One of the features I enabled for The Acer Guy when I had the site redesigned was avatars in the comments — or little picture boxes to add a bit of personal flair to postings.

The default box is that blue inverted G you keep seeing, which can get a bit dull when the comments really light up. Since people have been asking how they can add their own pictures, I thought a little step-by-step would be handy. This whole process will take roughly 3 minutes — an eternity in the blogosphere I know – so I’ll understand if I continue to see a deluge of blue G’s in the comments.

Gravatar images

Gravatar images

Step One: Sign Up With Gravatar

Painless! — and all they need is an email address. Gravatar is the universal avatar supplier for sites that tie in pictures with their comments. Simply go to their sign up page, drop in your email, and confirm that you truly are a real person. Then, just select a username, password, etc.

Step Two: Add The Email Address You Use With The Acer Guy

This step is important. If you did not already use the same email address you use when adding comments on The Acer Guy, add it to your account by clicking on “Add a new email” at the top of your Gravatar account. Otherwise, proceed to the final step!

Step Three: Add A Photo

Just like with Twitter, go ahead and upload the image you would like to use to represent you. You can crop once the image is uploaded.

That’s it — you’re done! In a few minutes, your avatar will show up next to any comment you’ve ever posted on The Acer Guy tied to that email address. If you post comments elsewhere using the same email address, and that site has avatars activated, a similar result will occur.

Good to see you!!!