Progress bar plugin review (progress: 100%)
I’€™m no big fan of Wodpress widgets really, although I can understand why Matt & Co. made the functionality available to the community. Not being so theme-savvy doesn’€™t matter that much anymore, at least if you picked a widget-ready theme.
Don’€™t know what I’€™m talking about? Then you probably don’€™t use WordPress, or just don’€™t care how it works. Widgets are special kinds of plugins that you can drag n’€™ drop in the admin interface, place where you want and edit (somewhat) without knowing squat about hooks, template tags or PHP coding. Sweet, right?
Well, I certainly can be. A widget-ready theme and a couple of widgets could very well be the only thing that the common WordPress user needs.
The Progress bar plugin, by Stine Schjerning, is a widget which means that you need the Widget plugin to get it running, as well as a widget-ready theme. I installed it on my test blog, tried to break it but failed. That’€™s a good sign, the widget works like a charm and you can add a whole bunch of progress bars via the normal widget interface. Nothing weird or fancy here, just write a title for your progress bar, give it a percentage value (no other options here) and a link if you want. Save and all done.
The Progress bar plugin does exactly what it claims. Some options for colors on a progress bar basis would be nice, and perhaps you might want to list your progress in something else than percentage, but that’€™s really it. If you’€™re running a widget-ready theme and need a simple progress bar this is the plugin for you. Nothing more, nothing less.
Thord Daniel Hedengren is a designer, writer, and blogger, and also the former editor of The Blog Herald. He used to be a hotshot in the gaming industry in Sweden, but sold everything and went International. Most recently he wrote a book called Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, and does loads of kickass design.