{"id":349,"date":"2021-09-22T12:20:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T02:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wphowto.club\/?p=349"},"modified":"2021-09-25T14:33:43","modified_gmt":"2021-09-25T04:33:43","slug":"how-to-allow-users-to-upload-their-own-wordpress-profile-picture-without-using-gravatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wphowto.club\/es\/how-to-allow-users-to-upload-their-own-wordpress-profile-picture-without-using-gravatar\/","title":{"rendered":"How to allow users to upload their own WordPress profile picture without using Gravatar"},"content":{"rendered":"
Gravatar is a fantastic tool that allows blog authors and commentators to have their avatar appear consistently across websites all over the internet without having to manually upload it each and every time. However, not everyone wants to use Gravatar or even knows what it is. I often have clients that start writing blog posts but then can’t figure out how to set their profile pictures and get frustrated. Sometimes they aren’t even the ones doing the writing, someone else is doing it for them and publishing it for them. In either case, they want to be able to upload their own WordPress profile picture without using Gravatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes I need to be able to set up their profile picture for the client. Gravatar just doesn’t work in this scenario and WordPress doesn’t give you any other option. Forcing you to use Gravatar for profile pictures is potentially one of the most frustrating aspects of WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, there are ways to override the default WordPress profile picture functionality. Some of them are very simple, lightweight plugins, like Simple Local Avatars<\/a>, and some are much more complex with detailed profile and community management systems, like ProfilePress<\/a>. Chances are, if you are like me and just want a simple way to update user profile pictures on individual sites, then I’d suggest something like ProfilePress<\/a> is way overkill and you are better with a plugin that does exactly what you want and nothing else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s look at two of my favourite plugins to allow your WordPress users to upload their own profile pictures without using Gravatar and how to set them up: Simple Local Avatars<\/a> and WP User Avatars<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this guide, I have deployed a dev server instantly with Cloudways<\/a> to demonstrate the process for each plugin. Cloudways<\/a> is one of my favourite WordPress web hosts and saves me a lot of time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple Local Avatars<\/a> has a large installation base and is updated relatively frequently. These are both signs of an active plugin community. Lots of installations mean more potential development volunteers and more motivation for the current development team to keep the plugin up to date, secure, and user friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Otherwise, Simple Local Avatars is a lightweight plugin that does exactly what we want. It lets registered users upload their own profile pictures without having to use Gravatar. For those users who do want to use Gravatar, that functionality is retained and the two options work seamlessly together in the familiar WordPress interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As awesome as Simple Local Avatars is, there are a couple of caveats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, Simple Local Avatars leaves the default Gravatar settings on the profile edit screen in their standard location and adds the new profile picture settings to the end of the profile. This works fine but can be a little confusing for users as the two avatar settings may actually be separated by other options and they may not even see the local upload option if they don’t screen all the way to the end of the profile page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, Simple Local Avatars uses the standard media library for image management. This keeps things really simple, but it does mean that any users who are able to upload their own pictures are also able to access the pictures in your media library. This is perfectly fine when you are just managing avatars for a few people who work on your website. However, this should be used with care if you are using a site that allows user registrations like an e-commerce store, community site, or something else. I’d suggest something with more capability in this scenario, like ProfilePress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First up, like installing any plugin, let’s go to the “Plugins<\/strong>” menu item and click “Add New<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSimple Local Avatars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why I like Simple Local Avatars<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to install & configure Simple Local Avatars<\/h3>\n\n\n\n