Popular Authors stores all of its configuration inside Top 10‘s settings. There is no standalone settings page for Popular Authors. Open Top 10 → Settings and click the Popular Authors tab to access the settings below.
Every setting is prefixed with wzpa_ in the database and is read through tptn_get_option(). Per-instance overrides set on the block, widget, or shortcode always take priority over the global defaults configured here.
Output
Cache output
Turn this ON to cache the HTML output of the popular authors list. The cache key is generated from the display arguments and the cache lifetime is shared with Top 10’s tptn_cache_timeOpens in a new window filter.
Default: Enabled
Number of authors to display
Maximum number of authors returned by the popular authors list when the consuming widget, shortcode, or block does not specify its own number attribute. Use -1 to display all authors; on larger sites this can be expensive.
Default: -1
Default custom period range
The next two settings define the default window when Custom period is enabled in a block or widget.
Day(s)
Number of days in the default custom period.
Default: 1
Hour(s)
Number of hours in the default custom period.
Default: 0 Range: 0–23
Show views
Display the total view count next to the author’s name.
Default: Disabled
Show post count
Display the number of published posts next to the author’s name.
Default: Disabled
Exclude ‘admin’ account
Skip the WordPress admin user from the list.
Default: Disabled
Show full name
Use the author’s first and last name instead of their display name. If the author has no first or last name on file, the display name is used as a fallback.
Default: Disabled
Show Avatar
Display the author’s avatar alongside their name.
Default: Disabled
Post types to include (Pro only)
Select which post types are counted toward an author’s popularity. The free plugin always uses post. Pro sites can pick additional post types here, and per-instance overrides can be supplied via the post_type shortcode or block attribute.
HTML to display
Before the list of posts
HTML tag placed before the list of authors.
Default: <ul>
After the list of posts
HTML tag placed after the list of authors.
Default: </ul>
Before each list item
HTML tag placed before each author in the list.
Default: <li>
After each list item
HTML tag placed after each author in the list.
Default: </li>
Styles
Popular Authors style
Choose a built-in visual style. See Popular Authors Styles for a side-by-side comparison.
| Style | Description |
|---|---|
| No styles | Disable built-in CSS so your theme stylesheet can take over. |
| Card Layout | Display each author in a card using CSS grid. |
| Left Thumbs | Display the author in a grid with the avatar to the left of the text. |
Default: no_style
Popular Authors Frequently Asked Questions