Need people’s opinions on my plugin

  • Hi, I’m writing a plugin where people can rate/rank/grade/etc. whatever they want (in my case, it’ll be the movies I’m reviewing on my blog).

    What makes mine different from those currently available is that not only will it allow readers to submit their own rating and update the overall rating, but it’ll keep both the general public and post author’s ratings separate. It’ll look something like this:

    “Post author rates Terminator 3 as 8.0. 23 readers rate it as 7.0.”

    What I’m on the fence about is how to implement the reader submissions. I think it has to be 1) a dedicated form at the end of the post, or 2) I can make it a optional field within the comments template.

    Naturally 2 will be way more work but it’ll look so much better. So I’d like to know which option someone else might prefer since I’d like to release this plugin publicly. Thanks!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • Hey,
    I think its a spiffing idea. And I think that option (2) will be better. And a suggestion for your plugin – Instead of showing
    “Post author rates Terminator 3 as 8.0. 23 readers rate it as 7.0.”

    can we have something like an average? I.e. Post author rates the post as 9, 2 readers rate it as 7, the rating will be (9+7+7)/3 = 7.66 , and what is shown will be :
    “Rated 7.66 (3 votes)”
    This is just an example suggestion.This wouldbe useful since it will not be restricted to movies, books etc. Webmasters can use this to get ratings for their posts.

    Go ahead with your idea, and edit a bit if you can and release another plugin like the one I suggested above, it would be cool ??

    Yours,
    Mohan

    Thread Starter egarcia

    (@egarcia)

    Thanks for your thoughts, Mohan. In regards to your last suggestion, my plugin will not be made for any item specifically (movies, books, etc.). One of the user options will be to define the ratings “template” so it can say “This book gets 4 stars” or “Movie name is rated 8 out of 10” or it can even be used for the post itself, “Users rank this post as 5 snotballs out of 6” ?? . Basically (user-defined text) (points) (optional – out of max points)(user-defined text)

    Second option will be for the user to set whether they want to use text-based outputs or image-based.

    Both of these will be implemented later since they’re cosmetic elements.

    Thread Starter egarcia

    (@egarcia)

    Integrating an optional field into the existing comment form was surprisingly easy, thanks to the API hooks! Unfortunately now I have a problem I might need help with.

    If a reader wants to submit their rating but not a comment, they must submit the content nonetheless. But if the textarea is left blank, an error occurs mentioning the empty field.

    So maybe putting the field in the comment form wasn’t the best option? Or does someone know a way around this roadblock?

    hey egarcia,

    plugin sounds awesome — have you finished and released it?

    egarcia, I’ve been looking for a plugin like this. Your site is pretty much all about movies, and I’m glad I found it. My site is about many things, but I enjoy reviewing the movies I go see, and have wanted to include the ability to do “ratings.” My own and readers…so I can’t wait for you to make this available.

    Anyway, I was wondering, will be “optional” per post. I mean, can I turn it on for the posts about movies (or anything else that needs rated), and not have it showing for every other post?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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