StarStruck
StarStruck is a fast, lightweight, and elegant star rating system. It works with any WordPress site and is a breeze to setup. Your visitors can then rate a comment, post, or page with a click of a star.
It’s a great way to engage with your visitors and see which comments/posts/pages are most popular. Then take action based on overall data collected. It’s so good, we use it on AppThemes.com (See example here. Scroll to the bottom).
Feature Highlights
- Simple interface and options page
- Instant AJAX rating feature (no page reload)
- Works with any WordPress theme
- Supports pages, posts, comments
- No code or theme template files to edit
- Allows anonymous and logged in user voting
- Adds a “Votes” column to wp-admin comments, pages, and posts screens
- Supports any language (text translation and .pot file required)
Advanced Features
- Supports custom post types
- Works with WordPress Multisite
- Works on WordPress.com
- Works with nested comments
- Supports both http and https websites
- Portability. WordPress export includes all data
- Clean, professional, well commented code
- Built with rich snippet microdata for Google compliance & awesome SEO results
- Includes several hooks and filters
- Uses the WordPress API for quick processing
- No hardcoded select statements or custom database tables
- Uses WordPress post and comment meta tables
- JSON-LD schema format for structured data
- Used web fonts instead of images to easily change color via color picker option and for retina/hdpi support
- Support for rating bbPress Forums/Topics/Replies
- Support for rating WooCommerce products/taxonomies/authors
- Top ratings widget for post types
- Shortcodes for displaying ratings
- Rate Authors
- Rate Taxonomies (including Clipper stores)
- Half star ratings
More features coming soon!
How do I verify my website is configured correctly?
Use the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to verify that your markup is well-formed and can be processed by Google.
How can I preview what my site will look like in Google?
It usually takes a few weeks before Google will show the star ratings in their search results. If you’d like to confirm everything is working correctly, you can Fetch your Website as Google. This is a tool that allows you to test how Google views your website which should show you the star ratings in action.
Before you can use the tool, you must have your website verified and setup in Google Webmaster Tools. Here’s a good tutorial on how to use the tool.
How long does it take for rich snippets to be visible?
Once you’ve installed the plugin, Google will discover it the next time they crawl your site (although it may take some time for rich snippets to appear in search results, if they do choose to display rich snippets for your site).
The star ratings don’t show up in Google
It takes time for Google to re-crawl your site and for rich snippets to appear in their search results. If it’s already been a few weeks and you tested your site’s markup and ran the Fetch as Google tool per above and they still don’t show up, read their FAQ.
Are there any filters or hooks?
Yes. There are several filters built into the plugin. These allows developers to modify the StarStruck content before it’s returned to the browser.
starstruck_content – executes before StarStruck is displayed on the post/page.
starstruck_comment – executes before StarStruck is displayed on each comment.
starstruck_mini – executes before StarStruck is displayed as read-only values.
starstruck_sidebar – executes before StarStruck is displayed in the sidebar.
startruck_template – executes before a StarStruck template (top ratings or content) is displayed.
The best way to figure out how filters work is by looking at the source code. You’ll be able to see the exact parameters and how the function works.
For example:
function your_filter( $content, $data ) {
if ( $data = maybe_unserialize( $data ) ) {
// do something with the data if you wish
}
// more importantly, do something with the content
// look at starstruck-content.php for an example
// always make sure to return the content!
return $content;
}
add_filter( 'starstruck_content', 'your_filter', 10, 2 );
For more information on how filters work, see the WordPress Codex.
Have a suggestion for a new filter or action? Let us know in the comments below or our support forum.
Installation Guide
It’s easy to install the plugin. Just follow the steps below. What’s most important is to verify that your theme has microdata setup correctly. Once you’ve done that, see the FAQ tab for more guidelines.
- Download the plugin from your customer dashboard
- Login to your WordPress site and visit “Plugins” => “Add New” in the sidebar
- Click on “Upload” and then “Choose File”. Browse to the starstruck.zip.
- Click on the “Install Now” button
- On the plugins page, scroll down and find “StarStruck. Click on the “Activate” link.
- You’ll then be redirected to the options page
- Visit your site and view a blog post. At the bottom, you should see the star ratings
Setting up the Microdata
If you site has already been configured with microdata, StarStruck will automatically work once you accumulate ratings.
Google provides a free testing tool to see if everything is configured properly. If so, you’ll see the star ratings in the results.
If not, chances are you need to add microdata tags to your WordPress theme. The exact tags depend on the content StarStruck is displayed on. For this example, we’ll use the BlogPosting item type.
If you’re familiar with editing theme code this will be easy to do. You’ll need to modify your theme’s single.php (or possibly content.php or loop.php) file. There might even be a plugin that does this for you without having to edit the theme files.
The key pieces we need to add are:
- itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting”
- itemprop=”name”
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting">
<h2 itemprop="name"><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<?php the_content(); ?>
</div>
For different microdata item types such as products, restaurants, etc, see the Schema AggregateRating page.
Display the Ratings and Total Votes in the Sidebar
We have this setup on our Marketplace (see the right sidebar) and you can do it too. Just add the following code to your theme’s sidebar.php file.
if ( function_exists( 'starstruck_sidebar_ratings' ) ) {
echo starstruck_sidebar_ratings();
}
Note: You might need to add some custom styles to match your theme.
Changelog
2.5.2 – Feb 24, 2021
- Made the author rating shortcode usable on the ad page
- Fixed some structured data issues
2.5.1 – Oct 2, 2018
- Fixed text domain name, renamed from “starstruck-domain” to “starstruck”
- Added Spanish translation
2.5.0 – Sep 27, 2018
- Added JSON-LD schema format for structured data.
2.4.1 – Mar 24, 2018
- fixed “illegal string offset” issue
2.4 – Feb 12, 2016
- fixed microdata structure (provides rich snippets for reviews on google search)
- fixed duplicate microdata issues
- updated raty.js lib from 2.4.5 to 2.7.0
- added web fonts instead of images to easily change color and for retina/hdpi support
- added a color picker option for the star color
- cleaned up admin options
- cleaned up sidebar function
- fixed shortcodes bug and created separate new shortcodes
- added new read-only mini rating function ‘starstruck_mini_ratings()’ for within post loop
- fixed singular bug where “1 vote” showed as “1 votes”
- removed the images folder since we use web fonts
- merged all front-end dynamic js into scripts.js
- minimize all js and css to improve page load performance
- converted spaces to tabs
- fixed PHP7 incompatibility issues
2.3 – Jan 30, 2015
- fixes issues with YOAST plugin
2.2 – Jan 05, 2015
- fixed ratings being displayed on user listings (should only be displayed with posts listings)
2.1 – Nov 21, 2014
- fixed ratings not showing correctly on front page and other non-singular pages
2.0 – Oct 23, 2014
- added top ratings widget for post types
- display ratings using shortcodes
- allow rating bbPress Forums/Topics/Replies
- allow rating WooCommerce products/taxonomies/authors
- allow rating authors
- allow rating taxonomies
- allow half star ratings
- fixed CSS issue with coupon codes success bar in Clipper
- moved styles into separate file
- added two new sidebar filters to control read only mode
1.1 – Dec 12, 2012
- added more instructions on options page
- fixed css issue where stars inherit theme styles
- fixed issue where https wasn’t working
- added raty MIT license.txt file
1.0 – Oct 22, 2012
- initial release
Comments (202)
Is there an option of making star rating appear at the top of the post or page instead of bottom?
@young master, there is no specific setting for this in the Starstruck plugin option, so it would require customization on your part if you were looking to move it from the default position. Thanks.
I want guest visitors to rate posts for posts from a specific category.
and for a special category posts I only want registered users to vote.
Is this possible with this plugin? Please let me know if its possible, I will buy the plugin straight away if it is.
@Towfiq, the plugin doesn’t have the kind of restrictions you specifically describe that you’d want by default, so it would require customization on your part. It won’t work this way “out of the box”. Thanks.
Does this work with Classipress?
@dreamrock, yes it does work with ClassiPress, however please note that it does not currently support custom taxonomies which means it will apply only to blog posts and ads, but not specific users at this time. Thanks.
Hi,
Do the ratings appear for each post in ‘archives’ or is it only in ‘single’ pages?
Thanks.
@Dom you can set the ratings for posts and/or pages. Thanks.
I am using vantage theme. I want to appear LISTING’s my comments on google search pages. Could this plugin do it?
@olmeca2005, the implementation of Google rich snippets is planned for a future release of Vantage (possibly v1.3). Thanks
Will StarStruck work with JobRoller to enable ratings that are visible on the front page feed?
@Dan Roseman, the default listing display only shows what you see on the JobRoller demo site, so no the ratings would not appear automatically. It could potentially be done through customization on your part though. Thanks.
@Yumiko – thanks. I don’t have the technical stills to do the customization; would you by any chance be able and willing to do it for compensation?
@Dan, AppThemes does not offer customization services, however we do have a certified partners page where you can find developers for hire. If you make contact directly with an outline of your requirements, they can provide a quote for the work. Thanks.
Few questions before purchase. (1) Can I use this to manually add ratings to custom post types? (2) Can I use it’s meta keys to sort by post ratings? (3) Are there PHP functions to manually add ratings? (4) Does this plugin store user’s rated posts so a list can be displayed on their profile?
@Tim, As mentioned on the plugin description page(1) Yes the plugin supports custom post types (2) The plugin “Uses WordPress post and comment meta tables” (3) Not from the admin dashboard (4) No this is not stored/displayed by default. Thanks.
Bonjour,
Comment mettre starstuck en français ?
Merci.
@bureaucity, I see you have already posted in our forums where plugin support is provided, and one of our team has responded. Thanks.
Hello Yumiko!
I want a star rating system like the system installed on this appthemes sidebar. It’s possible?
In my opinion, a star rating system only for registered users is very important item.
grateful
@lars, Thanks for your feedback, I believe our team are working on this, although no further information at this time sorry.
Hi there, A few pre-sales questions to ask before purchase:
1. I am using a templatic theme called RealEstate. Will this rating plugin work on the custom post types that the properties are listed on?
2. If I wanted to use this plugin for turning the comments into ratings/review box is that possible? Would the sum of the commentators ratings (lets say there are 10 comments with ratings) be reflected in aggregate in the google search engine result?
2B. Would those search engine results show the stars as complying rich-snipets?
2C. If the commenting idea work as stated above, is there a way to show the aggregate rating (from the comment’s rating) in the post itself?
thanks in advance, I hope you understand what I’m trying to accomplish. Chris
@Christoph, my apologies for the delayed response.
1. The plugin does support custom post types, so yes it should work.
2. You perhaps may need to make some modifications if you’re looking to change the default functionality, but technically yes. The Google result will show the average votes and number of votes.
2B. As per the plugin description “Built with rich snippet microdata for Google compliance & awesome SEO results”
2C. This is possible, but could also depend on your theme as to how it’s displayed and whether or not additional modification is required. Thanks.
Hi,
Do we get future updates for free after buying this plugin?
@classbr, the plugin purchase is a one off cost, so yes. Thanks.
Hi there!
It is possible to import GD Star rating data?
Thanks!
@brais, there is no specific option for this built in. Some of our themes have importing tools, but they don’t relate to ratings and it would require further customization as outlined here. Thanks.
Okay, thanks Yumiko!
Vantage has pages, posts, listings, and comments. Would this override the star system for business listings and let users anonymously rate vantage business listings? If so, do you know if “two sets” of stars appear — the vantage set built in (for registered users only, near the top of the listing) and the plug-in set, near the bottom? Or does the plug-in override the Vantage set (which would be ideal).
Ok like this – now how do i add a top ten rated widget in a sidebar?
I guess this plugin es never to be extended or updated>??????????????????????
Does it have widgets showing the best rated, most rated?
Is there a way, we can add this plugin below the store name on the store page of the Clipper theme for store ratings ?
How would I go about sorting my query arguments by star rating? This is a make it or break it feature for me. Thanks!
hate to say this, but bought this a loooooooooong time ago and have yet to see any changes or improvements made to this “what cold be a fantastic” plugin…
@gregmc, what sort of improvements are you looking for? We’d like to provide an update in the near future.
Tx for replying David… I think for starters
If u need help let me know
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll log some tickets with our dev team and see what we can do.
Apologies for the lack of response on these comments. I’m going to check with our team about future updates for this plugin. Thanks.
Is this working with clipper, i need this for the rating of the stores (custom taxonomy) and not for posts, pages etc.
@Ingo, not at this time. We’d eventually like to have custom taxonomy ratings though. I’ll talk it over with my team.
Hi
after installed the plugin I found the following :
In CP 3.3.3
WP 4.0
Not possible to View which Ads have the most ratings.because Votes information not available!!!
@Orzdy, if you have not already done so, please do post in the Starstruck section of our support forums and our team will be happy to assist. Thanks.