We recently wanted to include a simple post rating feature on our website and explored various plugins. Among them, the most effective one we found is “WP-PostRatings” by Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan. This article will guide you through setting up an AJAX-based rating system for your WordPress blog posts and pages.
Getting Started with WP-PostRatings
After installing and activating the WP-PostRatings plugin, it will appear in your WordPress admin menu under ‘Ratings’. Here, you can configure the rating options to suit your needs.
Choosing Rating Images and Configuration
On the plugin’s settings page, you can select from various rating images such as stars, thumbs up/down, or numeric ratings. You can also customize the maximum ratings value depending on the image style chosen (e.g., for star ratings, it’s typically up to 5). Adjusting these settings will help tailor the rating display to your preferences.
Configuring Ajax Style and Permissions
Further settings include Ajax Style for rating updates without page reloads, rating permissions, and logging methods. These options allow you to refine how users interact with the rating system on your site.
Setting Up Rating Templates
In the ‘Ratings Templates’ section, you can preview and adjust how the ratings will be displayed on your website. Default settings are provided, but you can use template variables to customize the appearance to match your theme.
Implementing Ratings in Your Theme
To display ratings, insert the provided code snippet within the LOOP section of your theme files (e.g., single.php, archive.php). This will integrate the rating feature into your posts.
Managing and Viewing Ratings
You can manage ratings through the ‘Manage Ratings’ option, where you can view logs of ratings for each post and delete any if necessary.
Utilizing Ratings Widgets
WP-PostRatings also offers widgets to showcase highest-rated posts, most-rated posts, lowest and highest ratings within specific time ranges and categories. These widgets can be added to your sidebar via the Appearance » Widgets section in WordPress.
Customizing Widgets
When configuring the Ratings widget, you can specify the widget title, choose statistics types like highest rated or most rated, and set criteria such as including posts and pages or defining the number of records to display. These settings help you tailor the widget to fit your site’s design and content focus.
