What should I do to make generated avatars different for anonymous comments?

3 comments

1. There are two ways to customize the default avatar:

   1. Add a new default avatar to Settings/Discussion.
   2. Change the output of get_avatar().

   Let’s start with the first option; this processes slightly faster.

   Add a new default avatar to Settings/Discussion

   There is a filter 'avatar_defaults'. You can add more avatars here.
   You get an array of default images where the key is an URL and the value the visible name.

   Sample Code

   add_filter( 'avatar_defaults', 'wpse_58373_kitten_avatar' );
   
   /**
    * Add a new default avatar.
    *
    * @param  array $avatar_defaults Key = URL, Value = Visible name.
    * @return array
    */
   function wpse_58373_kitten_avatar( $avatar_defaults )
   {
       $avatar_defaults['http://placekitten.com/32/32'] = 'Kitty';
   
       return $avatar_defaults;
   }
   

   Result

   

   Change the output of get_avatar().

   get_avatar() searches in an option named 'avatar_default' first. We can hook into 'pre_option_avatar_default' and return a custom (random) URL.

   Sample code

   add_filter( 'pre_option_avatar_default', 'wpse_58373_custom_default_avatar');
   
   /**
    * Return a random image URL
    */
   function wpse_58373_custom_default_avatar()
   {
       /* We use images from WP here, you should change this and put some default
        * images into your theme or plugin directory.
        */
       $base_url = admin_url( 'images' ) . '/';
       $images   = array ( 'wp-logo-vs.png', 'wpspin_dark.gif', 'yes.png' );
       $rand     = rand( 0, ( count( $images ) - 1 ) );
   
       return $base_url . $images[ $rand ];
   }
   

   Result

   

   As you can see – you should return an image with a size that matches your theme’s avatar size. 🙂

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2. Re: random avatar generation, this was an extremely helpful answer and worked a treat with one minor modification – the function in question required an argument to pass through. Without the argument, the code returned included a jumble of html which included both the desired url of the image, as well as url of the default icon from gravitar. I changed it from this:

   wpse_58373_custom_default_avatar()

   to this:

   wpse_58373_custom_default_avatar($value)
   

   and that seemed to generate the image url without the jumble. For ease of use, the final code, with the addition of get_template_directory_uri () to target the theme rather than the admin folder, and some tucking away of variables was:

   // Random Avatar
   
   add_filter( 'pre_option_avatar_default', 'mind_bullets_default_avatar' );
   
   function mind_bullets_default_avatar ( $value ) {
   
     $tix_array = array ( 'Amer_Cyborg.jpg', 'Die_hard_3.jpg', 'Thing.jpg' );
   
   // Include randomizer in url generator
       return get_template_directory_uri().'/images/Avatars/'.$tix_array [rand( 0, ( count( $tix_array ) - 1 ) )]; 
   
   }
   

   Hope to allow users to choose their own soon, but for those who just want to comment, it keeps the look of the site consistent.

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3. To add to what already has been said, I suggest using the plugin “code snippets”

   This way, your modifications to the internals of wordpress will not collide with updates, and you can actually manage them (activate, deactivate, export them… )

   I set up a little tutorial to create custom random avatars using info from this question and Code Snippets

   custom random avatars tutorial

   This is how it looks

   

   The code I used is pretty simple

   // Random Chameleon Avatar
   
   add_filter( 'pre_option_avatar_default', 'chameleon_default_avatar' );
   
   
   function chameleon_default_avatar ( $value )
   {
     return admin_url( 'images' ) . '/cham_avatars/cham_avatar'.rand( 0 , 13 ).'.jpg';
   }
   

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