Jump to content

some ideas for the widget factory

Michael

By Michael
in Feature requests

Recommended Posts

Michael Advanced Member

Michael

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone,

 

as I have spent quite some time now in order to set up the fantastic new jReviews widgets on my site, I thought I could share some of my thoughts and wishes for further development and future versions. Maybe you find some of these ideas useful and like to back them. The widget factory is still a very new product, which already offers so many possibilities. Really looking forward to its potential in the future. Here's my feedback - no criticism - no demands - just ideas:

 

#1: optional individual headline per widget, which users can define with the help of the widget builder. Helpful e.g. for suppliers as the could write "we/I at XYZ" in order to further encourage their users to click on their listing and rate them.

 

#2: many listing: display order filter in final result (optional parameter to choose within the widget builder): Currently one can choose to filter a many listings widget, i.e. show the order of the listings due to highest user rating, most popular, newest entries, etc... - correct me if I am wrong but the final result, i.e. the widget, does not give away an information how the listings/reviews are ordered. It might be useful to see at first sight how a widget list is ordered. As an alternative a webmaster could of course build an own content box around it and give it an appropriate headline, e.g. "the most popular restaurants in New York, due to ratings/clicks at XYZ".

 

#3: refresh function for widget builder: If you change a value in a textfield, the widget preview does not automatically refresh (due to general technical impediments - it's not a jReviews fault). However it might be useful to have either a general and separate refresh button (which does not generate the code at the same time) next to the "create widget" button or next to the different (text) fields.

 

#4: flexible error message customization: currently the users see "Please check the widget code and install again." in case there's something is wrong. As first step I would like to be able to translate this. Secondly I was wondering, if different scenarios could be equipped with different error messages, e.g.

 

a) "please choose a listing first, before you change a value" (one widget)

b) "not able to retrieve data - please contact source site"

c) "code error. please check your source code or create a new widget"

d) further events

 

#5 "more-link" after each review (one widget): currently, review text (if shown) is abbreviated after a certain number of words (which can be configured in the widget builder) - I often find myself looking for a "show more" button or even better just simple text link after each abbreviation. It does not have to lead to the exact review - the review section in general would already be enough in my opinion. I personally think, users might oversee the "read reviews" button a the end of the widget, especially if you show more than one review enriched with review text.

 

# 6: automatic height: Do not know if this is possible, but I noticed that the height does not automatically expand in non responsive mode, if users add more options to the initial setup. Some users might oversee that they have to manually adjust the height or otherwise the end of the list/widget is not visible any more. Please keep in mind: For us this is a common and logical thing. But not every user is that skilled out there  :-X

 

#7: automatic scrolling: save the really wishful thinking for last, I thought it might be cool, if the widget could do automatic scrolling, like it is handled in the jReviews modules with slideshow function. This way, one could show more reviews and/or listings".

 

Thanks for your time and possible consideration of this feedback. And keep up the good work - I really like the widgets!

 

BR + have a good weekend!

 

Michael

Link to comment
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...