Author Avatars Plugin – fifteen years on

It hardly seems possible that I uploaded my first co-authored plugin, Author Avatars, to wordpress.org over 15 years ago!

That initial foray into the world of plugins was the first step that led to the creation of my premium plugin business, Matador Jobs.

It is rewarding to feel that, with 7,000+ active installations, people are still finding Author Avatars useful. Since I took over full ownership in 2011, I have continued to maintain it regularly. This includes adding Gutenberg support even before Gutenberg was included in WordPress Core.

Author Avatars makes it easy to display lists of user avatars, grouped by user roles, on your (multiuser) site. It also allows you to insert single avatars for blog users or any email address into a post or page – great for displaying an image of someone you’re talking about.

It makes use of built-in WordPress (core) functions to retrieve user information and get avatars.

Avatar lists can be inserted into your sidebar by adding a widget or into posts/pages by using a shortcode. The plugin comes with a tinymce editor plugin which makes inserting shortcodes very easy.

How to List All Authors From Your Blog in WordPress (image from WPBeginner tutorial on Author Avatars)

It is particularly gratifying to find Author Avatars featured in a WPBeginner tutorial dated March 8, 2024. Thanks guys for providing an excellent ‘How to’ guide!