A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog, appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites.  This is similar to AIM’s buddy icon system.  It simply let’s others recognize you by your image.  The image is hosted on their website, and is displayed when you make a comment and leave your correct email address.

My website is gravatar enabled, so I encourage you to sign up for a gravatar.  This process is very simple.  Visit http://www.gravatar.com and create an account.  It asks for a few basic things, including your email address.  Use a valid email address since this is what grabs your gravatar to display it on the page.  You will then upload an image, crop it to 60px by 60px, and it will then be displayed on weblogs that have gravatars enabled.

Please let me know if you have any questions about gravatars.

1. airxxi Says:
   November 8th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

   This is my gravatar.

2. Faith Says:
   November 9th, 2008 at 10:37 am

   i got one too i think

3. Jr.Welterweight1979 Says:
   November 13th, 2008 at 7:48 pm

   i thought Russell Crowe was great in that movie

4. bean Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

   hahah gladiator?

5. Nathaniel Buck Says:
   November 16th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

   This is very interesting. I’ve always wondered were the photos were coming from in different comment sections on websites. Thanks for the tip.