If you like the author information at the bottom of this post then you’ll love today’s article.  The following code will provide you with the ability to show off the avatar, the biography and the post count of the author of each article on your site.

I’m sure many of you may not be familiar with xhtml, css or php but I assure you that this guide will walk you step by step through the process of installing this on your website.  It’s really just a bunch of copying and pasting. And if you have any questions simply leave a comment and I’ll jump in and help you out.

1.  Open up your wordpress theme file named single.php and look for the following line of code:

<?php the_content(); ?>

2. Past the following code just below the above mentioned line.  Create a new line if necessary.

<span style="float:left;margin:0 10px 0 0;">
<?php $author_email = get_the_author_email();
echo get_avatar($author_email, '140'); ?></span>
<h4 style="font-size:2em; color:#775F55;">
<?php the_author_posts_link(); ?></h4>
<p><?php the_author_description(); ?> 
<?php the_author(); ?> has <?php the_author_posts(); ?>
post(s) at Site Sketch 101</p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div>

Be sure to replace Site Sketch 101 with the name of your own blog. If you want to adjust the size of the avatar then simply replace the 140 with the number of your choosing.

If you have any trouble working on it just leave me a comment and let’s figure it out together.

Additional Information:

A special thanks to Glen from Happy and Blue 2 for providing this follow up advice to people using this recipe.

I would only add that you need to do the following:

Once you have pasted the code into your single.php file, in your WordPress admin area go to ‘Users/ Your Profile’.  Under Name change your nickname to your name (or whatever name you wish to appear).  Under About Yourself- Biographical Info add in the message you want to appear at the end of each post.