How to change your avatar

Daily Kos site members have the option of displaying a custom avatar image instead of the default grayscale flag-bearer. The avatar image appears as a circle within the page header at the top right corner of every story page and most other pages on the site; it displays as a square on every member's user profile page and in association with every comment that a site member makes. A quick skim of any story page with comments will demonstrate that site members often take some time and care to choose an avatar image that has special meaning for them.

The process of uploading a new image for your avatar is easy. When you're logged in, go to your Edit Profile page. You can get there via the pulldown menu associated with the your avatar (shown below in its default mode as a circle in the upper right corner of the page).

The default user avatar, a grayscale flag bearer, is displayed in the upper right corner of every story and blog page, along with other header links to Help Desk, Write a Story, the comment reply indicator, and the mailbox icon.
Your own username will show on hover over the avatar.

The pulldown menu contains a link to Profile; after you click on it, the next page you'll see is your own Profile page, with the default avatar in a prominent position at the top of the left sidebar. Below the avatar image, you'll see an Edit My Profile button. Click it.

The next page displayed will be your Edit Profile page. Below the default avatar, you'll see a link, Upload image.

If you click Upload image, then your computer will open a window to display the files from which you may choose an image to upload. Your new avatar can be color or grayscale; it should be an image that will be suitable both as a square or as a circle. Such an image must be smaller than 5 MB, and it must be a .jpeg or .png file.

After you choose it, then you should briefly see rolling dots in place of the old avatar, then the new image. If you're happy with the display, then you're ready to take the last step: Scroll way down the Edit Profile page till you see Save Changes, an orange button at the bottom. You must click it to complete the upload of your new avatar.

Once you have uploaded a different image, the next time you see your Edit Profile page, the links below your avatar will be Change image/Remove. Clicking Change image will start the same process for viewing your own stored files to upload an image of your choice; clicking Remove will restore the default flag bearer image. If you click Change image without confirming your new choice by clicking the Save Changes button, the default avatar image will be displayed.