Optimum Gravatar Cache

Description

Optimum Gravatar Cache allows you to create a local cache with optimized copies of gravatars. The optimization is accomplished by resizing the avatars to the sizes used on your site, in addition to optimizing the images internally. Optimizations are performed to minimize the size of each avatar served by the plugin.

The plugin uses WordPress CRON to perform heavier tasks. Avatars are resized in the background. Avatars are optimized internally in the background. Except in certain cases where it is necessary to resize the avatars in the page request.

The plugin handles all your site’s gravatar as long as the wordpress get_avatar() function or buddypress bp_member_avatar() function is used. Works with plugins, themes, etc.

The plugin allows you to customize the avatar by default. This avatar is served whenever the user / visitor does not have a custom gravatar. This greatly reduces the number of requests made by your page, improving the user experience. Besides allowing to frame the avatar by default with the theme of your site.

The plugin, after being configured and activated, starts by serving gravatar for all. And it begins to create the cache dynamically in the background with the sizes being collected by the requests, as well as those configured on the plug-in page. When the avatar already exists in the cache, the plugin serves the avatar in cache. The plugin periodically checks to see if the user updated their gravatar on gravatar.com if yes is updated locally. This way, keeping an updated cache.

The plugin intends the following:

• Work with the gravatars locally, cache;
• Reduce the number of requests per page, thus reducing the total time required to load all files. This is achieved because most users do not have a custom gravatar, and for those, only one file needs to be downloaded;
• Optimize all avatars by reducing their size and transfer time again.

Please if you find any bugs of any kind please contact me so that I can solve it as soon as possible.

Languages

• English en_GB (@willstockstech)
• Portuguese pt_PT (@jomisica)

Help translate this plugin into your language

Dependencies

This plugin depends on the following PHP modules:

• php-gd or php-imagick (So that it can resize the avatars)
• php-curl (So that it can communicate with the gravatar using the same connection to update several avatars)

The plugin also depends on WordPress CRON to be able to solve the heaviest tasks in the background.

Screenshots

Installation

This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.

Install the plugin manually

1. Upload the optimum-gravatar-cache directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
3. Go to “Settings -> Optimum Gravatar Cache” to configure the options to suit your needs.

Install the plugin manually as a must-use plugin

1. Upload the optimum-gravatar-cache directory to the /wp-content/mu-plugins/ directory.
2. Go to “Settings -> Gravatar Optimum Cache” to configure the options to suit your needs.

FAQ

I need help

Check out the WordPress support forum

I have a great idea for your plugin!

That’s fantastic! Feel free to open an issue or you can contact me through my email or my Website

Does the plugin work with Page Cache plugins?

Yes, the plugin works with the following list of page cache plugins:

• WP Super Cache
• Hummingbird

The plugin clears the cache of pages and posts that contain a particular Gravatar that has been updated.

Other plugins that offer a way to clear the cache for a given post / page as well as the entire cache will be added in the future.

Does the plugin support Cloudflare?

Yes, the plugin allows you to clear the Gravatars cache in Cloudflare.

Does it work well for new commenters?

Yes works well with new commenters. It is not necessary to be a registered user comment.

Do you periodically check to update the gravatars in case they are changed?

Yes, it is checked if the avatars have been updated on Gravatar.com and whenever they are updated there, they will be updated locally in the cache.

How can I add extra classes to Gravatars

Through the plugin configuration pages.

Go to the “Other Options” plugin configuration page and add the classes you need.

Using the wordpress get_avatar() function through themes or plugins.

<?php echo get_avatar ($id_or_email, $size, $default, $alt, array("class"=>"class1 class2")); ?>

Using the buddypress function bp_member_avatar() through themes or plugins

<?php bp_displayed_user_avatar (array ('type' => 'full', 'width' => 150, 'height' => 150, 'class' => 'class1 class2')); ?>

Reviews

Works Perfectly, Great Options

christinaleans April 4, 2019

It just works, unlike other plugins that are supposed to do the same thing. It has great options too for adding a custom default avatar if you don’t have one already, and even Lazy Loading for the Gravatars (with a custom loading image option too). After testing on multiple sites, it seems to save almost .1 seconds for every 20 comments, which was way more than I was expecting. Those Gravatars really can slow down your site without something like this.

Only Gravatar Cache Plugin That Actually Worked

Tom Dupuis November 19, 2018 1 reply

I have tried SO MANY plugins like this for YEARS, none of them worked. This one did. Have about 4,000 total comments on my blog and write about WordPress speed optimization for a living, and have disabled Gravatars for about 2 years because they take so long to load – some posts have 300+ comments. My developer came across the plugin after a ton of testing, and this is the only one that actually worked. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I can finally show people’s faces in the comments. I will be referring people to this plugin to my readers. Thank you plugin developer! Tom

The best plugin for caching gravatar among the ones I tested so far

rcgoncalves June 17, 2018 14 replies

I tested some other plugins and they either did not work properly (e.g. only worked for comments, but not for post authors’ gravatars) or required manual changes to the theme to work. This is the plugin that gave me best results so far. There are a few details that could be improved, namely with regard to knowing whether the plugin is really working or not, as initially we see the default avatar for almost all users. But after a while we start seeing them being replaced with the proper, locally cached, avatars. Also, I think the Apache rules set by default are not appropriate to recent Apache versions (uses Order Allow,Deny instead of Require). Even though the installation instructions mention the htaccess file, it would be useful to see a “warning” when setting up the plugin mentioning the file, as most users will likely only check instructions if they have problems with the plugin. Being aware of the htaccess file is important, as we may need to modify it (besides the permission instructions, the cache settings the plugin uses conflict with the cache setting I had in place).

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

1.4.8

• Better check for options when enabled, removes PHP Notices.