Emoji Reactions & Star Ratings
Set up Pro emoji reactions and 5-star ratings: templates, Reactions list, picker style, customizer, automation, and stats.
WP ULike Pro can replace a classic like button with Emoji Reactions or a Star Rating. Both are engagement templates stored in the Pulse ledger (requires free plugin 5.2+ and Pro 2.3+ with an active license).
Quick setup
- Activate WP ULike Pro and your license.
- Open WP ULike → Settings → Content Types (Posts, Comments, BuddyPress, or bbPress).
- Set Template to Emoji Reactions or Star Rating.
- For emoji: configure Reactions and Reaction Picker (fields appear only for that template).
- Style under WP ULike → Customize → Emoji Reactions or Star Rating.
- Save, visit a matching item on the front end, and confirm the vote in Statistics.
Prefer likes on the blog and stars on reviews? Keep Automatic Display simple for one type, and use Display Automation for the other so engagement templates do not bleed into every loop.
Emoji Reactions
Settings (per content type)
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Template → Emoji Reactions | Switches that content type to multi-emoji engagement |
Reactions | Emoji repeater: pick emoji + optional label (1–16). Slugs are generated for stats and logs |
Reaction Picker | Hover (LinkedIn-style bar on desktop, long-press on mobile) or Inline (all reactions always visible) |
Default starter set includes: like, love, celebrate, insightful, curious, support, funny, wow, fire, clap. You can add custom emoji/labels up to 16.
Shared options still apply: Counter Display, Hide Zero Counter, Enable Likers Box (shows engagers for reactions), logging method, and login rules. See Shared Content Type Options.
Shortcode
[wp_ulike style="wp-ulike-pro-emoji-reactions"]
Star Rating
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Template → Star Rating | Visitors leave a 1–5 star score instead of a like |
Counters and likers (engagers) follow the same shared display options as likes.
Shortcode
[wp_ulike style="wp-ulike-pro-star-rating"]
Schema.org aggregate ratings can use real star votes when this template is active — see Schema Generator. Emoji reactions are not converted into schema star ratings.
Customizer
WP ULike → Customize
| Section | Controls |
|---|---|
Emoji Reactions | Reaction button size, emoji size, spacing, border, accent, hover/selected backgrounds, trigger padding/border (Hover mode), picker border |
Star Rating | Star size, spacing, active/inactive colors, rating summary typography |
Both sections include live preview. Full field list: Pro Customizer Sections.
Display Automation
Rules can set Template to Emoji Reactions or Star Rating, then optionally:
- Limit which Reactions appear (subset of Settings reactions)
- Override Reaction Picker (Default / Hover / Inline)
- Override counters and likers box
When a rule sets an engagement template, that style is scoped to matching items so your global posts template does not still render emoji on unrelated loops. Details: Display Automation.
Statistics, logs & maintenance
- Statistics and Logs include emoji and star events when Pulse is active.
- Tools → Maintenance → Purge Pulse Logs can remove votes only, emoji & star only, or both, with an age filter.
- Repair Records cleans invalid/duplicate engagement rows for types that use emoji/star.
See Maintenance Tools and Bulk Actions (bulk seed emoji/star counts).
Requirements & tips
| Need | Detail |
|---|---|
Free plugin | 5.2+ (Pulse ledger) |
Pro | 2.3+ with active license (templates lock without it) |
Placement | One engagement style per content-type default; use automation for mixed layouts |
GDPR | Export/erase and Pro GDPR tools include Pulse emoji/star rows for registered users |
Related: Pro Button Templates · Dislike Voting · Pulse Storage
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