Pretty Reviews manual

Below you will find the following manuals for "Pretty Reviews":

• Installing Pretty Reviews with the download
• Installing Pretty Reviews with Install from Web
• Configuration of Pretty Reviews
• Assign or adjust module position / page view Pretty Reviews
• Update Pretty Reviews
• Uninstall Pretty Reviews

Installing Pretty Reviews with the download

These steps download Pretty Reviews and install it in Joomla by uploading the file.

1. Download the Pretty Reviews module from GitHub (free, no account needed):
   
   Download Pretty Reviews
   
   Under Assets, click Source code (zip) (1). The file is downloaded. Do not unzip it, and remember where you saved it.
   
   
2. Open the back-end (administrator) of Joomla, usually at https://<yourdomain>/administrator/. Enter your Username (1) and Password (2) of a Super User account and click Log in (3).
   
   
3. In the menu on the left, click System (1).
   
   
4. In the block Install, click Extensions (1).
   
   
5. The tab Upload Package File (1) is open. Drag the ZIP file into the frame (2), or click the green button Or browse for file (3), select the file and click Open.
   
   
6. The module is installed right away. The message "Installation of the module was successful." appears (1).
   
   
7. You can now set up the module. See Configuration of Pretty Reviews.

Installing Pretty Reviews with Install from Web

These steps install Pretty Reviews straight from the Joomla Extensions Directory, without downloading a file. The tab Install from Web is provided by the plugin Installer - Install from Web. If you do not see the tab, click System, then Plugins, search for "Install from Web" and enable the plugin.

1. Log in to the back-end (administrator) of Joomla with a Super User account. You usually find it at https://<yourdomain>/administrator/. Then click System in the menu on the left, as in steps 2 and 3 of the first manual.
2. In the block Install, click Extensions (1).
   
   
3. Click the tab Install from Web (1). Type Pretty Reviews in the search field (2) and click the magnifying glass (3).
   
   
4. Click Pretty Reviews in the results (1).
   
   
5. Click the green button Install (1).
   
   
6. Joomla shows the name of the extension and the address it is installed from. Confirm with the blue button Install (1).
   
   
7. The module is installed. The message "Installation of the module was successful." appears (1).
   
   
8. The Joomla Extensions Directory can offer an older version than GitHub. When this manual was written, Joomla installed version 1.5.0 this way. Then update the module with the manual Update Pretty Reviews.
9. You can now set up the module. See Configuration of Pretty Reviews.

Configuration of Pretty Reviews

These steps set up the module after you installed it with one of the manuals above. The example shows the Google reviews of a business in a carousel with three reviews side by side.

1. Log in to the back-end (administrator) of Joomla with a Super User account. You usually find it at https://<yourdomain>/administrator/. Then click System in the menu on the left, as in steps 2 and 3 of the first manual.
2. In the block Manage, click Site Modules (1).
   
   
3. The installation has added a module called Pretty Reviews. It is not published yet and has no position. Click its title (1).
   
   
4. On the tab Module:
   • Change the Title (1), for example to What customers say.
   • With Title on the right (2) you choose whether the title is shown on the website: Show or Hide.
   • Choose the Position (3) of your template where the module should appear. In this example with the Cassiopeia template: Main-bottom [main-bottom].
   • Set Status (4) to Published. A new module is always unpublished.
   
   
   
5. Click the tab Settings (1) and set which reviews are fetched and shown:
   • Google Place ID (2): the code of your business at Google. You look it up with the Place ID Finder of Google. This field is required.
   • Google API Key (3): your Google Maps Platform API key. Google explains how to create a key. This field is required. The module fetches the reviews from your web server. So restrict the key at Google to the IP address of your server and not to the web address of your site; with a web address restriction Google refuses the request.
   • Google Places API (4): the API the reviews are fetched from. Places API (Legacy) is the original API. Google no longer enables it for new projects and it cannot find some businesses, such as businesses without an address. Choose Places API (New) in those cases. Your API key must allow the API you choose.
   • Reviews Fetch Sort (5): which reviews Google returns, the most relevant or the newest. This field is only there for the Legacy API; the new API always returns the most relevant.
   • Review language (6): the language in which Google returns the review text. With Use site default the module follows the language of your website.
   • Limit reviews (7): the maximum number of reviews that is shown. Leave the field empty or enter 0 to show all stored reviews.
   • Reviews Display Sort (8): show the newest reviews first or in random order.
   • Hide empty reviews (9): choose Yes to leave out reviews without text.
   • Minimum star rating (10): only show reviews with at least this many stars. All reviews are still fetched and stored, so you can change this later without fetching again.
   • Hide reviewers (11): reviews by these people are not shown. Enter one name per line, exactly as on Google. Upper and lower case do not matter, but the whole name has to match.
   
   
   
6. Click the tab Display (1) and set what the reviews look like:
   • Layout (2): the layout of the module. default, card-carousel and compact are carousels for templates with Bootstrap, such as Cassiopeia. uikit-default, uikit-compact and uikit-list are meant for templates with UIkit, such as YOOtheme. list shows the reviews below each other and legacy is the display of older versions.
   • Columns on mobile (3) up to and including Columns on wide screens (4): the number of reviews side by side per screen width, from 1 to 6. These fields are only there for the carousel layouts.
   • Autoplay carousel (5): choose Yes to let the carousel move on by itself. With Autoplay interval (seconds) (6) you set after how many seconds.
   • Show rating summary (7) up to and including Show "Leave a review" button (8): decide which parts are visible: the average rating, the review count, the profile photos, the review date, the View all reviews button and the Leave a review button. When you set the last one to Yes, the field Direct review URL override appears. Leave it empty to have the link to the Google review form made automatically.
   • Maximum review text length (9): longer reviews are cut off after this number of characters. Enter 0 to show the whole text.
   • Load layout CSS (10): choose No when you want to style the reviews entirely in your own template.
   The example uses the layout default with three columns on desktop and on wide screens.
   
   
7. Click the tab Menu Assignment (1) and choose at Module Assignment (2) on which pages the module is shown:
   • On all pages: on every page of the website.
   • No pages: on no page at all.
   • Only on the pages selected: only on the menu items you tick in the list (3).
   • On all pages except those selected: on every page, except the menu items you tick.
   
   
   
8. Click Save (1) to save and keep the module open, so you can check the result on your website and adjust it. Click Save & Close (2) when you are done.
   
   
9. Save the module first; after that you can fetch the reviews. Click Update Reviews (1) in the toolbar. When it worked, the message Reviews have been updated. (2) appears. When it says that profile photos are still to download, click the button once more. Google returns at most five reviews per request. The module keeps them on your own website and adds the new reviews with every update, so the number grows slowly. With Purge Reviews (3) you remove all stored reviews of this module.
   
   
10. To have the reviews updated automatically, also install the Pretty Reviews Task Scheduler plugin. With it you create a task under System, Scheduled Tasks that fetches the reviews at set times.
11. The result on the website (1). The profile photos are stored on your own website, so visitors fetch nothing from Google. For a reviewer without a photo the module shows a circle with the initials.
    
    

You can find examples here: https://extensions.tlwebdesign.nl/en/pretty-reviews

Assign or adjust module position / page view Pretty Reviews

These steps move Pretty Reviews to another module position or change the pages it is shown on.

1. Log in to the back-end (administrator) of Joomla with a Super User account. You usually find it at https://<yourdomain>/administrator/. Then click System in the menu on the left, as in steps 2 and 3 of the first manual.
2. In the block Manage, click Site Modules and then click the title of your Pretty Reviews module. The column Type shows which modules are of the type Pretty Reviews.
   
   
3. On the tab Module, choose the new Position (3) on the right.
   
   
4. Click the tab Menu Assignment (1) and choose at Module Assignment (2) on which pages the module is shown. With "Only on the pages selected" and "On all pages except those selected" you tick the menu items in the list (3).
   
   
5. Click Save & Close and check on your website that the module is shown on the right pages.

Update Pretty Reviews

When a new version is available, Joomla shows it in the back-end, just like updates of other extensions. Important: always make a backup of your website before updating!

1. Log in to the back-end (administrator) of Joomla with a Super User account.
2. On the Home Dashboard, in the block Notifications, click Updates are available! (1). You can also click System and then, in the block Update, Extensions.
   
   
3. Tick the box in front of Pretty Reviews (1) and click Update (2). In this example the module goes from version 2.2.0 to 2.3.0.
   
   
4. The message "Updating module was successful." appears (1).
   
   
5. Check on your website that Pretty Reviews still works properly.

Uninstall Pretty Reviews

If you no longer want to use Pretty Reviews, you can uninstall it. All Pretty Reviews modules you made are removed as well.

1. Log in to the back-end (administrator) of Joomla with a Super User account. You usually find it at https://<yourdomain>/administrator/. Then click System in the menu on the left, as in steps 2 and 3 of the first manual.
2. In the block Manage, click Extensions (1).
   
   
3. Type Pretty Reviews in the search field (1) and click the magnifying glass (2).
   
   
4. Tick the box in front of Pretty Reviews (1), click Actions (2) and then Uninstall (3).
   
   
5. Joomla asks whether you are sure. Click Yes (1).
   
   
6. The extension is removed. A message confirms that uninstalling the module was successful (1).
   
   

If you run into a problem, let us know with the button below. This is the only way we can improve this extension.

Report problem

If you are satisfied, please leave a review on the Joomla Extensions Directory: https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/pretty-reviews/

Thanks in advance!