You are interested in the Purple Heart Rating Plugin (PHRP) and have questions before you download the free or even buy the paid pro version? In this case, please do use this FAQ section.
Why should I use PHRP and not any of the many other rating plugins out there?
A: When coming up with the idea for PHRP we asked ourselves: How can we make this whole rating process as simple as possible, without fluff or unnecessary features? We also thought it would be cool to give the author of a comment also a chance to directly comment on the quality of the website, this way giving valuable feedback to the site-owner about how to enhance the quality of the website. It also hast he schema.org function integrated so that you can see the rating results also in the google search pages as snippets with stars. This creates trust amongst your potential site visitors so that they select your website for the information they were looking for. The pro version also includes the possibility to let readers rate the comments of other readers, as well as several other features that you can see on our Purple Heart Rating Plugin landingpage.
Which functions does the basic version of PHRP have?
A: The basic and cost-free version contains the following features:
- rating of articles/pages/media
- implementation of schema.org so rating will appear as snippet in google search results
- although intended mainly fort he site-owner, these additional comments can be published also within the comment section oft he article/page
- customization of text content
- automatic version updates of the free version
- import of GD Star Rating Plugin data so you won’t loose any of your already existing rating
Which functions does the pro version of PHRP have?
A: The pro version contains, next to the basic features, also the following features:
- implementaion of schema.org also in rating of comments
- readers can rate the comments which other readers left
- additional commenting function after the reader has rated your article/page: after rating another window will appear asking the reader if s/he would like to send any additional comment tot he site-owner to help improve the quality of the content – this can be a powerful tool for you to learn what your audience actually wants
- no advertisement for our other products on the backend
- option to not display the link to the developers ‚WP Buddy’ under the PHRP in the front end
- automatic version updates
- new cool features which we intend to add to PHRP will be included
- automatic sorting of comments based on rating so that the comment with the most positive ratings will appear on the top of the comments chain a bigger variety of icons you can use, in case you prefer to have another icon rather than the standard ‚Purple Heart’
Can I see the full version of PHRP somewhere ‚in action’ on other websites so I can see what it looks like?
A: Sure! You can see PHRP in action on the websites that are listed on our Purple Heart Rating presentation page.
There are surely several more websites out there that use the Purple Heart Rating Plugin for their WordPress hosted website, based on the number of people who have downloaded the free version on WordPress and who have bought the premium version.
What is the advantage oft he schema.org implementation in PHRP?
A: schema.org helps to make Google aware of the ratings of your article. The rating will be displayed as stars in the google search results. The advantage is obvious: if your article shows up in the search results then your stars very likely will create trust and the reader will more likely prefer your website over the other websites that showed up next to you on the search results page. Of course, in order for this to happen you better have more positive ratings than negative ones so that you have ideally 5 stars. You can see an example of how that looks like in the screenshot on our info page.
Will the basic version of PHRP always be free of charge?
A: Yes, it is for free and will always stay that way.
How much does the Premium Version cost?
A: The Premium Version costs € 19.00 (one-time payment, no additional costs involved).
Will I get automatic updates if I purchased the pro version of PHRP?
A: Yes, you will. In order to do so you will have to enter your purchase-code in the settings area of PHRP.
Do you plan to add features to PHRP and will these then be included in the price I paid for PHRP?
A: Yes, we do plan to add some more cool features.
I am already using another article rating plugin which uses schema.org. What will happen to the ratings if I switch to PHRP?
A: Changing from one rating plugin to another is in general an issue, since usually data will be lost. Currently PHRP supports the import of all schema.org data if you have been using GD Star Rating up to now. We are thinking of expanding this also for other rating plugins so that you can import your data also from other such plugins. If you have been using other rating plugins and have gathered many good ratings so far, then we don’t suggest that you change to PHRP or any other rating plugin, as long as the import of the old data is not possible. If you are starting from scratch or haven’t gathered many ratings yet, we definitely recommend that you use PHRP.
Is PHRP compatible with all WP Versions?
A: PHRP is compatible with WP version 3.4 and upwards. But it’s recommended that you upgrade to the latest version of WordPress since the plugin does not support all functions in WordPress y 3.5.
What are the technical requirements?
A: You need the latest WordPress version (3.5 at current) running on your self-hosted installation. Although the plugin will work on WordPress 3.4 you cannot use every single functionality.
You need a least PHP 5.3 running on your webserver. In most cases you don’t need to care about that. Just ask your provider if he runs the latest version. But nearly every provider allows you to upgrade to the latest PHP version on your own. Read this for more information on this: How to update to the latest PHP version.
Do you have PHRP also available in other languages?
A: It is available in English, German and Italian for now.
Will my existing comments be erased after I install PHRP?
A: The comments that were left on your website before you installed PHRP will remain there.
What happens to he additional comment that someone sends to me after having rated the article/page?
A: The additional comment will be saved in your backend and you will see there a notification that a new comment needs to be approved. It’s up to you if you want to publish this comment in the comments section or if you simply use it as feedback from your readers.
Does PHRP also have an integrated function to rate comments from readers?
A: Yes, it has!
Will comments with positive/negative rating be more up/down in the comments section?
A: Exactly! But only if you have activated this functionality.
What happens with a comment chain if one oft he comments within such a chain will receive several positive/negative ratings? Will the whole comment chain then go up/down in the list of comments?
A: Yes, the whole comment chain will be affected by this. It wouldn’t make sense to take out this specific comment from within a whole chain since it might then be totally out of context. Let’s say you have one comment in a chain that has 10 good ratings; if another comment in this chain has the equal amount of negative ratings then this will be ‚neutralized’ and it’s like zero ratings.
Can the reader who wants to leave a comment still use the regular comment function of my theme while PHRP is installed?
A: Yes, of course, as long as you haven’t deactivated the commenting function of your theme. PHRP is not intended to be a commenting plugin but a rating plugin. The additional comments that come in after someone has rated your article/page are intended to be for the site owner so s/he can make the site even better and more useful to the readers.
Will the additional comments that someone leaves after having rated the article/page be automatically published?
A: No, these types of additional comments will not be published automatically since these should serve first and foremost for you, the site owner, to enhance your service. This way we hope that you will find out even more about your audience and what it wants, so that you can optimze the content you publish. But: it’s always up to you if indeed you want to publish such a comment if you think it makes sense.