by Matt

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?

315 Responses to “Default Avatar Options - Identicons”

  1. Nemuriko

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

    You are a great man! :lol:

  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.

  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.

  4. Aguair

    Holla!

    Nice guys!

  5. unseen

    very nice!!!
    thanx WP!!!

  6. Fredi

    They sure do.

    Identicons, attack!

  7. Cristian Giménez

    Cool!!!

  8. BookGirl

    Neat. :)

  9. Identicons Deploy « Gravatar Blog

    [...] 04, 2008 | Posted by Matt WordPress.com users now have more avatar options, to choose the new defaults we talked about [...]

  10. Raanan.com Now With Identicons ! « Raanan Bar-Cohen

    [...] More info posted by Matt over on the WordPress.com blog. [...]

  11. DespairsRae

    Where do I find the option?

  12. Matt

    Under Settings > Discussion.

  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

  14. Manuel Reis

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

  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*

  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).

  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!

  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.

  19. wweadam

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

  20. iamthelostgirl

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

  21. BriarCat

    Cute.

  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!!

  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?

  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!

  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!

  26. Default avatar options are in trunk cour … « WordPress Development Updates

    [...] am on May 5, 2008 | # | Tags: avatars Default avatar options are in trunk courtesy of Viper007Bond. [...]

  27. AKHMAD SUDRAJAT

    very nice!
    thx Matt

  28. Queni

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

  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)

  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! :-)

  31. katm

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

    Thanks team!

  32. ThePearLady

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

  33. Moon

    I’ve already noticed…
    Fine.

  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

  35. ChenZhen

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

  36. Viper007Bond

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

  37. legoless

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

  38. furoshiki

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

  39. coolsmurf

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

  40. Dimas

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

  41. Bruninho

    very good!

  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

  43. m@q

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

  44. persikoglass

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

  45. Red

    Neat.

  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 :P

    I’m kinda sitting idle now….so…..

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

  47. fightingwindmills

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

  48. Kaleidoscope-y Gravatars! « My Wierd Wired World

    [...] Seems WP has already announced it! The Default Avatar Options announcement was made earlier today which not only speaks about the new Kaleidoscopic avatars - [...]

  49. F4154LMAN

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

  50. loveparadox

    cool thanks!

  51. Brian

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

  52. *~{š†ΣLLªr}~*

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

  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!

  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.

  55. ismailimail

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

  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.

  57. winenegress

    Thanks. I think I already have an avatar.

  58. thomasarie

    Hohohohoh! Nice! Very nice!

  59. Tubbo & Dubba Tubba

    Great post!

    Please come to our site.

    -The Tubbo Twins

  60. Gerald Ford

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

  61. saiful

    Cool….man..

  62. legalize

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

  63. Eru

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

    Great Job!

  64. b oe d

    cool :)

  65. JavierTC

    Cool!

  66. QuillDancer

    Too cool. And the avatar generator, as well.

  67. ФHi

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

  68. Freya/Buildabearvilleblog

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

  69. politiconews

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

  70. politiconews

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

  71. nurussadad

    Good job

  72. Fay

    Cool!

  73. vibesandstuff

    im gonna go try it now :)

  74. daeng limpo

    thanks MATT

  75. dkpresents

    Always thinking on our behalf. Brilliant…

  76. thegrip

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

  77. parentingislami

    That’s nice Matt. Thanx

  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.

  79. udom

    VERY COOL :-D I like it.

  80. propaganda press

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

  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!

  82. BKB

    I really want to use my own default image though.

  83. Nanang Suryana

    very nice!!!

  84. penyobenny

    thanks!

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

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

    you must be under 16!!!

  85. penyobenny

    HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

  86. Ale

    Cool!

  87. sunshineforlife

    cool!

  88. Hameedullah Khan

    Very nice feature. Thanks once again!

  89. campsimplicity

    Thank you, that’s a great idea. ;)

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

  90. famoon

    Awesome!

  91. Avatar Baru di Wordpress « My Simple Blog

    [...] Untuk setting default avatar masuk ke menu Dashboard > Setting > Discussion. Untuk info detilnya bisa lihat disini. [...]

  92. wuryan

    Good job and very nice

  93. harbicoil

    Awesome upadate guys!

  94. Alessio in Asia

    cool

  95. ><>narniapengi<><

    Great idea, love it!

  96. MondoFree

    Thanks a lot for this option.

  97. Spielereien « Socks Street

    [...] verpasst! Ich habe jetzt mal die Rubrik “Monster” gewählt” Mehr dazu hier! « CHICKS - [...]

  98. Ratssafwevbn

    cool ;) thanks wordpress :P

  99. Ratssafwevbn

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

  100. Ray

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

  101. Zihad

    ধন্যবাদ। খুব সুন্দর হয়েছে। :mrgreen:

  102. Out Of Sync « this is the story of a girl

    [...] + Oh…I finally understand why spam messages get icons now. Haha. [...]

  103. lefunes

    Cool

  104. Okta Sihotang

    how if i take the comment in blog with blogger, blogsome, etc..it (my avatar) will be displayed too ??
    it`s great feature bro.. ;)

  105. juventino

    Nice

  106. llbbl

    nice job!

  107. Teguh Iman Prasetya

    wow

  108. avidfreak

    Cool….

  109. Nan

    Me likey!!!

    Thanks, :)

  110. Novidades no WordPress « TI World

    [...] 1.Default avatar options - A integração do WordPress com o Gravatar foi uma ótima novidade. Agora podemos definir quais os tipos de Gravatars serão permitidos e uma imagem padrão para quem não está logado no Gravatar. [...]

  111. jace

    Brilliant! :D

  112. Identicons now in Mission Mission Comments Section « Mission Mission

    [...] Gravatar has made some new options available to WordPress.com users. Matt Mullenweg hypes one of them on the WordPress.com Blog: [...]

  113. VxJasonxV

    I’d like to choose Gravatar as the first option, and fallback to Identicons if there’s no Gravatar for the user’s address.

  114. historiamex

    These avatars are really cool. I liked specially the monster ID. Nevertheless, as my blog is of the professional, formal kind, I would stick to the old, boring Mystery Man. We are talking about personal image, a sensitive issue, guys. There is always the possibility that someone takes offense. If I may contribute with my two cents, it will be better if the USER (not the blog owner) decides to be represented as a random avatar
    Best regards,
    Felipe

  115. riihele

    Hiya Matt

    Brilliant!
    Keep so grand and safe.

  116. vkrippen

    I think it’s a lot nicer and colourful. It’s a lot better than the mystery man. That was grey and boring!

  117. Shakan97

    Awesome AGAIN!!!

  118. emmanuelepilia

    figata

  119. tsaari

    Love it!

    *

  120. Finicky Penguin

    How is that mathematically generated?

  121. binx101

    Sorry I’m not sharing the joy … Liked it much better the old way. Nothing personal.

  122. Identicons as Default Avatars « J.S.Brown

    [...] Default Avatar Options - Identicons 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. [...]

  123. topwater28

    cool cool kewl kewl… :mrgreen:

  124. mariodan

    It this my first time checking these updates and i really liked what you have done. ;)

  125. Roger Servin

    Sweet!

  126. qbit

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

    Too much imagination. :lol:

  127. cpmonster

    Great

  128. Khyri

    A suggestions - for those of us with themes where author icons are shown, how about using the same icon options for authors who haven’t uploaded their own image yet? Right now, I’m seeing nice Identicons next to my commenter names on my sidebar widget, but ugly old Mystery Man next to my author names. It’s a little jarring…

  129. joimson

    sensible upgrade as I can now call my boss a Wavatar without offending him!

  130. elhanem

    cooooooooooooooool

  131. stilllifeinbuenosaires

    Love it–they are attractive and functional. Thanks so much.

  132. Admin

    Cooooooooool !!!

  133. Lisa Damian

    I love this feature! Thank you for adding it.

  134. Notícias « InfoBits

    [...] ainda importantes: o WordPress.com reformulou a sua Admin Bar (visível apenas para cadastrados), e implantou uma opção de fazer um Avatar padrão para os leitores que não tem um avatar no WordPress.com ou no [...]

  135. redDevil

    Cada día mola más wordpress…

  136. dljs

    Awsome! Thanks Matt!

  137. yusdi

    wow…it’s cool. thanks

  138. Stuart

    Monsters - I like it :)

  139. the floacist

    I’m really loving all the new features! This is all great.

  140. Werewolf

    The concept is right. I have to say that having a choice between pastel swirls or two kinds of cartoons is almost no choice at all. I’d suggest having at least one of the options being something a little less child-like or girly for those of us who mainly have ‘manly men’ reading and commenting on the blog. I don’t think any of my readers would be happy to be represented by the current array of default options.

    Otherwise, keep up the good work.

  141. Avatar di Komentar « Meylya’s Weblog

    [...] ternyata ada Update dari Matt juga tentang ini, hehe, belum baca, Avatar yang Identicons menjadi avatar defaultnya, jadi ga ganti [...]

  142. ClapSo

    Yup,
    The identicons are so groovy they have me seeing trails…

    I can has lava lampz?

    The scientifically impossible I do right away
    The spiritually miraculous takes a bit longer

  143. mariarene

    very nice…thanks dear wordpress.

  144. alhakim

    wew… i like this feature… no mystery man again :)

  145. afruj

    Hi Matt,
    WP always improving with nice features. Thanks a lot for this upgrade.

  146. Ani~

    My blog is now full of monsters.
    I’m lovin it. :D

  147. daniellekwek

    Cute new function, love it! ;)

    A suggestion though: how about letting commenters choose from a selection of available avatars (of say the Monster type), rather than auto-generate?

  148. adjy

    hy w leh gbung nggak

  149. adjy

    nggak apa2kan kalo indonesia ngadain perkumpulan music rock

  150. darynholmes

    Does it work if the blog is hosted by wordpress.com?

    I don’t see Settings > Discussion?

    Can anyone help?

  151. muslem

    thank you

  152. hmtsuii

    COOL

  153. newyorker

    nice idea matt!! ;)

  154. rachelcartwright1995

    i like da idea of this, very clever!

  155. doctoraydy2008

    شكرا

  156. Paulo - Bugiganga Digital

    Nice idea guys, i’d love this.

  157. goldenlatios

    AWESOME!!!I am in a good mood today…

  158. Caifan

    Great man….fantastic

  159. titov

    Howya..! :D

  160. Xaliber von Reginhild

    Nice idea. :mrgreen: Would be more great if we could upload our default avatar. :P

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

    Nice line. :mrgreen:
    But somehow the image reminds me of some kind of virus. :P J/k.

  161. vernettaluna

    Cool! I love Maths, and the pictures!

  162. The rise of the Blankie « odeworld - an online digital content store for educators

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  163. qazse

    I am so happy I don’t have to look at those ominous silhouettes anymore. Thanks!

  164. ladysilence

    Hiya!! I’m trying to be able to use the avatar.

  165. ladysilence

    Hola!!!

  166. mayooresan

    Wow.. cool!!! Hope to see such things in self hosted wordpress also :)

  167. niarane

    Hey guys, nice work! I’m liking it more !

  168. Default Avatars in WordPress.com

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  169. Θεμης Λαζαριδης

    It would be better if the Identicon was generated based on the IP address rather than email. The email can be manipulated by the commenter, the IP address much less so. I say this because in my blogs some commenters pretend to be many different persons.

  170. Controversy: Avatar « Third Watch

    [...] WordPress is now automatically generating avatars for users who do not have a WordPress account (click here). Next to your name you will have some multi-shaped geometric mosaic when you comment. Last night, [...]

  171. Sparky6464

    Nice!

  172. Cathy-Cate

    I love the identicons! They look like way cool fractal/quilt patterns to me, and I like the idea that they’re unique to each commenter.

    Thanks for implementing this, as well as the choices!

  173. crystalmoment

    i’m learning here hehehehe

  174. Wordpress is damn cool. « The Life and Times of Neelakantan

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  175. bodge101

    well done! I lik the monster ones! :lol:

  176. moviesmusic

    So cool! I’m so sick of seeing the ‘mystery man’ on my blog, and this looks MUCH nicer! Thanks!!!

  177. judgesnineteen

    “Mystery Man”? It would have been so easy to avoid being exclusive of women…

  178. Wordpress copies Qwaider! | Into Jordan | Events in Jordan, Jordanian Blogs and more!

    [...] WordPress have decided to enable Identicons. (Similar to the icons you see on my blog instead of people’s gravatars). [...]

  179. Jane

    I like, I like.

  180. Shirley

    Way cool.

    Shirley Buxton
    http://www.writenow.wordpress.com

  181. jessica08

    um I like it ! o(∩_∩)o…

  182. অগ্নি

    I like it. thanks

  183. bkesler

    Really awesome, guys!

    Looking forward to playing around with it.

  184. daveman

    cool, math avatars :)

  185. arunchullikkal

    wow wow koollll

    most needed

  186. may3am

    nice!

  187. susaneb

    I love them…very colorful and I have pushed up my comment wiget to display these new avatars on my page:::::

    Susan in Italy ;-)

  188. marsharu

    cool cool cool

  189. माझी दुनिया

    gr8

  190. riveroflifelisajoy

    Hey, can we get the GAIA online avatars…where we can change their Look?!!! LOLOL!!!!

  191. dchen

    How do I change it? @_@ Seems to have been applied automatically

  192. herucr

    Thanks. Terimakasih (Indonesia). Maturnuwun (javanese)

  193. chandni

    ok I am unable to change the settings!!!

    I want my profile pic back :(

  194. anas

    Wew, sorry late for commenting
    It’s cool but at the first time it make me wrong to assumpt someone ? And it make me confious to :D

  195. Web 2.0: Nuevas opciones de avatares en WordPress.com - Bitelia

    [...] Default Avatar Options - Identicons. ← Anterior | Inicio Comparte esta anotación [...]

  196. Xue Wen

    Thankx… Great idea…
    and they are cute

  197. Pandu

    So this new feature called identicon, nice one. Thanks!

  198. Nuevas opciones para los avatares en WordPress.com » Cosas sencillas

    [...] Todo esto unido a la opción de configurar las opciones de edad relativas a Gravatar y el no mostrar ningún avatar o usar uno de genérico del servicio. Mientras cada uno no configure lo contrario, la opción predeterminada que WordPress.com pasa a usar son los Identicon, tal y como comentan en Default Avatar Options - Identicons. [...]

  199. suserania

    Oh So good!!

    More more…

  200. alilubis

    cool idea matt.. thanks

  201. potato

    Wow, this is so great. I will go and try then. Thank you.

  202. ceronegativo

    mola!!

  203. hashem

    this option is very good .
    thanks wordpress!

  204. manofgod777

    Someone leave a comment on my blog so I can see what a computer generated avatar looks like….Im pretty new.

  205. Problemas con los avatares « El campo del Lele.com

    [...] 8, 2008 por Maxirafer Como respuesta a elmade los listos de WordPress han cambiado la gestión de avatares y por eso salen imágenes que no son las [...]

  206. inopportunu

    Cool feature

  207. Catalina Trujillo de la U

    So cool!

  208. Cross

    Really great :)))

  209. Nikita

    VERY cool!

  210. محمد

    مجهود رائع
    شكرا

  211. lawnwake

    Oh cool! I thought the default icon was really ugly, and I was going to complain to WP, but now I feel good! Nice job!

  212. nexuslex

    Thanks a lot. Still, with all the work, you shouldn´t forget to eat…

  213. nadie007

    its great! like bbpres!

  214. Wordpress art « kinmaarte

    [...] is uniquely assigned to a poster, not randomly generated as I first thought it was. Say hello to Identicons! [...]

  215. forevergreen

    Very nice avatars. WordPress is now nice decorated!

  216. Guzz

    Haturnuhun(Thanks) Matt..
    Very nice!

  217. Richard Hollerith » Blog Archive » Temporary

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  218. Wordpress.com > Blogger » A Division by Zer0

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  219. jumanrofarif

    it’s cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolll!!!