Testimonials widget plugin allows you display testimonials in a widget on your WordPress blog.
Contributors: comprock, j0hnsmith
Donate link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GGPVLS64ZMNV8
Tags: testimonial, testimonials, quote, quotes, quotations, random quote, sidebar, widget
Requires at least: 3.0
Tested up to: 3.3.1
Stable tag: 0.2.4
Download link: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/testimonials-widget/
Description
Testimonial widget plugin allows you display testimonials in a widget on your WordPress blog.
More than one widget can be displayed, each pulling from testimonial sets by using tags. Each displayed widget has its own identifier allowing for custom CSS styling.
You can make a simple client or portfolio rotator by using the testimonial field as the client or organization name, and the source field with the URL and tag as “portfolio”. Then in the widget, show source and require tag “portfolio”.
Features and notes
- All testimonials (subject to filters) are in the html source so will be seen by google etc.
- Testimony, author and source fields are clickable
- Admin interface: A nice admin interface to add, edit and manage testimonials. Details such as author and source of the quote, and attributes like tags and visibility, can be specified. The ‘Testimonials’ menu in the WP admin navigation leads to the admin interface.
- Sidebar widget: The Testimonials sidebar widget loads a testimonial then rotates through all available testimonials. Following is the list of options in the widget control panel:
- Widget title
- Option to show/hide author
- Option to show/hide source
- Choose refresh interval in seconds or set to 0 for static display
- Choose random or sequential order for refresh
- Show only quotes with certain tags
- Show only quotes with all tags
- Specify a character limit to filter out longer quotes
- Allows for multiple widgets. Useful for using tags to keep widgets separated.
- Compatible with WordPress 3.0 multi-site functionality.
Shortcode [testimonialswidget_list]
- Options
- hide_author – default show; hide_author=true
- hide_source – default show; hide_source=true
- ids – default none; ids=2 or ids=”2,4,6″
- limit – default no limit; limit=10
- random – default newest first; random=true
- tags – default none; tags=fire or tags=”fire,water”
- [testimonialswidget_list] Examples
- [testimonialswidget_list hide_author=true hide_source=true]
- [testimonialswidget_list tags=”test,fun” limit=1]
- [testimonialswidget_list ids=1]
Need More Power?
Check out the Quotes Collection plugin by SriniG
Installation
- Upload
testimonials-widgetdirectory to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the ‘Testimonials Widget’ plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Add and manage the quotes through the ‘Testimonials’ menu in the WordPress admin area
- To display testimonials in the sidebar, go to ‘Widgets’ menu and drag the ‘Testimonials’ widget into the sidebar
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m not seeing any testimonials but the title
If you’re not seeing any testimonials, even when not using tags filter, you might try increasing the Character limit or setting it to ’0′ or ‘none’ in the widget box.
How to stop testimonial text/author/source being cut off?
Specify a larger minimum height in the testimonials widget, see screenshot 2.
How to get rid of the quotation marks that surround the random quote?
Open the testimonials-widget.css file that comes along with the plugin, scroll down and look towards the bottom.
How to change the random quote text color?
Styling such as text color, font size, background color, etc., of the random quote can be customized by editing the testimonials-widget.css file.
How to change the admin access level setting for the quotes collection admin page?
Change the value of the variable $testimonialswidget_admin_userlevel on line 33 of the testimonials-widget.php file. Refer WordPress documentation for more information about user roles and capabilities.
Screenshots
- Admin interface (WordPress 3.2)
- Add new testimonial
- ‘Testimonials’ widget options (WordPress 3.2)
- A testimonial in the sidebar
- Edit testimonial
- Testimonial shortcode results
- Testimonial shortcode in post
Changelog
trunk
-
0.2.4
- Shortcode added - Thank you Hal Gatewood
0.2.3
- Allow testimonials to have multiple tags
- Show only quotes with all tags
0.2.2
- Show newest testimonials first in admin list by default
- Quick locallization
- Quotes Collection recommendation
2011-10-03: Version 0.2
- Multi-widget enabled
- Testimonial, author & source text are clickable automatically
- Allow 0 refresh to make widget static
- Allow pressing return when editing testimonial to save record
2011-08-12: Version 0.1
- initial release
Upgrade Notice
- If you have no tags fields, deactivate and activate the plugin as normal to perform database upgrades
TODO
- TBD
Related Entries
About Michael Cannon
Hello, I'm Michael Cannon, Peichi's smiling man, an adventurous water-rat, chief technology officer, cyclist, poet, WWOOF'er and world traveler.
Is it possible to add photos to the testimonials?
Leah, It’s possible to add images via HTML code right now, but not the Media tools. I’m thinking to add this feature in the future, but it’s lower down the priorities as there’s other active projects and Relevanssi 3.0 work going on. Michael
html in the testimonial quote section or author section? adding this to the Media tools would be great - yours is the most functional testimonials plugin out there.
In the quote section.
Thank you for the compliment. I’ve added it to the raves page at http://typo3vagabond.com/typo3-vagabond-testimonials/.
Ok, thanks. No prob 🙂
My site is localhost on my computer. I have downloaded your “Testimonials Widget” and place 4 testimonials in the data base and place it in my sidebar. They are all very similar, public and no other tags. However, only one is visible. The other three do not seem to be there. I tried deleting the widget and re-uploading and activating it again but still have the same problem.
Do you have any suggestions??
Jerry
Jerry, Thank you for writing. Have you recently checked the FAQ at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/testimonials-widget/faq/? I figure your issue is the character length of the 3 other testimonials is over 500 characters. Good luck!
Thanks for your response Michael. Is it possible to increase the character length?
Jerry
You can increase the character limit at the bottom of the widget after clicking advanced options. See the 3rd image down at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/testimonials-widget/screenshots/.
Hi Michael,
That worked great.
Thanks for all your help.
Hi Michael,
i clicked on your donate link for Paypal and received this message.
Sorry — your last action could not be completed
Perhaps there is a problem with your Paypal link?
Jerry, thank you for the compliments and the donation attempt. You can send the donation to [email protected].
Hi Michael,
I did send the donation via Paypal and hope you received it. I am thinking using the testimonials widget on another website for random quotes. However, I have a long list of these quotes and I wonder if there is a limit to individual quotes. Most are very short in length.
Thanks,
Jerry
Jerry, I’ve received the donation. Thank you very much for it. I’ll find a good beer or wine to serve this weekend to enjoy it with.
If you have a long list of quotes say, more than 25, I’d break them into groups via tags to show on the front-end. The reason being is that most people aren’t on a website page to see more than 5-7 quotes. Next, we’re unnecessarily loading down the HTML with extra characters which can increase page weight and slow down page delivery.
No for importing these quotes, I’d suggest pushing them to a spreadsheet, convert to CSV and import into the testimonials database table directly. Shouldn’t be hard to do.
That sure beats doing them individually.
Hey Michael,
Wonderful plugin - really nice work! I have a slight problem though. I updated the plugin this morning, and now the list shortcode doesn’t seem to be working. The widget is still working fine though. Any ideas?
Many thanks!
Tania,
Thank you for the compliment. It’s great to get these. I appreciate your letting me know that the plugin broke with this morning’s update. The fix is up now with 0.2.7 with adjusting the CSS again. My apologies for the break.
Michael
It seems that the plug-in is not role based? I’d rather my users not be able to add/edit. Am I missing something? Is there a setting for allowing “master admin only” only testimonial submission?
Gary, have you seen the FAQ at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/testimonials-widget/faq/? Look for the question “How to change the admin access level setting for the quotes collection admin page?”. Ciao!
Thank you!! So, I would set that to look like this for an Author: $testimonialswidget_author_userlevel
The default is: $testimonialswidget_admin_userlevel
Am I on the correct path?
Thanks you in advance!
gs
Gary, I just pushed up release 0.2.9 of the plugin. It defaults to requiring the Editor role for managing testimonials. Next, I provided samples for changing the access role in testimonials-widget.php. Eventually, I’ll rewrite this plugin with a settings page. For now, this works. Thank you for the feedback. It really does help me keep the plugin adapting to user needs.
Sorry, yes. You’re on the right path. Refer to http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities#Capability_vs._Role_Table for ideas of what privilege is required.
wow … stellar! I’m following you and your work. way-da-go! Service is KING! u wear a crown!
gs
OK … (looks at ground and kicks up a cloud of dust) for the life of me! How do I upgrade the plug-in, deactivate and upload did not work. If I delete plug-in…then upgrade, will I loose my current body of testimonials? ummm?
Have you visited Dashboard > Updates and clicked Check Again to force your WordPress installation to see that 0.2.9 is available?
Mr Cannon, you know that as soon as I sent that dang response that sounded as if I was falling through the floor of ineptness, I quickly regained by balance (and my “brain”) and did exactly as you mentioned just now!
Perfect!