Introducing Top 10 v4.0 – Our Most Powerful Release Yet, Now with Top 10 Pro!

I’m excited to announce a major update to Top 10, along with the launch of Top 10 Pro! This new release is packed with features and enhancements that give you more control, flexibility, and performance. It is probably the biggest since I first released Top 10 in Jan 2009Opens in a new window. Let’s dive into what’s new!

Top 10 Pro: Powerful New Features

Top 10 Pro is now available for purchase from this site and within your WordPress dashboard when you update to version 4. Read on what you get in Top 10 Pro, or scroll to the end of this post for our launch offer!

Fast Tracker for Speedy Post View Tracking

Introducing the Fast Tracker – a new option that significantly improves the speed of post-view tracking – less than 10% of the time as other trackers. You can enable this from the settings page to ensure your post-view data is captured swiftly and accurately, enhancing overall site performance. Learn more about the trackers in Top 10.

Top 10 Query Block

The new Top 10 Query Block allows you to effortlessly display popular posts directly within the block or site editor. You can now query popular posts and customise their display with ease, making it simpler than ever to highlight your most engaging content anywhere on your site.

Enhanced Top 10 Featured Image Block

The core Featured Image Block that you get with WordPress is limited. With the Top 10 Featured Image Block, you can choose from multiple image sources, providing greater flexibility to decide which images best represent your popular posts. Whether it’s a featured image, a custom thumbnail, or another image source, this block makes your content stand out beautifully.

Advanced Popular Posts Block Controls

The Popular Posts Block included in Top 10 now comes with several new features to give you more control:

• Save and Clear Default Block Settings: Quickly save or reset default settings for your blocks, streamlining the setup process.
• Auto-Insertion of Settings Attributes: Default and global settings are automatically applied to your blocks. You can disable this in the Posts List settings if you prefer a manual approach.

New Admin Bar Menu

Managing your Top 10 settings is now even easier with the new Admin Bar menu item. This addition gives you quick access to daily, total, and overall post counts, Top 10 admin pages, and an option to clear the Top 10 cache right from the admin bar. No more digging through menus – everything you need is just a click away!

Enhanced Filtering Capabilities

With the new display_only_on_tax_ids parameter, you can restrict the display of popular posts to specific taxonomy terms. This lets you tailor your popular posts lists to fit the context of your content perfectly, keeping your site’s presentation consistent and relevant. Use it directly in the shortcode, or pass it as an extra parameter in the block.

More Control Over Display Settings in the Admin area

Gain more granular control over where and how Top 10 features appear:

• “Display Columns on Post Types” Setting: Choose which post type screens should display admin columns.
• “Also Show Dashboard To” Setting: Decide which user roles can access the dashboard screen, ensuring that only the right people see the analytics.

Custom Category Inclusion

A new option in the Edit Post meta box allows you to use the include_cat_ids parameter to include popular posts from specific categories only. This feature provides more precise targeting of which posts get counted, letting you refine your popular posts display by category.

Additional Features and Filters

Improved Filtering for Customisation

Pro users have a new option “Include parent categories” under Posts list tab to choose if you’d like to exclude parents or all ancestors for each of the categories in the Exclusion list.

The get_tptn_short_circuit filter is another powerful addition, allowing you to bypass the plugin’s output entirely if needed, giving you complete control over when you don’t want to display the popular posts.

Enhancements across the board

WP_Query Integration and Media Handling

Top 10 now supports direct WP_Query integration when top_ten_query is used in query arguments, making custom queries even more powerful.

The Media Handler has been optimised for better performance:

• Added support for attributes like decoding, loading, and fetchpriority.
• Improved image handling with wp_get_attachment_image() for more accurate image rendering.
• Enhanced attachment ID retrieval by stripping size suffixes for better accuracy.

Block and Shortcode Enhancements

• Popular Posts Block Updated: Now compatible with API version 3.
• New Shortcode Filter: tptn_shortcode_defaults allows you to set default shortcode arguments easily.

Integration with Freemius: Enhancing Licensing and Analytics

Top 10 v4 integrates with FreemiusOpens in a new window, a platform that provides licensing, analytics, and user management services for WordPress plugins.

Freemius handles the licensing of the pro version. If you’re using the free plugin, you can upgrade directly from within your WordPress Admin area. Alternatively, buy it here.

Free users can also choose to opt into sharing analytical data with Freemius (and in turn us). This allows us to better understand where the plugin is used.

Pricing

Top 10 Pro is available for $49 (plus VAT) for a single site license. Alternatively, you can buy the Pro Multi plans to buy a license for 5, 15 or 25 sites. We also offer an Agency plan that allows you to use the plugin on unlimited sites.

For a limited time, you can purchase the Top 10 Pro at a discounted rate to celebrate the launch.

I hope you are as excited as I am about this release. If you have any questions about Top 10 Pro, drop us a line.

What’s Next?

These new features and enhancements make Top 10 and Top 10 Pro more flexible, powerful, and user-friendly. I can’t wait to see how you use these updates to highlight your most engaging content!

As always, I’m here for any questions or feedback you have. Thank you for your continued support, and happy updating!