Installing the WP-PostRatings Plugin
The WP-PostRatings plugin by Lester Chan will give you the ability to rate posts and in doing so the four posts with the highest rating will be displayed on the front page. However, if you decide not to install this plugin the front page will show the last four posts instead, or if no posts have been rated yet and the plugin is installed it will still show the last four posts, as well.
Getting set up for ratings
To get this plugin working just upload the plugin to the “/wp-content/plugins” folder and activate it in the admin menu, the plugin is almost ready to be used, we just need to change a few settings.
The Proper Settings
Go to “Ratings->Ratings Options” and choose (stars_crystal), with a max rating of 5. Then below where it says “Ratings AJAX Style” set the “Show Loading Image With Text” to NO. The other options on that page are up to you.
Rating Templates
Next, go to “Ratings->Rating Templates” and input the following code into the correct fields.
Ratings Vote Text:
<strong>Rate this Article</strong> %RATINGS_IMAGES_VOTE% <span>(%RATINGS_USERS% Ratings)</span>
Ratings Voted Text:
<strong>Rate this Article</strong> %RATINGS_IMAGES% <span>(%RATINGS_USERS% Ratings)</span>
Ratings None:
%RATINGS_IMAGES_VOTE% (No Ratings Yet)
Highest Rated:
<div class="post">
<h2><a href="%POST_URL%" title="%POST_TITLE%">%POST_TITLE%</a></h2>
%POST_EXCERPT%
<a href="%POST_URL%" title="%POST_TITLE%">Read Article ›</a>
</div>
The other two are totally up to you, these four are the ones that are needed to make the theme act correctly and need to be done before the rating system is fully functional!
And that’s it! You have ratings.
Have fun, and enjoy!
(156 Ratings)
The rating system is looking great! The only problem im having is that HTML code for the caption on my images are being shown in the exerpt on the highest rated articles. Is their anyway I can get them not to show?
Love the theme. You’ve done some outstanding work.