anonymous head. It’s okay, she responds well to mockery.

You are convinced, I can tell. Now creating your own gravatar is very easy to do. Go to this site and follow the instructions. Start by clicking on the Sign Up tab at the top and entering your email address. You will be asked to confirm this address and then you will have an account.  Once you have that account, you can upload a picture of your choice and that’s it, you’re done! You can change the picture any time you like and it will show up anywhere on the Internet you use that name and email address to comment on a post (as long as the site enables gravatars). Once you’re done – go comment on a post and watch the picture pop up.   

For a quick review of the process, just watch this short video:

That’s your assignment, kids. Hop to it.