Zactonz Number Plates for WooCommerce

Zactonz Number Plates for WooCommerce turns a product into a number plate a shopper configures themselves. They type a registration, pick a plate type and size, and see the plate drawn at its true dimensions as they type. The order that reaches the merchant carries the same drawing as a scalable SVG, measured in millimetres, ready to send to a plotter or an engraver.

The drawing a shopper approves and the file the merchant manufactures from come out of one renderer, so they cannot disagree. Nothing is stored as an image: the order holds the registration and the choices behind it, and the artwork is rebuilt from them whenever it is asked for.

Germany is the country profile that ships. Plates follow Anlage 4 of the Fahrzeug-Zulassungsverordnung: the sizes it lists, its cap heights, the Euro field, and the FE-Mittelschrift typeface it prescribes, which is bundled. All 733 district codes are included, so a registration is checked against the real list rather than a pattern. Four plate types are offered: Standard, Motorcycle, Electric and Historic, with the E and H markings drawn on the artwork.

What the shopper gets#

A live preview at the plate's real proportions, drawn on the server by the same code that produces the artwork.
A picture of the plate they configured wherever the order is shown to them: the cart, the checkout, the confirmation email and their account, each one clicking through to the full-size plate.
Immediate, specific feedback: an unknown district code, a registration too long for the plate type, a size that cannot fit what they typed.
The price for the exact configuration, updated as they change it.

What the merchant gets#

A per-product switch, so only part of a catalogue is configurable.
A choice of three configurator layouts, Stacked, Studio and Guided, to suit a narrow product column, a wide one, or a catalogue where shoppers need leading through the choices.
Optional surcharges per size and per plate type, on top of the product's own price. Leave them blank for one flat price.
The plate drawn on each order line, beside a Download plate artwork (SVG) button that gives the vector to manufacture from. The registration is drawn as shapes, not as text, so the file needs no font installed and cannot come out in the wrong typeface whatever opens it.
Validation that runs on the server. A plate that would be impossible to manufacture does not reach the cart.
Compatibility with High-Performance Order Storage and with the WooCommerce Cart and Checkout blocks.

No external services#

The plugin makes no outbound requests, loads no fonts or scripts from a third party, and sends nothing anywhere. The preview is produced by your own site.

What it does not do#

It does not make you compliant with anything. Whether you may manufacture plates, and what you must record about who buys them, is between you and your regulator. This plugin draws plates; it makes no claim about your entitlement to sell them.

It does not offer Versicherungskennzeichen (moped plates) or Saisonkennzeichen (seasonal plates). Both need DIN 1451-2 for part of their lettering rather than FE-Schrift, the whole of a moped plate and the two months in a seasonal plate's operating-period field, and no DIN 1451 face may be redistributed. Offering either would produce a plate that cannot legally be used.

The longest registrations, eight positions on a plate that cannot fit them in Mittelschrift, are declined rather than drawn badly. The regulation's answer is the narrower FE-Engschrift, and no Engschrift face was found under a licence that permits redistribution. A merchant licensed to use one adds it with a filter; see Developers.

Bundled font#

One font is bundled, because a German plate has to be set in FE-Schrift: the typeface is part of the legal specification, not a styling choice. GL-Nummernschild-Mtl, version 2.018, by Gutenberg Labo, is derived from Karlgeorg Hoefer's FE-Mittelschrift. Its own name table grants unlimited permission to use, copy and distribute it, with or without modification, commercially or not, as is and without warranty. That all-permissive grant is compatible with the plugin's GPL-2.0-or-later licence; the font remains the copyright of Gutenberg Labo and is not covered by that licence. The full text ships beside the font as assets/fonts/LICENSE-GL-Nummernschild.txt.

No other font is bundled. Faces for other countries, and FE-Engschrift for the longest German registrations, are added by the merchant from a file they are licensed to use.

Accessibility#

Plate type and size are radio groups rather than dropdowns, so they keyboard and announce correctly without help, and the Guided layout uses the browser's own accordion. All three layouts report zero violations under axe-core 4.10.2 at desktop and at 375 pixels wide.

Not affiliated#

This plugin is developed by Zactonz Technologies and is not affiliated with WooCommerce, Automattic, or any German registration authority.