How to change user`s avatar?

Question

Is there a way o changing user's avatar without plugins? Why there's no "Avatar Upload" section in Users > Your Profile?

I can't use a plugin. Am I blind or being forced to use Gravatar? ;/

Answer 1

Avatars are meant to be controlled by the user, not by you. So yes, in a way, you're being forced to use the Gravatar service. But remember, it gives the user the ability to use the same avatar anywhere, and you can always restrict the display of a gravatar based on content ratings (G, PG, PG-13, R).

Gravatar is a hosted service, which is why there's no "Upload Avatar" section in the profile.

You say you "can't use a plugin," but really that's the only way you can add features. If you want to use something other than Gravatar, you'll need to load a plug-in to support it. There are a few plug-ins that support local avatars:

• Add Local Avatar
• Simple Local Avatars

Otherwise, I recommend you educate your users on what Gravatars are and how to use them.

Answer 2

I noticed that it depends on which theme is activated. No option in Mantra theme for example, but there is an option in the buddypress default theme.

Answer 3

I know that on one project site, I was able to create a field on the user profile editor page for accepting an image path(uploaded through the media page if I recall right) that was able to be used for avatars. No plugins needed.

Answer 4

If you are asking how to replace the default gravatar with one of your own, you can put this code in the functions.php (or better yet the custom-functions.php if your theme supports it).

add_filter( 'avatar_defaults', 'customgravatar' );

function customgravatar ($avatar_defaults) {
$myavatar = get_home_url('Template_directory') . '/images/mycustomgravatar.jpg';
$avatar_defaults[$myavatar] = "My Custom Logo";
return $avatar_defaults;
}

Create an image file and upload it to the image directory for your site. The "My Custom Logo" is the label for the option in the Discussion section of your Dashboard. This way any user who doesn't have a gravatar will get the logo of your site instead.