Avatars
Sets three things for every member photo in your app: which plugin the photo comes from, the shape it is drawn in, and what a member without a photo shows. Every screen with a member photo uses them: the feed, chat, directory, profiles, comments, search, reviews and the rest.
Every app has Avatars, and you can’t remove it. It sits on the Background tab with a lock icon. A new app gets it when you first open the builder. An app made before Avatars existed gets it the next time you open it, and nothing changes until you change a setting.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”| Plugin | None. Built into Memberside. The source you pick must be active on your site |
| Endpoint group | None |
| Plan | Every plan |
Source and default avatar are applied by your site, so they need a Memberside version with Avatars. Shape is drawn by the app and works with any version.
Change the settings
Section titled “Change the settings”- Open the Background tab.
- Click Avatars.
- Choose a Source, a Shape and a Default avatar.
- Click Save, then save your layout.
The preview follows the shape at once. Source and default show in the preview after the layout is saved, because your site applies them.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Where member photos come from: Automatic, WordPress (Gravatar), Ultimate Member, BuddyPress or BuddyBoss | Automatic |
| Shape | How every member photo is drawn: Circle, Rounded, Square, Squircle or Hexagon | Circle, or the shape your app already had |
| Default avatar | What a member with no photo shows: The source’s own default, A WordPress default style, or Your own image | The source’s own default |
Automatic is what your site showed before: Ultimate Member’s photo when it is installed, then BuddyPress or BuddyBoss, then WordPress. The list only offers sources that are active on your site.
WordPress (Gravatar) uses the Gravatar for each member’s email address, as WordPress does for comments. A member without one gets your default avatar.
A WordPress default style offers the same choices as Settings › Discussion › Default Avatar in WordPress: Mystery person, Blank, Identicon, Wavatar, MonsterID, Retro and RoboHash. Identicon, Wavatar, MonsterID, Retro and RoboHash draw a different picture for each member.
Your own image is picked from, or uploaded to, your site’s media library. A square image works best.
Which photo a member gets
Section titled “Which photo a member gets”- Their photo in the source you chose, if they have one.
- Otherwise, the photo from a social account they signed in with.
- Otherwise, your default avatar.
Changing the avatar source, shape and default avatar
record → src/assets/media/avatars.mp4
Only your app changes
Section titled “Only your app changes”Source and default avatar apply only to this app. Your website keeps the avatars its plugins already show, and so does any other app connected to the same site.
Shape applies to member photos only. Group photos keep their rounded corners so a group and a member look different side by side. With Square, group photos are square too.
Where the shape used to be
Section titled “Where the shape used to be”Avatar shape used to sit under User Lists in Appearance. It now lives here and applies to every member photo, not only lists. Your app keeps the shape it had until you change it here.
When it does not work
Section titled “When it does not work”| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The panel says “Update Memberside on your site” | Your site’s Memberside version is from before Avatars | Update Memberside. Until then the app shows your site’s own avatars, and the shape still works |
| “BuddyPress isn’t active on your site” under Source | The plugin you chose was deactivated | Pick another source. Meanwhile the app shows WordPress avatars |
| The preview still shows the old photos | Source and default reach your site when the layout is saved | Save your layout |
| Your own default image shows as a grey Gravatar with the WordPress source | Gravatar fetches the image itself and cannot reach it, for example on a local or password-protected site | Use the Ultimate Member or BuddyPress source, or host the site publicly |
| Members with a photo show the default | They uploaded the photo in a different plugin from the source you chose | Pick Automatic, or the plugin your members use |
| Your website shows different avatars from the app | Expected: Avatars changes only the app | Change your plugins’ own avatar settings for the website |