How to Display Twitter Avatars in WordPress Comments

As you know that WordPress has an option to display gravatars in the comment for your users. Well sometimes users don’t have a gravatar account, but they have a twitter account. In this article we will share a way for you to combine gravatar and twitter avatars to display in your comment area.

What does this plugin do?

• Loads user’s avatar by matching the email address to the user’s Twitter email address.
• If user doesn’t have a Twitter account, it first tries to load user’s gravatar. If user doesn’t have a gravatar, it loads a default image. This is an optional setting.
• You can set a 2-pixel border to the images (you choose the color).
• You can choose the sizes: Preferred ones are 24, 48 or 72 pixels.
• You can set an image other than the default one to load if a user doesn’t have a Twitter account or a gravatar.
• It builds a valid image for you (with alt and title attributes, etc.) based on user details.
• Allows you to add a class to the image, so you can style it later.

Installation Guide

First download and activate the plugin. Then you would need to place this code in your comment(s).php where you want to display the avatar.

<?php twittar(size, placeholderimg, border, class, usegravatar, rating); ?>

Now you would need to change the parameter in the code using the guide below:

size
The size of the avatar (in pixels). Just insert the number (e.g. 45), without “px.” It is the size for both width and height.

placeholderimg
The URL for the image you want to use when the user has neither a Twitter account nor a gravatar. Must be inside quotes (””). Optional.

border

The color for the 2px border. Insert the hexadecimal code of the color (e.g. “#FFFFFF” with the “” marks) but only if you want to use one.

class
A CSS class that you want to use to style the avatar. For example: “myimg.” In the CSS, you would include .myimg { }. Put inside “”.

usegravatar
Just insert 1 if you want to use gravatars, and 0 if you don’t. If you choose to use gravatars, it will try to load a gravatar image if a Twitter account and picture is not found, otherwise it will load the placeholderimg (default) image directly.

rating
Parameter for gravatars only. Read more at www.gravatar.com.

Note: if you want to skip a parameter and add another in front of it, just replace it with “”.

For Example:

<?php twittar(“45”, “”, “”, “myimg”, 1, “R”); ?>

License: The plug-in is released under the GPL. You can use it for all your projects for free and without any restrictions. You may modify the plug-in as you wish.

Download the Plugin

Source: Smashing Magazine