Change ordering of initials in biblatex style

Question

I'm not very experienced with biblatex, but I hope that the answer to this question will be relatively simple. I'm using the authoryear style, and my references in the reference list appear like the following:

Wilson, R. T. and E. J. Milton (2010). Automated Selection of Suitable Atmospheric Correction Sites. In: Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Conference, September 2010, Cork, Ireland.

This looks great, apart from the fact that the first author and the second author have their initials in a different order. For the first author it is Surname, Initials and the second author is Initials, Surname.

So, my question is threefold: Is there a simple option to change this? If not, can I simply modify the .bbx file to change this? If not, is there another biblatex style already available that does this without changing the rest of the reference style too much?

Answer 1

A simple approach is to set

\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{first-last}

or

\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{last-first}

after loading biblatex, with the one to choose being dependent on where you want initials to appear.

Answer 2

I personally use the natbib styles, you can find them on CTAN. After placing the style files in the right directory you can use the styles in e.g. the following way:

\usepackage[bibstyle=nature, citestyle=numeric-comp, sorting=none,backend=biber]{biblatex}%this style compresses the numbering 

And It does as you want. Just tested it quickly with my own library using a dual author reference, and this is how it is displayed.

1. De Vries, R. & Visser, J. Regulation of the feruloyl esterase (faeA) gene from Aspergillus niger. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65, 5500 (1999).

Answer 3

As Joseph has pointed out,

\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{<formatting macro>}

may be used to change the name format of the authoryear style and its variants. This also works for the authortitle and verbose style families. To change the name format of the numeric and alphabetic style families, you have to use

\DeclareNameAlias{default}{<formatting macro>}