Common questions about Popular Authors, a Top 10 addon.
Why does the front end show “Please install and activate Top 10 plugin to display popular authors.”?
Popular Authors depends on Top 10 v3 or above for its visit data, helper functions, and cache settings. Install and activate Top 10, then reload the page.
How do I customize the output?
The wrapper <div> carries the class wzpa_authors. Target that class from your theme stylesheet, or use the dedicated classes listed in Popular Authors Styles.
Where do I configure the default settings?
Under Top 10 → Settings → Popular Authors. Popular Authors does not register its own settings page; every option lives inside Top 10’s settings array with a wzpa_ prefix. See Popular Authors Settings for the full list.
Can I show the count next to each author?
Yes. Enable Show views to display the visit count, and Show post count to display the number of published posts. Both are available per widget, shortcode, or block.
Can I exclude the admin account?
Enable Exclude admin in the widget, shortcode, or block. Authors with the username admin are skipped during rendering.
Can I include only a subset of authors?
Use the include attribute on the shortcode or block. The value is a comma-separated list of author IDs. The include filter always takes priority over exclude.
Can I show only authors with posts in a specific post type?
The free plugin always counts posts from the post post type. With Top 10 Pro installed, the Post types to include field appears under Top 10 → Settings → Popular Authors and lets you pick additional post types. The same value can be overridden per call by passing post_type="post,page" to the shortcode or block.
Can I display top posts for a specific author?
Yes. Use the Popular Posts by Author block or the [wzpa_author_top_posts] shortcode, or call wzpa_display_top_posts_by_author() from a theme template. See Popular Authors Shortcodes and Popular Authors Template Tags.
Why does the widget preview look different from the front end?
The widget renders server-side through Display::list_popular_authors() and uses the same stylesheet as the front end. If the preview looks unstyled, open Top 10 → Settings → Popular Authors and confirm that a non-empty style is selected under Styles.
Where can I get support?
The fastest path is the WordPress.org support forumOpens in a new window and the WebberZone Knowledge Base FAQ. Paid email support is also available from WebberZone.
Popular Authors and Top 10 Integration