Image from ShutterStock.
MISSING AVATAR?
What happened to the avatar for your blog in the WordPress reader?
The recent update to the WordPress reader now shows your blog avatar, or blavatar, instead of your Gravatar.
So if you had an image for your Gravatar, but haven’t yet set an image for your blavatar, that would explain why your avatar image appears to be missing in the WordPress reader.
That’s easy to fix:
- Go to your blog’s Admin page.
- Click on Settings (look on the left column toward the bottom). Choose General.
- At the top right, find Blog Picture / Icon.
- Click the Browse button. Find the image file you’d like to use for your blog avatar (blavatar).
- Click the Upload Image button.
- Crop your image. (Or just leave it the way it is and click Crop anyway.)
PROBLEMS WITH THE READER IMAGES
If no image shows with your post in the Reader, here is why:
- Either you didn’t include any images with your post.
- Or the feed is set to Summary instead of Full Text under Admin > Settings > Reading > “For each article in feed, show ____.”
Unfortunately, the recent updates to the WordPress reader cause posts with the feed set to “summary” to not display an image with the post in the reader.
The solution is to change the feed setting to “full text” instead of summary. It may not be ideal, but for now, you must choose one or the other.
If you would like to use a featured image, you must set a featured image (in the new Add Post layout, you find this option on the left; in the classic layout, which you can find under Admin > Posts, you find this option at the bottom right).
Note that a gallery is presently showing underneath the post in the Reader. For posts that have multiple images, all of the images are showing in this gallery.
Click on View Gallery to quickly check out all of the images.
FOLLOW YOURSELF
Yes, you should follow your own blog.
This way you can see how your posts appear in the WordPress reader.
When you open the Reader, click the gear icon next to Following to view the list of blogs that you follow. If you already follow your blog, click on your blog’s name on the list. Then you can see how your recent posts look in the new WordPress Reader.
I find that the Reader looks much nicer on my iPhone using the WordPress app than when I view it on my pc monitor.
WORDPRESS POETS
Do you post any poetry on your blog?
If so, I’d like to link to one or more of your poems from a page that will be dedicated (on Read Tuesday) to showing by example the different forms of poetry.
The page will include a variety of poetry terms and forms, with links to blog posts that show examples of what the terms mean. (I won’t copy your poem; I’ll just link to your blog post.)
Find more information here:
http://readtuesday.com/2015/07/10/poetry-a-chance-for-poets-to-get-exposure-for-their-poems/
Blog happy, be happy. 🙂
Chris McMullen
Copyright © 2015
Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers
Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.
chrismcmullen 
Reblogged this on Finding Myself Through Writing and commented:
Chris has done his homework on issues with the new WordPress reader. Read on for solutions to a few of them. Thanks Chris for this! ~Elle
Thank you for the reblog, Elle. 🙂
You are very welcome Chris. I’ve had no problems yet that I’m aware of!
Reblogged this on Silver Threading and commented:
Is your Blavatar gone when viewing the reader? Chris has a FIX for that!
Thank you. 🙂
Glad to share the info… 😀
Thanks for the info.
You’re welcome. 🙂
Oh, I didn’t know I was supposed to follow myself! I thought that would be egotistical, glad to know.
I didn’t try it until I realized that’s how I could find out what my posts look like in the Reader. Then I was relieved it worked.
I just did it, so manythanks! And I finally got it how to turn on my sharing buttons! Duh! lolol
There are a lot of goodies hiding in settings.
Thanks for spreading the word!
No problem. 🙂
Oh my god, I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix that since they made the changes. I was literally digging through the forums for two hours this morning, without success, before finding this post. Thank you!
You’re welcome. 🙂
Great information, Chris! But don’t understand what a featured image is…
Here is the WP support page for Featured Images:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/featured-images/
Find The Smile in Your Eyes
My heart is heavy, burdened because he closed the curtains on us.
It was the last act on the play on trust.
I don’t want to carry on, but I must.
It’s not my time to turn to dust.
My eyes are leaking and turning to rust.
Carry on and move forward, thrust.
Find the smile in your eyes because you must.
Don’t let bitterness turn into hardened crust.
This poem is in my book of poems. The paperback book is going toward a Cause to Help The Forgotten Children. You can read the About Page about it at http://theorphanageandfosterhomes.wordpress.com/about and I suggest you read Two Poems and a Music Video too.
Thank you,
Bonnie Gail Carter
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
Now you know the cause and how to fix it DO IT and PLEASE while you’re there – include all your online links so we can follow you back 😀
If not for this, many of our blogs would still have empty blavatars. 🙂
Yep 🙈
My avatar didn’t disappear from the reader since my blog avatar and gravatars are the same.
I think that the issue with the featured image has already been fixed.
Yes, it’s true that we have to follow our own blogs to see how the WP reader would display our posts.
That’s a good idea. I will probably change my blavatar to match my Gravatar. I kind of wanted to see how this one would look though.
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
via Chris Mullen and shared on The Story Reading Ape… I realised my gorgeous profile photo had gone missing.. I think the happiness engineers set these riddles to check we are paying attention.. anyway I did manage to attach my new Blavatar but it was not the only word that began with a B… here is the expert with a much less stressful step by step solution.
Thank you for the reblog. 🙂
Thanks again, Chris. I had no idea my settings were on ‘summary’. After reading your article I checked, and sure enough, the wrong setting was in force. All better now. 🙂
I’m glad it was helpful. 🙂
Thank you Chris for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome. 🙂
Reblogged this on Barrow Blogs: .
Thank you for the reblog. 🙂
Thanks as always Chris. 🙂
You’re welcome. 🙂