Description
Advanced Testimonial is a dedicated testimonial and customer-review management plugin for WordPress. Manage reviews as regular posts, group them, and display them anywhere with a shortcode or Gutenberg block.
Key ideas:
- One plugin, one purpose — professional testimonial management, not a generic slider.
- Lightweight and performance-first: frontend assets load only when needed, no jQuery, no heavy libraries.
- Multiple display layouts: Grid, List, Card, Carousel, Masonry and Spotlight.
- Schema.org Review markup for richer search results.
- Translation-ready, accessible, and built on the WordPress Coding Standards.
External services
This plugin includes an optional Demo Library that loads ready-made testimonial sets from a remote service hosted on GitHub Pages: https://devmonowar.github.io/wp-plugin-demo-library/
It connects to this service only when you:
- open the Demo Library screen — to download the list of demos and show their preview images; and
- click Import Demo — to download that demo’s testimonials and images into your site’s Media Library.
No data from your site is sent to the service; only public demo files (JSON and images) are downloaded. The service is provided by the plugin author. Source code: https://github.com/devmonowar/wp-plugin-demo-library — it is served by GitHub Pages, whose terms and privacy policy apply (https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy).
Screenshots
Blocks
This plugin provides 1 block.
- Advanced Testimonial Display customer testimonials in grids, carousels, cards and more.
Installation
- Upload the
advanced-testimonialfolder to/wp-content/plugins/. - Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen in WordPress.
- Add testimonials under the new Testimonials menu.
- Display them anywhere with the
[advanced_testimonial]shortcode or the Advanced Testimonial block.
FAQ
-
How do I display testimonials?
-
Use the
[advanced_testimonial]shortcode anywhere, or add the Advanced Testimonial block in the editor. Example:[advanced_testimonial layout="grid" columns="3" group="clients" limit="9"]. -
Which layouts are available?
-
Grid, List, Card, Carousel, Masonry and Spotlight. Set the
layoutattribute, or pick it in the block. -
How do I group testimonials?
-
Create groups under Testimonials Groups, assign testimonials to them, then filter with the
groupattribute, e.g.[advanced_testimonial group="clients"]. -
Can I change the colors and styling?
-
Yes. Go to Testimonials Settings Styles for primary/accent/text colors, border radius, spacing, card shadow and button style. Add your own rules under Advanced Custom CSS.
-
How do I override the templates?
-
Copy any file from the plugin’s
templates/folder into anadvanced-testimonial/folder in your theme — for exampleyour-theme/advanced-testimonial/grid.phporyour-theme/advanced-testimonial/item.php. The plugin loads the theme copy automatically, so your customizations survive plugin updates. -
Does it work in the block editor?
-
Yes — a no-build Gutenberg block with a live preview and full inspector controls (layout, group, columns, order, autoplay and show/hide toggles). It also supports Wide and Full alignment.
-
Are there hooks for developers?
-
Yes. Filters:
advanced_testimonial_query_args,advanced_testimonial_item_data,advanced_testimonial_review_html,advanced_testimonial_output,advanced_testimonial_template. Actions:advanced_testimonial_before_card,advanced_testimonial_after_card. -
Is it accessible and translation-ready?
-
Yes — ARIA roles, keyboard navigation, visible focus styles, RTL support, and a bundled
.potfile for translations.
Contributors & Developers
“Advanced Testimonial” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Advanced Testimonial” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
2.0.2
- New: Tools tab — one-click Starter Demo, demo Import/Export, Clear Cache, Reset Settings, Debug Mode and System Info.
- New: Demo Library — import ready-made testimonial sets (with images) from the online library, with an offline starter fallback.
- New: optional heading via the
titleshortcode attribute / block control, rendered inside the testimonials wrapper so it always aligns with the content. - New: style settings — Avatar Shape, Rating Icon (star or heart) and Default Rating.
- New: click-to-copy shortcodes on the Groups list and a per-testimonial row action; a “Settings” link on the Plugins screen; a testimonial-specific menu icon; and an empty-state call to action.
- Accessibility: carousel/slide ARIA roles, screen-reader slide labels, corrected dot semantics, and visible keyboard focus styles.
- Developer hooks: new
advanced_testimonial_before_card/advanced_testimonial_after_cardactions and anadvanced_testimonial_review_htmlfilter, plus documented filters and template-override / FAQ docs. - Uninstall: an opt-in “Remove all plugin data when deleting the plugin” option that removes testimonials, groups, meta, options and transients.
- Assets are versioned by file modification time so updates always bust browser caches.
- Verified clean against the WordPress Coding Standards, Plugin Check and i18n.
2.0.1
- Complete rewrite from the ground up as a dedicated testimonial and customer-review plugin.
- New: testimonial post type with groups and rich review fields (rating, company, designation, verified badge, logo, location, socials).
- New: six display layouts — Grid, List, Card, Carousel, Masonry and Spotlight.
- New:
[advanced_testimonial]shortcode and a no-build Gutenberg block with live preview. - New: Settings page (General, Styles, Performance, Advanced) with full theming controls.
- New: Schema.org Review markup, accessibility, RTL support and lightweight vanilla-JS carousel (no jQuery).
- Performance: frontend assets load only when testimonials are present.