‘Simple Text Only Countdown’ WordPress Plugin

Simple Text Only Countdown is a simple countdown shortcode plugin that displays just the text. No flash nor javascript for live timer effect, nor styles, just plain text. Visitors need to refresh the browsers in order to update the countdown.

Why the need for a new plugin?

I’ve been looking for a text-only countdown plugin in the WordPress plugin repository, but I can’t find any. Almost all, if not all, countdown-related plugins use flash and/or javascript in order to display live timers, and are mostly heavily styled. When a plugin is heavily styled, it is tedious to make it look good and blend in your custom theme. Also, I would like a text only countdown that I can put even inside a paragraph.

Installation

  1. Unzip the file and upload the simple-text-only-countdown folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in your WordPress installation.

Usage

When you’re done installing the plugin, just put, for example, a:

[cntdwn todate="9 January 2019 08:00" timeoff="0"]

shortcode into your content. Make sure to change the todate parameter to your target date, and timeoff to the GMT offset (in hours) of the time indicated in the todate.

Anything that can be parsed by the strtotime() php function can be used in the todate parameter. But in order to avoid confusion, it’s better to stick with the format as the example above.

Other Parameters Available

The complete parameters that you may use in the shortcode, and their default values, are:

  • todate → target date to where we’re counting down to;
  • timeoff → GMT offset time. Default is 0 or UTC;
  • sep → the separator to use in between days, hours, etc. Default is ', '. Feel free to change it to <br /> or otherwise.
  • showhours → Show number of hours remaining? Default is 1 for true. The todate may be too far in the future that render hours irrelevant.
  • showmins → Show number of minutes remaining? Default is 1 for true. See showhours above.
  • showsecs → Show number of seconds remaining? Default is 0 for false. Seconds may only be relevant for countdowns with live timers.
  • pretext → The text before the countdown text. Default is 'The event starts in ';
  • posttext → The text following the countdown text. Default is '.';
  • donemsg → The text message when the countdown is done. Default is 'The countdown is done.'.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to put the countdown in my theme files?

The do_shortcode() PHP Function can do that for you.

Is there a widget available for the sidebar?

No. But this article can show you how to use a shortcode in the sidebar widget.

Do you have a working demonstration of this plugin?

Probably. If the target date has not yet come, you can check this working demo.

Why isn’t this in WordPress plugins repository?

It is now, actually. Kindly click on the download link below.

Download Plugin

8 Comments

  1. but what does it look like?

  2. but what does it look like?

  3. Hi Deuts, how can I get the countdown timer to always show DAYS only, even when the event is multiple months away. I’ve sent you an email would be awesome if you could help me out! Amazing plugin thanks!

    • If you need that to be days only without months and years, the plugin need to be tweaked. In as much as I would like to help you with that, my hands are pretty tied right now.

  4. Hi Deuts, how can I get the countdown timer to always show DAYS only, even when the event is multiple months away. I’ve sent you an email would be awesome if you could help me out! Amazing plugin thanks!

    • If you need that to be days only without months and years, the plugin need to be tweaked. In as much as I would like to help you with that, my hands are pretty tied right now.

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