Gravatar Image Tag Plugin

Rails view helper for grabbing Gravatar images. The goal here is to be configurable and have those configuration points documented!

Install as a Ruby Gem

Rails 2

Include the following line in your Rails environment

# config/environment
  config.gem 'gravatar_image_tag'

Then ensure the gem is installed by running the following rake task from the your application root.

rake gems:install

Rails 3

Include the following line in your Rails environment

# Gemfile
  gem 'gravatar_image_tag'

Then ensure the gem is installed by running the following command from the application root.

bundle install

Install as a Ruby on Rails Plugin

./script/plugin install git://github.com/mdeering/gravatar_image_tag.git

Usage

Gravatar Image Tag

Once you have installed it as a plugin for your rails app usage is simple.

gravatar_image_tag('spam@spam.com'.gsub('spam', 'mdeering'), :alt => 'Michael Deering')

Boom here is my gravatar

Gravatar Image URL

You can also return just the Gravatar URL:

gravatar_image_url('spam@spam.com'.gsub('spam', 'mdeering'), filetype: :png, rating: 'pg', size: 15, secure:false )

Useful when used in your inline CSS.

<div class="gravatar" style="background:transparent url(<%= gravatar_image_url('spam@spam.com'.gsub('spam', 'mdeering'), size: 100) %>) 0px 0px no-repeat; width:100px; height:100px;"></div>

Configuration

Global configuration points

# config/initializers/gravatar_image_tag.rb
GravatarImageTag.configure do |config|
  config.default_image           = nil   # Set this to use your own default gravatar image rather then serving up Gravatar's default image [ 'http://example.com/images/default_gravitar.jpg', :identicon, :monsterid, :wavatar, 404 ].
  config.filetype                = nil   # Set this if you require a specific image file format ['gif', 'jpg' or 'png'].  Gravatar's default is png
  config.include_size_attributes = true  # The height and width attributes of the generated img will be set to avoid page jitter as the gravatars load.  Set to false to leave these attributes off.
  config.rating                  = nil   # Set this if you change the rating of the images that will be returned ['G', 'PG', 'R', 'X']. Gravatar's default is G
  config.size                    = nil   # Set this to globally set the size of the gravatar image returned (1..512). Gravatar's default is 80
  config.secure                  = false # Set this to true if you require secure images on your pages.
end

Setting the default image inline

Splat the default gravatar image

You can set the default gravatar image inline as follows:

gravatar_image_tag('junk', :alt => 'Github Default Gravatar', :gravatar => { :default => 'https://assets.github.com/images/gravatars/gravatar-140.png' })

Ka-Pow

Other options supported besides an image url to fall back on include the following:

• :identicon
• :monsterid
• :wavatar
• 404:

Setting the default image size

You can set the gravatar image size inline as follows:

gravatar_image_tag('spam@spam.com'.gsub('spam', 'mdeering'), :alt => 'Michael Deering', :class => 'some-class', :gravatar => { :size => 15 })

Mini Me!

Grabbing gravatars from the secure gravatar server.

You can make a request for a gravatar from the secure server at https://secure.gravatar.com by passing the :gravatar => { :secure => true } option to the gravatar_image_tag call.

gravatar_image_tag('spam@spam.com'.gsub('spam', 'mdeering'), :alt => 'Michael Deering', :gravatar => { :secure => true } )

Delivered by a secure url!

Using Gravatar’s built in rating system

You can set the gravatar rating inline as follows:

gravatar_image_tag('spam@spam.com'.gsub('spam', 'mdeering'), :alt => 'Michael Deering', :gravatar => { :rating => 'pg' } )

Specifying a filetype

You can set the gravatar filetype inline as follows:

gravatar_image_tag('spam@spam.com'.gsub('spam', 'mdeering'), :alt => 'Michael Deering', :gravatar => { :filetype => :gif } )

Credits

The ideas and methods for this plugin are from expanding upon my original blog post Adding Gravatar To Your Website Or Blog

Copyright © 2009-2010 Michael Deering, released under the MIT license