OK, I think I have avatars up and running. The CSS looks fine. I am not happy with how much space appears between the comment and the “Comment by ___,” but I’m not sure how to fix it, and I’ve been working on it for far too long tonight. If you want an avatar other than the default one to appear next to your comments so you are distinguished from other guests, go to Gravatar and upload an 80X80 px avatar. Your avatar will only be 50X50 on this site, and it will look better if it doesn’t already have a border. The largest avatars allowed are 80X80, and having an avatar that size will allow your avatar to appear on other Gravatar-enabled sites without messing up the way it looks. It is linked to your e-mail address, so if you use TypeKey, make sure you link your avatar to the same e-mail address as you use for TypeKey authentication; also, make sure you use the e-mail address you linked to the avatar to ensure that it will appear here. Whenever you comment on sites that have enabled Gravatar, your avatar will appear!

It will take a day or so for the Gravatar folks to rate it. I instituted a G-rating on avatars, because I want to avoid offending any co-workers, students, or parents who happen by. I don’t relish being offended by an avatar I can’t change appearing on my site either, so I guess that’s another reason. If your avatar exceeds a G-rating or if you don’t have an avatar, the default avatar will appear next to your comments. It looks like this:

See? You don’t want that. Get an avatar!