How to Create a Gravatar

Filed Under Home Office Basics, Mrs. Malapert

Ah hem! Let’s settle down, class. It’s time to get down to work. My name is Mrs. Malapert. I’ll be your instructor today.

Raise your hand if you’d like to have your photo or logo appear with your blog comments like this:

Everyone? Good. That image is called an avatar. The type of avatar I’ll be discussing today is a photo or drawing which represents you when posting a comment on a blog or in a forum.

One of the easiest ways to create an avatar is through a free service like Gravatar. Your image is linked to your email address and will appear on gravatar-enabled sites.

No, Chad. A gravatar is not a ride at an amusement park. That’s a “Gravitron.”

Today I’ll show you how to create your very own gravatar.

Pay attention everyone!

Select the email address you want to attach your gravatar to. We’ll be adding just one email address and image during this lesson, but you’ll be able to add more addresses with the same or different images later.

Find an image on your computer that you’d like to upload.

Do you have a question, Janet?

No, it doesn’t matter how large the image is. Gravatar will automatically reduce it to a size which will work.

Now, I want everyone to go to www.gravatar.com.

Hover your mouse over the “Log in to, or Sign up for, Gravatar” text on the blue bar at the top of the page. A menu will drop down.

Click on “Signup”.

You’ll be taken to the Signup page. Is everyone there? Good!

Enter your email address then click the “Signup” button.

A confirmation email will be sent to the email address you entered.

When you receive the email, click on the enclosed link or paste the link into your browser.

You’ll be taken to a page to finish creating your Gravatar account. Are we all there?

[Sigh] All right, Rachel. Have Jessica help you…the rest of us will go on.

Enter a nickname. This will be your Account ID. Gravatar will let you know if someone else has the same nickname and will ask you to enter a new one.

Now enter your password twice and click “Signup.” Write down your nickname and password in a safe place in case you forget them.

I said a safe place, Daniel! That does not include the back of your hand. For heaven’s sake!

Now we’re going to add an image. Click on “Add one by clicking here!”

You can select images from a number of places. For today’s lesson, click on “My computer’s hard drive.”

Click the “Browse” button, and select the image file you’d like to use.

No, Janet, it doesn’t have to be an image of you. It can be any image at all, but remember, anything you put on the Internet may be seen by your future employers so I suggest you represent yourself with dignity at all times!

When you first get to this page, the dotted box on your image will probably be small and won’t cover your whole image. Click and hold each handle, moving it until you’ve selected the desired portion of the image. Do the same with the other handles until the previews shown on the right-hand portion of your screen are correct.

Yes, Dixie, you’re doing it correctly. There’s a limit on the size of your image, so when you’ve hit the limit, the handles won’t move any more.

[Sigh] That’s all right, Rachel. Just click on your “back” arrow and upload the correct image.

No laughing, people! It’s not nice to laugh at other people’s images!

When you’re satisfied with the preview, click “Crop and Finish!”

Now you’ll choose how your image is rated. Click on the rating at the top of the page that’s appropriate for your image. Obviously, all of your images will be rated “G.”

Chad! Change your rating to a “G” right now or I’ll be talking to your mother later!

You’ll be taken to a page where you could add another email address or select a different image for the email address that you just used.

If you hover your mouse over “My Account” in the top blue bar, you’ll see that you can select to “Manage” your account, “Add an Email Address”, “Add an Image”, “Change Password”, or “Log Out”. Select “Log Out.”

You’ve done it! Now leave a comment on this blog post and see how your avatar appears. Isn’t that fun?

If you’d like to download my free instructional complete with easy-to-follow screen shots, enter your name and email address into the form in the sidebar of this blog under “Sign up for free articles!” You’ll get a link to download the full instructional as a PDF.

That’s it, everyone! I’ll see you at our next class.

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Meet Mrs. Malapert – the “How To” Lady

Filed Under Home Office Basics, Mrs. Malapert, Virtual Assistance

When I need to learn how to do something on my computer and I don’t have time to find an answer myself, I ask Mrs. Malapert (see photo). She’s the “How To” computer expert for my business.

She really knows her stuff. [Aside: She's also a bit of a know-it-all. She reminds me of my high school English teacher who had a real knack for making me feel like an idiot. Ever know anyone like that?]

As I said, she knows her stuff, so I’ve asked her to Guest Post for me occasionally. She’ll be giving us tips on how to care for, and efficiently use our computers.

Thank you for being part of my VA blog, Mrs. Malapert.

Thank you, Ms. Patterson. I’m sure my expertise will be a welcome change from your usual posts.

Yes…well. What topics will you be including in your posts?

I’ll be providing your readers with some fascinating “how-to”s which I’m sure will be very helpful to them in their Virtual Assistance businesses.

Could you give us some examples?

No need to rush me, dearie! I was just about to enumerate them.

Some upcoming topics include:

How to create and use an avatar
How to find informative business blogs
How to remotely connect to your client’s computer
How to get website statistics with Google Analytics
How to send large files to your clients
How to organize your incoming emails in Outlook
How to use Google Alerts effectively
How to create a PDF file
How to clean your computer
How to back up a hard drive

Those all sound very interesting, Mrs. Malapert!

Of course they do, dearie. I’m sure you understand that those are just a sampling of the posts that I have planned. I want you to read all of the posts carefully, Ms. Patterson. I’m sorry to say, your knowledge of some of those topics is sorely lacking.

Ummm, yes, I’ll do that. Thank you, Mrs. Malapert. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to your insightful postings!

If you have any “how to”s that you would like Mrs. Malapert to discuss, just leave a comment or email me. I’m sure she’ll be happy to oblige