Method 1: Default Recent Comments Widget in WordPress
WordPress comes with a built-in ready to use recent comments widget which you can add to your sidebar.
Simply go to Appearance » Widgets and add Recent Comments widget to your sidebar.
You can provide a widget title and choose the number of comments you want to display. Next click on the save button to store your widget settings.
Now you can visit your website to see the recent comments widget in action.
Method 2: A Better Recent Comments Widget in WordPress
As you can see that the default recent comments widget only shows comment author name and post title. There is not much information about the comment itself which makes it look very plain.
Here is how you can add a better recent comments widget to your WordPress sidebar.
First thing you need to do is install and activate the Decent Comments plugin. Upon activation, simply visit Appearance » Widgets page and add Decent Comments widget to a sidebar.
Decent Comments widget comes with a lot of different options. Among these options, you will find the option to display comment author avatar and comment excerpt.
WordPress uses Gravatar to automatically display a comment author’s avatar image.
You can define the size of comment author’s gravatar image as well as the excerpt length. This gives you control on how the recent comments appear in the widget.
Don’t forget to click on the save button to store your widget settings.
Now visit your website to see the recent comments with author images in action.
You can adjust the appearance of recent comments by editing CSS in your theme or child theme. You can also use CSS Hero plugin which allows you to change appearance of any element on your site without writing any CSS or HTML.