Reaktiv Ratings is a brand new star rating plugin from Reaktiv Studios that is really, really excellent. I’ve always felt there was a pretty heavy lack of good ratings plugins for WordPress. They have always been either too simple or way too complex, but Reaktiv Ratings has nailed the plugin perfectly.
Note: My pronunciation of Reaktiv Studios is wrong in the video. It should be Ree-ak-tiv.
Andrew Norcross has shown extensive care in every aspect of the plugin. Not only is it exceptionally well written, Andrew has made updates, support, and documentation as simple and easy as it could be.
My Rating: 
built on an insane level of coffee. win.
You have *no* idea. Hopefully the start of something big.
Great review of what seems to be a great plugin!
I have one concern about whether or not the plugin has been properly internationalized? I had a look at the documentation Pippin showed in his demo. The start hints filter (http://docs.reaktivstudios.com/ratings/docs/filters/rkvr_star_hints/) shows a non-internationalized string.
Of course it is very easy to add that (as a developer), but I think from a commercial plugin one should be able to expect that it can be used in more languages than English alone.
I would gladly offer my help internationalizing the plugin (and make it fully compatible with WPML) in exchange for a free copy 🙂
Cheers,
Piet
Yes, it is fully localized. Demos in docs are often not localized because it complicates things for no developers.
OK that is good to know, although I don’t agree on why it would complicate things if strings (in demos) are internationalized.
In my opinion it’s all about setting a standard. Probably stuff for an entirely different discussion though…
Definitely a different discussion 😀
Thanks for the question. All the strings in the plugin are internationalized. The filter, however, is for individuals to use, so they could pass an internationalized string if they wanted to.
I’ll be honest, the entire process still confuses me a bit (I can barely speak English at times, let alone another language) because I don’t know the best way to test it after the fact.
Thanks for your reply, Andrew. Glad to have a double confirmation that the plugin has been fully internationalized.
I can imagine that for mono-lingual people it can be quite challenging to test this. If you need any help with this, I would not mind to help out (time-permitting of course).
As I can read at least 4 languages, figure out a lot more and also work a lot with Chinese, it should be much easier (and quicker) for me to test this.
Nice plugin, hope it will feature multi-ratings in the future as there is no such plugin available yet AFAIK (except GD Starrating, which is too slow & huge, and v2 will probably never be released). Also, is it possible to rate custom taxonomies with this plugin, as many similar rating plugins can’t?
not sure what you mean by “multi-ratings”? as in, separate rating ‘types’ for a single item?
as for taxonomies, it isn’t configured to handle that right now, only individual pieces of content. I plan on adding that once WP core has a defined method for taxonomy metadata (which it does not yet)
from what I can see, I really cant justify the premium price tag from what I have seen from the screenshots, videos, etc.
I use lesterchans wp post ratings currently, and for a free plugin it has way more features.
I was hoping for a newer rating system at the route of a premium product, but myself wouldn’t buy this unless more features are available.
I’d highly suggest you read Chris Lema’s post on plugin prices: http://chrislema.com/wordpress-plugin-prices/
The only reason Reaktiv Ratings seems expensive is because you’re comparing it to other free plugins.
Prices should not always be based on features; prices should be based on the value a plugin provides. If Reaktiv Ratings provides the features someone needs for a site, and it saves them a few hours of development time, the price tag is insanely cheap.
To chime in, I intentionally made this initial release to have a solid core of features without a ‘kitchen sink’. Many of the existing plugins out there (GD Star Rating is one) have so many options, many users are confused and / or can’t configure it at all.
Also, features will be added when they make senses for the majority of users, however, I plan on adding as many hooks / filters as possible to allow people to customize as needed without making a mammoth options page that makes it harder for people to do the core functionality of the plugin itself.
Norcorss, I just bought and installed it.
I manged to get it showing on a custom page template , but expected it to show another color or something to indicate the current average rating on the same set of stars (like netfilx sorta) . If it doesn’t do that, it should
Please use Andrew’s in-plugin form for submitting support requests.
Interested in this, does it pull through schema markup for rich snippets?
No, I don’t believe so.
Hi,
What exactly is the difference between this plugin, at nearly $40, and the likes of GD or KK stars ratings, both for free?
If there were facilities for a user to add a review as well from the front end, then it would be approaching the price of the plugin.
Personally, I’d rather stick with the aforementioned free ones that have the same functionality.
Steve,
It differs for everyone, but I personally have a couple of reasons:
1. With the purchase of the paid plugin, you will receive dedicated support from the developer (Andrew Norcross). Support from the free plugins may or may not be provided.
2. Sometimes less is actually more. This can come down to the specific needs of the site and your own personal preference, but the more light weight a plugin is, generally the more reliable it is.
The price of a plugin should not (in my opinion) be based on the number of features, but on the quality of the features and the level to which it performs the necessary function. If a plugin with fewer features performs the functions better than a plugin with other additional features, then that plugin is inherently more valuable to the site it’s being used on.
Just my two cents.