Add-ons
Auto Avatars 1.2.0
by Seth Falco
Add-on for Thunderbird that automatically populates contact photos with their Libravatar or Gravatar photo. Includes support for custom instances and federation!
About this Add-on
Add-on for Thunderbird that automatically populates contact photos with their Libravatar or Gravatar photo. After installation, you must either set a preferred Libravatar instance, or confirm that you're happy with the recommended instance in the add-on preferences before the add-on will fetch avatars.
The primary way to use this extension is to:
Auto Avatars will also fetch avatars for Collected Addresses, which are the contracts that are created when you send emails to addresses not already in one of your personal address books.
You can find a demo of the add-on on GitLab:
https://gitlab.com/Elypia/auto-avatars/-/blob/main/assets/demo.webm
Fetching Avatars
As Libravatar is federated, Auto Avatars can check multiple locations for an avatar. Attempts will only be made to fetch avatars from secure sources (HTTPS).
We fetch avatars in the following order:
To learn more about and enable federation support, see the add-on preferences documentation.
Why Libravatar
If you've found this extension while looking for a add-on for Gravatar, this will do what you're looking for. However, you might be wondering what Libravatar is, and why we favor it when it's available.
Libravatar is an avatar service similar to Gravatar, except it is community backed, open-source, and federated. Libravatar has a similar user interface and API to Gravatar, while avoiding the problems that stem from centralization.
Many websites use Libravatar already, or support overriding Gravatar with it:
The primary way to use this extension is to:
- Navigate to the Address Book
- Either update or create a new contact.
- If the contact does not explicitly have an avatar, the add-on will automatically set one on save.
Auto Avatars will also fetch avatars for Collected Addresses, which are the contracts that are created when you send emails to addresses not already in one of your personal address books.
You can find a demo of the add-on on GitLab:
https://gitlab.com/Elypia/auto-avatars/-/blob/main/assets/demo.webm
Fetching Avatars
As Libravatar is federated, Auto Avatars can check multiple locations for an avatar. Attempts will only be made to fetch avatars from secure sources (HTTPS).
We fetch avatars in the following order:
- The contacts preferred Libravatar instance if federation is enabled. (Disabled by default!)
- Your preferred Libravatar server, it's recommended to use the hosted Libravatar instance at libravatar.org.
- Fallback to Gravatar, the request is proxied through the hosted Libravatar instance.
To learn more about and enable federation support, see the add-on preferences documentation.
Why Libravatar
If you've found this extension while looking for a add-on for Gravatar, this will do what you're looking for. However, you might be wondering what Libravatar is, and why we favor it when it's available.
Libravatar is an avatar service similar to Gravatar, except it is community backed, open-source, and federated. Libravatar has a similar user interface and API to Gravatar, while avoiding the problems that stem from centralization.
Many websites use Libravatar already, or support overriding Gravatar with it:
