Well, laste few days I have received a lot of emails and there was a discussion in the forum and on this blog about the features for GD Star Rating plugin. So, I have decided to slow down with new version, and instead I will do a rewrite on some parts of the plugin to add new things, and to make possible easier expansion for the future versions.

So, the planned 0.8.0 Beta will not be released befoe all these things are done. But, the most important thing is to make a list of the things that will be changed. If you are interested in these features, please continue reading.

Database changes

Most of the new features will require better database layout. Right now, there are only two simple tables, and that doesn’t leave much space for advancing. So, the new database layout will have following tables:

• Stats_Article: this is expansion of current stats table, and it will store data for votes on each article or page, voting rules for each article and article comments, will keep separate votes from logged users and visitors.
• Stats_Comments: new table, with votes for comments, and also will keep separate votes for logged users and visitors.
• Log_Article: expansion of the current log table with more infoon each vote.
• Log_Comments: new table with log of comments votes.
• Trend_Articles: this will keep daily votes for each article, and provide us with information needed to get trend of votes for each article over any period of time.
• Trend_Comments: the same purpose as the table for articles.

Because current database layout will be different from new one, I will provide you with a SQL query that can be used to copy data from old tables to new. Maybe I will add this as a upgrade function in the plugin.

Rating Stars

Currently only 4 sizes of stars are supported. This will change, and you can have stars of any size. File with list of stars will have a list of sizes available, and stars must follow naming convention. For preview purposes, only stars of certain sizes will be used for preview.

Administration

Current administration page in Settings of WordPress will be replaced by full Administration menu. The reason for this, is my intention to make most of the pages in the plugin to look like standard WordPress admin pages. This will make using of the plugin easier.

Using Categories

Also, you will be able to add wordpress categories into the mix in shortcode, widget, administration. This will make it easier to show exact ratings for a selected group of articles.

Voting Rules

Currently you can set if users or visitors can vote (or both). But new version will allow you to set this on the article level. You will be able to set rule for each article and for comments for each article:

• registered users can vote
• vistiors can log
• both registered users and visitors can vote

Voting for Comments

This is the most requested feature. You will be able to set stars and stars size, number of stars independenty from article settings. Voting rules will be used much like with the articles.

Rating Stars Placement

Currently, voting stars are only placed at the end of the article in the loop. Well, now you can place them wherever you want. This can’t be done automaticly, but you will be provided with simple function that you can add to your theme template and rended stars wherever you like them to be. This goes for both comments and articles.

Ajax

Ajax voting will be available, but not with next few revisions. It all depends on how the development goes. This is not feature with big priority for me.

Well, I hope you like the list of upcoming features. If you have any more suggestions, please leave a post in forum, send me an email, leave comment here.