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Why would I want to use this plugin?

GoodReviews serves a very specific requirement. It was primarily developed to enable an author or a bookseller to display Goodreads title information and reader reviews on a WordPress site. Goodreads is a social network for book lovers that enables members to rate and review books.

What if my title does not have an ISBN?

As of version 1.0.4 of Goodreviews, you can use the Goodreads ID instead of the ISBN to retrieve title information from Goodreads. Replace the isbn parameter in the shortcode with grid and use the Goodreads ID number instead of an ISBN.

How do I customize the height and width of the book information and reviews pane

GoodReviews offers two ways to control the height and width of its elements. You can either create custom Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in your theme, or you can specify height, width, and border values in the shortcode. To use the shortcode method, include one or all of the following parameters in the shortcode:

• height="<some value>"
• width="<some value>"
• border="<on | off>"

For example, to display the book information and reviews in 500x500 elements with a bordered iframe reviews element, you could issue the following shortcode:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" height="500" width="500" border="On"]

How do I turn off the default CSS for this plugin?

As of version 1.1.0, you can completely disable the default styles by providing a valid URL to an alternate stylesheet in the Alternate Stylesheet URL field on the GoodReviews Settings page. If you have previously altered your theme CSS to modify GoodReviews CSS elements for a previous version of GoodReviews, you should provide a URL to a blank stylesheet file in the Alternate Stylesheet URL field.

In versions 1.0.5 and earlier, you can disable the default styles per-shortcode by issuing the grstyle="off" parameter within the shortcode. However, the grstyles parameter does not disable the default CSS in the Reviews element.

How do I customize the CSS for this plugin?

As of version 1.1.0, you can customize the look of the book info, buy info, and reviews elements by supplying the URL to an alternate stylesheet on the Settings page. You can also use the following shortcode parameters:

• grbackground - provide the hexadecimal code for the background color you want (do not include the # symbol)
• grtext - provide the hexadecimal code for the text color you want (do not include the # symbol)
• grstars - provide the hexadecimal code for the star color you want (do not include the # symbol)
• grlinks - provide the hexadecimal code for the text color you want (do not include the $ symbol)
• grheader - provide the text that you want to appear above the reviews frame

For example, issuing the following shortcode will style the GoodReviews elements with white text on black background along with blue stars and red links. The header above the reviews frame will be "My Reviews."

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" grbackground="000" grtext="fff" grstars="00f" grlinks="f00" grheader="My Reviews"]

Can I control the number of reviews that the plugin returns?

You can use the grnumber parameter to control the number of reviews that are displayed on each page of reviews. By default, 10 reviews per page are displayed. The following code would configure GoodReviews to return 20 reviews per page instead:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" grnumber="20"]

What if I don't want people to see 1-star reviews of my title?

You can configure GoodReviews to return only the reviews that meet a minimum star rating. By default, the plugin returns all reviews, regardless of star rating. The following code would configure GoodReviews to return only reviews that have a 3-star rating or higher:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" grminimum="3"]

How do I make the cover image bigger or smaller, or turn it off completely?

Issue the shortcode with the cover parameter to select the Goodreads large cover image, small cover image, or no cover image at all. For example, to use the large cover image (which is the default), you would issue the following shortcode:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" cover="large"]

To use the small cover image, you would issue the following shortcode:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" cover="small"]

To turn off the cover completely, you would issue the following shortcode:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" cover="off"]

Please be aware that, at this time, turning off the cover only works if you're using the default CSS supplied with GoodReviews.

Can I display my Goodreads.com author photo in the book information element?

Yes, as of version 1.0.4. By default, the author photo is not displayed. You can enable the display of either the large version or the scaled version of your Goodreads author photo by issuing the shortcode with the author parameter. For example, to show the large version of your author photo, you could use the following shortcode:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" author="large"]

To use the small version of your author photo, you could use the following shortcode:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" author="small"]

What if I don't want to display the book information element?

You can turn off the book information element by issuing the shortcode with the bookinfo parameter set to off. For example:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" bookinfo="off"]

What if I don't want to display the book buying links?

You can turn off the book buying links by issuing the shortcode with the buyinfo parameter set to off. For example:

[goodreviews isbn="0000000000000" buyinfo="off"]

What if I don't want to display the reviews iframe?

Because the main point of GoodReviews is to display reviews, no shortcode parameter yet exists to turn off the reviews iframe.

Why is some information (such as the cover image, publisher information, or publication date) missing from the GoodReviews elements when it is visible on the Goodreads site?

This is a mystery to me. The GoodReviews plugin uses what the Goodreads API returns for a given ISBN. Therefore, if the information is in the API feed, GoodReviews will display it. Unfortunately, sometimes the information for some titles/editions appears to be excluded from the API feed even if it is present on the Goodreads link for that title.

Can I turn off the Goodreads credits at the bottom of each element?

No, nor should you. Turning off the Goodreads credits is a violation of their API Terms and Conditions.

The shortcode doesn't seem to work. What should I do?

Ensure that you enter the shortcode in TEXT/HTML mode, not VISUAL mode.