Version 3.5 a new major update for GD Rating System Pro plugin for WordPress with many new features (including 2 new addons, both BuddyPress related), updates and fixes.
New major version brings 2 new addons for BuddyPress integration. One will allow adding of each vote (or based on the rules) into the BuddyPress activity stream, and the other one for integration with notifications, so authors of posts or comments will be notified when the vote is cast for their content. This also can be controlled with rules to define which rating methods and rating types will use the notifications.
A major change has happened to all the CSS and JavaScript plugin needs and uses. All styling is now written as SCSS and converted to CSS, with each method having own CSS files. All JavaScript is also split into smaller core file and additional file for each rating method. This way, the plugin will load only what is enabled, so if you disable Thumbs Rating method, CSS and JS for it will not load. All this will help with the code maintenance, and it will improve loading time because files will be smaller. If you still prefer to have everything loaded in one file, the plugin has new settings allowing you to do just that.
All rating methods have new option to disable the rating, and all the shortcodes have the same option. Option in the settings is very useful if you use rules to create different scenarios of the rating methods use, and you can still override this option through functions or shortcodes. There are many updates to styling, loading and plugin initialization, handling of settings… And, several bugs are now fixed: problem with the display of rules list, the problem with saving of some global settings, issues with Editor addon and several stying issues.
Important: All addons are also updated, and all new versions require new GD Rating System Pro 3.5, and these new versions will not work with older version of the main plugin. As soon as you update the main plugin, make sure to update all the addons you are using.
Plans: In the next few months, there will be no new versions of the main plugin, and focus will be mostly on addons, especially User Reviews addon that will get some very important (and overdue) new features. New Rich Snippet for Book addon is coming, and one more Graphics pack too.
For now, if you find any issues with the new version, please report them in the support forum.
