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Political Spectrum Bar

A WordPress plugin that adds a horizontal Liberal ↔ Conservative spectrum bar — arrows on each end, a positioned marker ball, and a filled pointer triangle below the ball. Build bars on a dedicated admin page and drop them into posts, pages, or widgets with a shortcode.

by TheMarsMan101 · github.com/themarsman101/political-spectrum-bar · website

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/themarsman101/political-spectrum-bar/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Readme github.com/themarsman101/political-spectrum-bar ↗

A WordPress plugin that adds a horizontal Liberal ↔ Conservative spectrum bar — arrows on each end, a positioned marker ball, and a filled pointer triangle below the ball. Build bars on a dedicated admin page and drop them into posts, pages, or widgets with a shortcode.

Installation

  1. Download political-spectrum-bar.zip.
  2. In WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
  3. Select the zip, install, and activate.

Creating a bar

  1. In the admin sidebar, click Spectrum Bars (the new menu with a left-right arrow icon).
  2. Click Add New Bar.
  3. Give it a title (for your own reference — not displayed on the front end).
  4. Configure:
    • Position — use the slider or type a number from 0–100 (decimals allowed).
    • Left label / Right label — defaults to "Liberal" / "Conservative".
    • Marker label — optional text that appears under the pointer triangle (e.g. "You are here" or a candidate name).
    • Bar colors — use a blue→red gradient by default, or toggle it off for a solid color.
    • Colors for arrows, end labels, marker ball (fill + border), and pointer triangle.
    • Show numeric scale — optional 0 / 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 marks below the bar.
  5. Click Publish (or Update).
  6. Copy the shortcode from the sidebar meta box.

Using the shortcode

Paste the shortcode into any post, page, widget, or template where shortcodes are processed:

[spectrum_bar id="123"]

Inline overrides

Any saved setting can be overridden per-instance without editing the bar. Great for embedding the same bar in multiple places with different positions or labels.

[spectrum_bar id="123" position="72" pointer_label="Senator X"]
[spectrum_bar id="123" position="15" bar_gradient="0" bar_color="#333"]
[spectrum_bar id="123" left_label="Dove" right_label="Hawk" show_scale="1"]

Available attributes:

Attribute Type Example
id integer (required) id="5"
position 0–100 position="42.5"
left_label text left_label="Progressive"
right_label text right_label="Traditional"
pointer_label text pointer_label="Me"
bar_gradient 0 or 1 bar_gradient="0"
bar_color hex bar_color="#222"
bar_color_left hex bar_color_left="#1E66F5"
bar_color_right hex bar_color_right="#D93025"
marker_color hex marker_color="#FFF"
marker_border hex marker_border="#000"
arrow_color hex arrow_color="#555"
label_color hex label_color="#1C1C1C"
pointer_color hex pointer_color="#C85A2E"
show_scale 0 or 1 show_scale="1"

Features

  • Custom post type — manage multiple bars from one admin screen; list view shows each bar's position and shortcode
  • Live preview — rendered in the editor so you can see changes on save
  • Shared stylesheet — admin preview matches the front-end exactly
  • Responsive — adapts down to small phones (scales marker, bar height, and fonts)
  • Accessible — marker has an aria-label announcing its position percentage
  • Fully self-contained — no JavaScript required on the front end, no external dependencies
  • Clean uninstall-safe — uses standard WordPress meta fields; removing the plugin doesn't leave orphaned custom tables

License

GPL v2