Evaluating plugins
I wanted to add simple like button functionality to my own blog. Didn’t feel like writing a plugin myself so I went ahead and searched for contenders to evaluate.
Guidelines
The guidelines for evaluating the Like Button plugin are:
- Clean UI and functionality
- No bloatware
- No admin menu hijacking; Your plugin is not important enough to warrant an head entry in the sidebar!
- Clean codebase
- Check votes by Cookie and IP
- Retract vote possibility
- Maintained or at least bumped compatibility
- No Freemium
- No stripped plugin in favor of “Pro” versions
Available plugins
I found the following contenders on WordPress.org and Github. Will there be a gem among them?
- WP ULike
- WordPress post like button ā„
- WPAC Social Tools
- I Recommend This
- WP1 Like
Plugin: WPAC Social Tools
Cons
- Percentage bar bugged
- Hide option did not function
- Massive buttons
- No revoke like functionality
- Adds menu option to Admin Sidebar
Link to WordPress Plugin
Plugin: WordPress post like button ā„
Pros
- Simple functionality
Cons
- Saves IP addresses in one metafield array
- No action hook for cache refresh
Link to Github Repo
Plugin: WP1 Like
Pros
- Simple functionality
Cons
- No revoke like functionality
- Colors can only be picked with Javascript picker
- Not able to manually define
- Like button doesnt change text on different scenarios
Link to WordPress Plugin
Plugin: WP ULike
Pros
- Nice button templates
- Has hooks to refresh cache
Cons
- Too much bloat in PRO version
- AJAX logins
- Elementor support
- Simple Local Avatars
- And much, much more
- Uses jQuery library
- Loads a lot of CSS and Javascript
- Adds menu option to Admin Sidebar
Link to WordPress plugin
Plugin: I Recommend This
Pros
- Minimalistic front end
- Clean and simple settings
- Has hooks to refresh cache
- Lightweight CSS and Javascript
- Possibility to fully override CSS
Cons
- No hook to refresh cache after vote
Hooked update_meta_data and added_meta_data to check _recommended field and add cache refresh there.
Link to WordPress plugin
Conclusion
The clear winner is the I Recommend This plugin. It is very lightweight and super customizable with a very clean codebase.
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