2 October 2009
Hello,
Simply, it is called a rating system. There's no need for it to have a more technical name!

Usually, websites that have this isn't a standard feature in a website. It requires some programming, in terms of creating a database which has the ability to be able to recognise ratings, such as a rating of 1-10, or a 'star' rating system, typically 1-5 stars.

There is many ways of describing a rating system, so you'll have to be specific in what sort of system you want, referring to numbered ratings, couple with a review, or a starring system. Once you've decided on that, you can build on that from there.

If you need any further help with this please don't hesitate to contact us.

5 October 2009
Hi - One really easy way to get this level of functionality (and much more) is to consider using WordpressDrupal technologies - These are both open source technologies and offer a range of easily adaptable 'plug-ins' that you can get installed into your site. The big advantage is you dont need an agency to develop everything from scratch - they can re-use previoulsy tested and secure 'plugins' from the open source community.

If you want to check out an example look here (it's not my website)
http://www.channel-ai.com/blog/plugins/star-rating/

Best of luck!

Mark Godfrey
www.uiDIGITAL.com

5 October 2009
Hi,

This is not a standard feature but it is somthing that can easily be built. Here are some considerations to think about before writing up your spec.

1. How many times can a member rate a specific item?

2. Will you have negative ratings, how will this weight on the overall rating?

3. How will you verify that the member has used this specific service before allowing them to rate it?

4. How will you handle complaints from members that have received negative feedback?

Make sure that you will have full control over all aspects of the rating and feedback. You will at some point have to make changes to someone's feedback or rating.

Feel free to contact me if you need any further help with this.

15 October 2009
As others have said, there's no real need to re-invent the wheel. I'd personally use something like the "fivestar" module for Drupal [http://drupal.org/project/fivestar] which provides JavaScript-powered voting as well as fall-back operation for people without JavaScript.

More of an issue with any rating system is how you calculate a result from the votes, and who you allow to vote. Amazon's ratings results, for example, show the distribution of votes as well as the "overall" score, and this is very useful to decide whether everyone things something is average, or whether some people score it very highly and other very low.

19 February 2010
Hi T,

Basically what you need is either a custom built CMS site or use an open source directory system that has rating capabilities or plugins. You can look to Joomla, but you will need a designer/programmer to put together the directory for you. So you might want to look around and see if there are any systems that exist that will fit you goals. If not you will need to take the custom built road (which will be more expensive).

Jeremy Morris