The 2026 Drupal Business Survey is open. Your response will help shape the future of the Drupal business ecosystem.The dynamic updating of what the fivestar widget looks like is really awesome and saves a ton of time trying to figure out the correct widget display setting.
However, the tiered drop-down listing is confusing and only offers 7 different options when in actuality I figure that there are at least 32 total permutations (as shown in the attached fivestar_UI_permutations.jpg).
Plus the terminology is really confusing and not intuitive at all -- e.g. Direct rating widget -> Widget display style -> Smart: Stars as user rating (preferred) or average -- OMGWTFBBQ?!
The simplify_fivestar_options.jpg photo gives a graphic explanation, but here's what I propose.
Change from "Widget Display Style" to "Displayed Star Value" and offer these 4 drop-down options:
1.) Display Average Vote Value
2.) Display User's Vote Value
3.) Display User's Vote Value if voted, otherwise show average
4.) Display Both User's Vote Value and Average Value
Then offer 3 check boxes offering what text will be displayed underneath the widget:
1.) Display text of user's Rating
2.) Display text of Total # Ratings
3.) Display text of Average Rating
If no checkboxes are listed, then no text is displayed. That would give 8 different text combination possibilities for the 4 different drop-down values for a total of 32 options. I think that'd be easier than trying to decipher the 7 existing options, and it would give me the option to have the "smart" option without any text at all.
If you go with this approach, then I think it'd be easier to add in some more options:
Like for the 1.) Display Average Vote Value, there could be a checkbox for:
* Hide average star vote until after the user votes (i.e. this would allow you to hide the average and not skew voting -- i.e. hot or not)
And in the same vein for the text displays:
* Hide average text values until after the user votes
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| fivestar_UI_permutations.jpg | 75.65 KB | KentBye | |
| simplify_fivestar_options.jpg | 179.4 KB | KentBye |
Comments
Comment #1
quicksketchI should've read this more closely before undertaking the changes I put in place tonight. I've already split the display options into two separate fields, but they're both drop downs. I like the idea of checkboxes much more, because I still haven't taken into account the Total # of votes. I also like your text for each of the options better when choosing the stars. Next time I get a chance to put some time in I'll update them to match your approach here.
Comment #2
quicksketchI reached a compromise between what you're describing here and what I did before reading this. I used your text for select lists because adding items like "smart" were helpful but really made the entire option a mouthful. Omitting it shortens up the option a bit and is actually easier to read in my opinion.
I didn't however, split the text options into separate checkboxes. For two reasons, the first being it's not possible to get the 'smart' option for text using the checkboxes unless you add yet another checkbox. 4 checkboxes seemed like little advantage over one select list. The down side is there isn't a place to put the "current count" option in the select list, so that will still remain a checkbox at some point. The second reason is it's just easier to implement with fewer form items to monitor (one select list versus 3 checkboxes).
Comment #3
quicksketchWe'll continue this in smaller doses from where we are now. Thanks!