Next Site Change: Gravatars. Useful or Not?
Following on from yesterday's change to this site's comments area I've gone a step further and added Gravatars to the comments. It's experimental.
You'll see your gravatar if you provide an email address and have an account on Gravatar.com with an avatar linked to that address.
Note that if you've been posting on here for years using the same email address(es) then you can go register them now with Gravatar and it will appear next to all your previous posts! Use lots of email addresses? Link them all to your Gravatar! You should notice it appear on other blogs you've commented on, which also use the same system.
For those of you weary of providing your email address (even though those displayed are "protected from spambots") I've added the option to hide your email address. Note that the address is used in the URL for the avatar image, but is "protected" as it's in MD5 format!
Hopefully I've not taken anything away from the simplicity of the form itself by adding a new option.
Gravatars Good. Gravatars Bad.
Are avatars a good thing? I can't decide!
While they look cool and seem a fair addition to a busy forum I just can't see how much value they actually provide on this site. Are they just a distraction from the content?! Worse still, as the majority of posts will use the default avatar, does it give too much emphasis to the posts which do have one?
Like I said, this is an experimental feature. Not sure if I'll keep it yet.
Future Commenting Changes
It was a comment from Ferdy (Christant, I'm guessing) yesterday that convinced me to give this a shot. In a later comment he mentions the comments system on a site which looks a lot like what I have in mind for this site. Note the use of indented commenting. Watch this space. I've got the code for it. Just need to implement and test...
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Hi Jake,
good idea. continue !
Personally, I can't be bothered with getting an avatar - it's more effort than I'm willing to go through to get a little picture next to my name. But I'm sure some people will like it (no criticism intended here), so why not?
Sean
That was always my thoughts on them too Sean. In the end I caved in and thought "what harm can it do?"
I like Gravatars simply because they shed a little more light into commenter's mindset. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
I don't want to know what mindset you were in there Devin!
Me like.
It spices up the comment section, and it makes it faster to "scan" if you're looking for your own comment/a comment from a person that has a gravatar you know.
MD5 is not that secure.....
That's why I said it was "protected". It's better than nothing though is it not?
I really like these little gimmicks. I instantly got my gravatar, now I have another reason to follow your blog, even if I don't do Notes since two years now :-)
my next feature wish: make my own posts editable for maybe some minutes after submitting them.
Until then I am looking for a better Gravatar, needs to get a little more contrast...
Being able to edit your own posts would involve some thought Mark. Not sure it's technically possible without involving user-ids/logins etc. Not sure I want to follow that route. Although OpenID might be an avenue to follow... so many ideas, so little time.
maybe just some simple things like a combination of IP, Name, a Cookie on clients browser and some DNA would already work.
I don't know about others who access via corporate networks, but the gravatar link is blocked here.
Interesting Lance. What do you see to the left of each name in the comments list? A broken image?
Jake, would you share your Gravatar fetching code with us or at least outline how it works? I can generate MD5 okay but I'm wondering if you look up every Gravatar for every comment every time the page loads or do you cache them or what?
I like 'em though. Took me two minutes to set mine up. Now my face is sprinkled around the world-famous CodeStore blog. How cool is that?
hi Jake,
Great how you so quickly followed up on this. A few remarks and suggestions:
- I would drop the "keep hidden, but still..." control, it may be confusing for some users as you do not see them anywhere else. Actually, I think email addresses should always be hidden, I suspect nobody would want to share their email address for publication, but I could be wrong.
- Why avatars? I think it is more than dressing up a comment system, it is a form of recognition and expression, especially on a site like yours where you often see the same people commenting. I know some people will not bother defining an avatar at gravatar, but the idea of gravatar is that you define it once and then you see it on all sites that support it. Now that you support it, more users will define a gravatar, and as gravatar grows, more sites will support it and the circle continues.
- Concerning editable comments: I advise against it. Comments are time-based, you do not want someone to be able to edit their comments while responses to their original comment were made. This is why sites like digg.com have comment edit timers, where you have about 1 minute to edit your comment. The problem is, it requires authentication.
Just trying to pass on some of my own experiences here. I very much like the path you're taking and the speed in which you're doing it.
How about using FaceBook Connect to get hold of their profile picture?
Never mind ... I checked the source code on this page and see just exactly how simple it is. The code just links to an image on the Gravatar site that matches the MD5 hash of my email address. Couldn't be simpler.
I don't know. I don't have one, but it does look nice. The "sexier" a site, the greater the chance for customers to see what they can have.
A comment to Ferdy's post though. I wouldn't necessarily remove the "Keep hidden" checkbox because if the only argument is that no one else does it, I don't agree with that logic. Just because you've always done something doesn't mean it is the best way. Personally, I think it is a nice option because I've contacted others here by their email address, but you may have some that want to provide it to Codestore but no the public. - No offense meant Ferdy, I have nothing but respect for you just my opinion. :)
Great upgrades to the site though Jake, very appealing changes.
None taken, Aaron :)
The reason why I suggested removing that box is because I believe almost religiously in the following usability rule:
"Users spend most of their time on OTHER sites"
This basically says that when users visit your site, they expect it to work like other sites, since that is where they spend most of their time on. In other words: design conventions are crucial. Since none of the avatar comment systems I have seen contain such an option, I advised against it.
This is not to say that you cannot have a good reason to break away from conventions. Sometimes it makes sense indeed.
Another reason why I advise removing that box is because it sounds very technical. Perhaps that is fine given your audience, but I noticed some additional techy things in the comment system:
"protected from spambots!" - well yes, I would hope so, I don't think it needs to be mentioned.
rel="nofollow" - quite techy
Hopefully I'm not giving the impression that I'm too critical of the comment system, I'm only trying to help :) I'll stick to my story that if you do comments, do them like everybody else does them, it is ultimately best for usability.
Glad you worked it out Rob. You'd feel a bit silly if I had to explain it now wouldn't you ;o)
I agree with most of what you're saying Ferdy. Mainly that the comments form needs a re-think/simplifying.
I've always liked that people's email addresses are shown. Like Aaron says there are times you want to contact a commentor about whatever they said. It's a public service thing.
Will give the form a rethink at some point. Although I don't think you can take the "protected from spambots" for granted on all sites!
Mitul. What advatange does that have over Gravatar.com?
I personally like avatars. Most of the time they provide a visual indication of the commenter.
Jake, the gravatars display when viewing your site. But, creating one is blocked. I suppose I could create one from a connection outside of the corporate network...
Hey, I like the gravatars. Always keep mine updated, I do.