GlowReviews – Smart Feedback & Testimonials

Description

GlowReviews helps you collect customer feedback and publish approved testimonials with native WordPress tools. Feedback submissions are stored as a custom post type, reviewed in the admin area, and displayed with shortcode-driven grid, slider, or list layouts.

The plugin includes a frontend feedback form, duplicate-email update flow, testimonial moderation tools, image upload support, avatar fallbacks, and shortcode-based display controls. Longer testimonial content can be collapsed with a Read More toggle, while built-in validation, nonce checks, honeypot fields, form timing checks, and rate limiting help keep submissions clean and secure.

Key Features

  • Collect feedback with 1-5 star ratings
  • Frontend feedback form shortcode with AJAX and standard submission support
  • Detect duplicate submissions by email and allow customers to update an existing review
  • Display approved testimonials in grid, slider, or list layouts
  • Show Read More / Read Less for testimonial text longer than 120 characters
  • Upload customer images with validation for JPG, PNG, and GIF files up to 2MB
  • Fall back to WordPress user avatars for logged-in users when no custom image is uploaded
  • Review submissions from a dedicated Pending Feedback admin screen
  • Approve, reject, edit, or manually add testimonials from the WordPress dashboard
  • Display settings page and built-in documentation page in wp-admin
  • Flexible shortcode attributes for layout, visibility, ordering, limits, and categories using the glowrev- shortcode prefix
  • Spam protection with honeypot fields, nonce checks, form timing validation, and IP-based rate limiting
  • Migration helpers for older CLVO-based plugin data and admin URLs
  • Uses WordPress caching APIs to reduce repeated testimonial queries
  • Improved WordPress coding standards compliance, escaping, nonce validation, caching, and readme consistency

Installation

  1. Upload the glowreviews folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress.
  3. Go to GlowReviews or Settings > GlowReviews in wp-admin.
  4. Add a feedback form with [glowrev-feedback-form].
  5. Display testimonials with [glowrev-display-testimonials].

FAQ

How do I collect feedback?

Use the feedback form shortcode on any page or post:

  • [glowrev-feedback-form]

Available form shortcode attributes:

  • title – Form title. Default: Share Your Experience
  • show_title – Show or hide the form title. Default: yes
  • class – Add a custom wrapper class

What fields are included in the feedback form?

The form includes:

  • Name
  • Company name
  • Designation
  • Email
  • Optional image upload
  • 1-5 star rating
  • Feedback text with a 150 character maximum

How does long testimonial text display?

If testimonial content is longer than 120 characters, GlowReviews shows a Read More link so visitors can expand and collapse the full text in the testimonial layouts.

Can customers update an existing feedback entry?

Yes. If a submission uses an email address that already exists, GlowReviews detects it and lets the customer update that testimonial instead of creating a duplicate. Updated submissions return to pending review.

How do I display testimonials on my site?

Use the display shortcode:

  • [glowrev-display-testimonials]

Supported display shortcode attributes:

  • limit – Number of testimonials to show. Default: -1
  • orderby – Sort field such as date, title, or rand
  • orderASC or DESC
  • category – Filter by category slug(s), comma-separated
  • layoutgrid, slider, or list
  • show_imageyes or no
  • show_ratingyes or no
  • show_excerptyes or no
  • show_dateyes or no
  • show_authoryes or no
  • show_companyyes or no
  • show_designationyes or no
  • show_positionyes or no
  • columns – Number of columns for grid layout. Default: 3

Example:

[glowrev-display-testimonials layout="grid" limit="6" show_rating="yes" show_company="yes"]

Do testimonials appear automatically after submission?

No. Frontend submissions are stored as pending and must be approved before they appear on the site.

How do I moderate submissions?

GlowReviews adds a dedicated Pending Feedback admin page where you can:

  • Review pending submissions
  • Approve testimonials for frontend display
  • Reject testimonials and move them to trash
  • Open the full editor for manual changes

Can I add testimonials manually from wp-admin?

Yes. Testimonials are stored as the glowrev_testimonial custom post type, so you can create and edit them directly in WordPress.

How does image handling work?

Customers can upload JPG, JPEG, PNG, or GIF images up to 2MB. If a logged-in user submits feedback without uploading an image, GlowReviews can display their WordPress user avatar instead.

Which shortcodes should I use?

Use the current shortcode names:

  • [glowrev-feedback-form]
  • [glowrev-display-testimonials]

Legacy shortcode aliases may still work for backward compatibility, but the glowrev- shortcodes are the recommended format for new usage.

What spam and validation protections are included?

GlowReviews includes:

  • WordPress nonce verification
  • Hidden honeypot fields
  • Form timing checks
  • IP-based rate limiting
  • Duplicate email detection
  • File type and file size validation
  • Sanitization and validation of submitted fields

Current rate limits:

  • 3 submissions per hour per IP
  • 10 submissions per day per IP

Does the plugin include admin documentation?

Yes. The plugin adds a documentation page in wp-admin along with display settings and testimonial management screens.

Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

Contributors & Developers

“GlowReviews – Smart Feedback & Testimonials” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Changelog

1.1.0

  • Added Read More / Read Less toggle for testimonial text longer than 120 characters across grid, list, and slider layouts
  • Improved slider navigation positioning and rating display behavior
  • Centered testimonial text in the grid layout
  • Standardized plugin-facing prefixes for settings, cache groups, filters, and shortcode documentation
  • Improved readme, shortcode examples, and documentation to match the current plugin usage
  • Replaced the duplicate-email meta_query lookup with a prepared cached email lookup for smoother submissions
  • Improved WordPressCS and PHPCS compliance for escaping, translators comments, nonce verification, line endings, BOM handling, and naming conventions
  • Added duplicate email detection and customer review update flow
  • Added dedicated Pending Feedback admin screen with approve and reject actions
  • Improved frontend form validation and secure submission handling
  • Added honeypot fields, form timing checks, and IP-based rate limiting
  • Added file upload validation for allowed image types and maximum size
  • Improved logged-in user avatar support and testimonial image handling
  • Added migration helpers for older CLVO settings, post types, and admin URLs
  • Improved caching for testimonial queries and taxonomy term lookups
  • Added plugin documentation and streamlined admin settings access

1.0.0

  • Initial release