---
title: 'HowTo: Set A Custom Gravatar Image In Wordpress 2.7+'
author: Matthias Kretschmann

date: 2008-12-11 22:59:06+00:00

tags:
  - design
  - tutorial
  - wordpress

redirect_from:
  - /2008/12/how-to-set-a-custom-gravatar-image-in-wordpress-27/
---

![Wordpress Logo by kremalicious](../media/wordpress-logo.png)
Sure enough I've upgraded immediately when [Wordpress 2.7 was released](http://wordpress.org/development/2008/12/coltrane/). Among all the other things that changed in this new version the comments functions got a massive overhaul. But the [new comment loop](http://codex.wordpress.org/Migrating_Plugins_and_Themes_to_2.7/Enhanced_Comment_Display#The_Comments_Loop) with the [new function `<?php wp_list_comments(); ?>`](http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_comments) lacks the ability to quickly set a custom default gravatar or avatar image. But with some help of the functions.php file we can set the default gravatar image in the Discussion settings in the Wordpress backend.

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Before Wordpress 2.7 I achieved a custom gravatar image on kremalicious.com with this code placed in the comments.php template file:

```php
<?php
  if(function_exists('get_avatar')) {
        echo get_avatar(
        $comment,
        $size = '70',
        $default = '<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/gravatar.png'
      );
  }
?>
```

So we were able to set a path to our image we wanted to use as the default gravatar image. But with Wordpress 2.7 we have the new function [`<?php wp_list_comments(); ?>`](http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_comments) which pretty much simplifies writing comment template code. Although it has a parameter for the avatar size it doesn't have one for setting a custom image like before.

But we can use the functions.php file in your template directory and add some lines to it: (If you don't have a functions.php file just create one.)

```php
<?php
  function my_own_gravatar( $avatar_defaults ) {
      $myavatar = get_bloginfo('template_directory') . '/images/gravatar.png';
      $avatar_defaults[$myavatar] = 'GRAVATAR NAME DISPLAYED IN WORDPRESS';
      return $avatar_defaults;
  }
  add_filter( 'avatar_defaults', 'my_own_gravatar' );
?>
```

Just set a name for your custom Gravatar image to show up beside the image in the Wordpress back-end. The code above assumes you have your custom default gravatar image inside a folder called images inside your template directory. Change it to your environment if neccessary. After that a new entry in the Wordpress backend under Settings > Discussions will appear with the custom image specified:

![custom gravatar](../media/custom-gravatar.jpg)

And you can adjust the displayed size of the gravatar image by adding a parameter to `<?php wp_list_comments(); ?>` function in your comments.php file:

```php
<?php wp_list_comments(array('avatar_size'=>70, )); ?>
```

And that's it. As you would guess I pretty much prefer this way to adjust the gravatar image. But you're free to [write your custom comment callback function](http://clarktech.no-ip.com/wordpress/wordpress-27-comment-callback-function) to exactly define the output of the comments. But it's definitely too much if you just want to change the gravatar stuff.