GD Rating System plugin development is getting near the release stage (20 more days to go), and all plugin features plans are now locked and finalized. Read on to learn more about both Free and Pro editions, release plans and more.
Version 1.0 Features
GD Rating System 1.0 is now in the features freeze stage. Plugin landing & countdown page contains finalized list of features with provisional roadmap with features planned for future versions. The core of the plugin is very lightweight and all the features are modular with support for rating methods and addons. Stars Rating is basic rating method, and Pro edition will have Stars Review and Thumbs Rating methods. Posts and Comments integration are addons too and with Rich Snippet addon they are available in Free edition of the plugin. Pro edition will have Dummy Ratings, Shortcake Shortcodes plugin support and WP Rest API support addons. On the admin side, you can review all rating objects and rating log and remove ratings. Pro edition will have options to edit each rating and to add new ratings.
WP Rest API Support
This addon will be part of Pro version only, and it will require WordPress 4.4 to work. Addon will add a number of endpoints to return the list of rating entities and types, rating data for individual objects and more. Depending on the available time, more Rest related features will be added. At the beginning, Rest API will be read only and it can’t be used to submit votes, but that too is planned to allow for using remote rating widgets maybe.
Transfer old rating data
Finally, plugin includes tools to import data from GD Star Rating and WP PostRatings plugins. This will allow import of data that matches rating methods new plugin has. Other tools include settings import/export tool and tool for data removal and cleanup.
Styles, stars, and templates
Free plugin version comes with the specially prepared light weight font with 10 icons to be used for stars rating. And it has 2 image based sets (plain and crystal – check out the image below). Pro version will have 4 more images included and will also have a package with PSD source files for each set. Font icons can be used with any size you want, and image sets are limited by the maximum size of the image. For some sets that will be 512px (per star) and for some 256px. A great new thing is that rating can be the full star based on it can have resolution allowing you to use half star rating, or quarter, or fifth or tenth-star rating. The image below shows 25% resolution (quarter star rating).
To display rating block, plugin uses HTML/PHP templates. Old GD Star Rating used HTML with special tags and that proved very complicated for most users. New templates based system is closer to what WordPress does with own templates in the theme. And you can modify these templates through your theme, or add new templates. Free version will have one default template looking like the example block above. Pro version will have additional templates.
Is it responsive?
Yes, it is fully responsive. You can set larger stars size, and plugin will scale them down to fit smaller screens if needed. Plugin also includes own mini grid library (based on the Gridism) to use in templates, but you can use your own grid in templates you make.
Release date and Pro edition pricing
Due to the wait time for new plugins approval on WordPress.org and for some extra testing time needed, the release date is moved by 5 days to December 22, 2015. On December 10, 2015, first Beta version will be released (Pro edition only) on Dev4Press. All users with Dev4Press Plugins Pack license will get access to the plugin once Beta is released.
Free version users will have partial access to the knowledge base and own support forum for basic support related to bugs fixing. Free plugin support outside of bug fixing is not guaranteed and will depend on available free time.
Pro version will go on sale from that day too with special 50% discount that will be available until plugins official release date and stable version 1.0. Pro version will cost $30.00 for Personal license (1 website use), $75.00 for Business license (5 websites use) and $150.00 for Developer license (50 websites and multisite setups use). All licenses include 1 year access to support, downloads and full knowledge base.
Next week I will install the plugin on some of the Dev4Press websites so you can get the feel of the new plugin. If you have any additional questions or suggestions, please let me know.
GD Rating System
Check out the release countdown, plugin demo and list of features. Development log is updated daily with current changelog and features development progress.
