WP MyLinks

The complete, formatted version history is also published at onlinestorekit.com/changelog/wp-mylinks.

1.1.1 – August 25, 2026

Maintenance release: WordPress 7.1 compatibility and housekeeping.

• [New] Third-party libraries section in this readme crediting the bundled open-source libraries (QR Code Generator for JavaScript, Select2, Simple Icons), and the bundled Select2 stylesheet regained its MIT license banner.
• [Improved] The MyLinks admin menu now shows the plugin’s own brand icon instead of a generic Dashicon.
• [Improved] More Plugins tab refreshed: External Marketplace Buttons added, PixMapr and PixSwipr now link to their released product pages, and placeholder links for unreleased plugins were removed so no card can lead to a missing page.
• [Improved] The two buttons on each More Plugins card no longer animate on hover; their hover colors are unchanged.
• [Fixed] The “Export This Page” button in the Import/Export metabox rendered wider than its container and off-center.
• [Misc] Introduced the WP MyLinks Pro section in the readme.
• [Misc] Tested up to WordPress 7.1.

1.1.0 – August 19, 2026

Headline features

• [New] Section headings. A link row can now be a heading that groups the links below it. Set a row’s type to “Heading” and it renders as a section label instead of a button.
• [New] Search / filter bar. An optional per-page search box filters the links as the visitor types. Section headings hide when every link under them is filtered out, and a “no matches” message shows when nothing is found. Everything runs in the browser, so no data leaves the page.
• [New] HTML blocks. A link row can be an “HTML Block” for a newsletter form, a table, or any embed, placed anywhere in the link order. Raw scripts and iframes are kept only for users allowed to post unfiltered HTML; everyone else gets a safe subset.
• [New] Custom font family. Set a page font globally on Settings, General or per page on the editor. WP MyLinks does not fetch fonts from third parties, to keep visitor data private, so name a font your site already loads.
• [New] Icon-font classes for additional social platforms. Instead of uploading an image, enter an icon class (for example fa-brands fa-github) from an icon font your site already loads. An uploaded image still takes priority.
• [New] Google Tag Manager and GA4 friendly. Every link click pushes a wp_mylinks_click event (with the link URL, title, and page ID) to window.dataLayer when it exists. No effect when the dataLayer is absent.
• [New] Choose which post types feed the Link URL picker. A new Tools setting lists your site’s public post types, with Posts, Pages, and Products (when WooCommerce is active) checked by default, and adds new ones automatically as plugins or themes register them. Uncheck any you do not want to link to. Link Collections are always available.
• [New] Per-link click counter. Every link click is counted via a non-blocking, privacy-respecting ping to your own site (no cookies, no IPs, no third parties; bots filtered). Totals appear in a new Clicks column on the MyLinks list.
• [New] QR code generation. A QR Code box on the MyLink editor renders a scannable code for the page URL, generated entirely in the browser by a bundled open-source library, with one-click PNG download.
• [New] Accent colors. Four color controls (page background, button background, button text, text) available globally on Settings → General and per page on the editor. They layer on top of all 16 themes; empty values leave the theme untouched.
• [New] SVG social icons. The 8 default social icons are now crisp, brand-colored SVG chips (0.6 to 2.4 KB each) that stay sharp at any size and remain visible on dark themes. Custom uploaded icons keep working unchanged; the legacy PNGs remain shipped for anyone referencing them directly.
• [New] More Plugins tab. A settings tab introducing other plugins by the same author. It stays inside its own tab, no dashboard widgets, no admin notices, nothing on your pages.
• [New] Import & Export (Tools tab). Export your plugin settings, all MyLink pages (filterable by status, Link Collections included), or a single page as JSON, and import them on any site. Each MyLink editor also gets an Import/Export side box to back up or transplant one page’s configuration. Page imports always create new pages, so nothing existing is ever overwritten.
• [Improved] Scripts tab redesigned. Script and CSS fields are now proper code editors, monospace, tall, inset, with the Header/After Body/Footer fields side by side.
• [Improved] The Link URL picker searches your whole site. It queries the post types you chose as you type, so every matching post, page, product, or Collection is reachable, instead of a short preloaded list.
• [Improved] The Links editor shows only the fields a row uses. Choosing a row’s type (Link, Heading, or HTML Block) hides the unrelated fields, and turning on Card Layout hides the video and embed fields it replaces.
• [Improved] Editor text areas restyled. The per-page script, custom styles, HTML block, and meta description fields now use the same styled boxes as the Scripts tab, monospace for the code fields.
• [Improved] The “Delete All Plugin Data on Uninstall” option moved to Tools → Data Management, in its own settings group.

The big one: CMB2 replaced by a native fields system

• [Improved] The bundled CMB2 framework (3.6 MB, 340 files, 84% of the plugin) has been replaced by WP MyLinks’ own lightweight fields system. The download shrank from 4.3 MB to under 1 MB.
• [Improved] Zero migration: the new system writes byte-identical post meta, verified by an automated storage-contract test suite against CMB2 itself before the swap. Existing pages open, edit, save, and render exactly as before.
• [Improved] No more risk of conflicts with other plugins bundling different CMB2 versions, and no dependence on a third-party framework’s release cycle.

Full admin redesign

• [Improved] The settings page and the MyLink editor were redesigned: a proper settings header, icon tabs, card layouts, toggle switches, tidy multi-column metabox layouts, collapsible link rows, and side-by-side media buttons.
• [Improved] Measured accessibility pass on the new admin: contrast ratios computed and fixed where they fell short of WCAG (including a footer link that had shipped at 1.9:1 since 1.0.8), keyboard focus rings throughout, ARIA on icon-only controls.
• [Improved] Editing a Collection link now updates every MyLink page that uses it, link rows resolve the Collection’s current URL at render time instead of a stale copy.
• [Improved] WordPress’s raw Custom Fields box no longer appears on MyLink editors.

Developer platform

• [New] Documented public API (see API.md in the repository): wp_mylinks_link_data and wp_mylinks_link_render filters for the link loop, wp_mylinks_meta_boxes and wp_mylinks_field_types for registering fields, wp_mylinks_settings_tabs for settings tabs, and the wp_mylinks_track_link_click action with documented analytics data shapes.

Bug fixes

• [Fixed] The global Default Schema Type could never be saved as Organization, the sanitizer lowercased the value before comparing it. Per-page overrides were unaffected.
• [Fixed] The page-view counter now increments atomically (concurrent visits no longer lose counts) and filters out bots and crawlers.
• [Fixed] A PHP 8 “Attempt to read property on string” warning fired on every uncached oEmbed render.
• [Fixed] Other plugins’ admin notices no longer render inside the plugin’s settings header.
• [Misc] The plugin’s admin footer now shows the WP MyLinks version on plugin screens, the number support will ask you for.
• [Misc] Codebase fully normalized to the WordPress Coding Standards; PHPCS now runs clean as a release gate.

1.0.8 – May 23, 2026

Headline features

• [New] Schema.org JSON-LD output for every MyLinks page. Choose Person (default) or Organization either globally on Settings → MyLinks → Global, or per-page on the MyLink editor. Output includes name, image, description, page URL, and a sameAs array populated from all configured social profiles, perfect for Google’s Knowledge Graph. Defers automatically to Yoast SEO when Yoast is handling schema.
• [New] ProfilePage schema wrapper (optional toggle on Settings → MyLinks → Global). When enabled, the JSON-LD output becomes a @graph array containing the Person/Organization entity, a ProfilePage that references it via @id, and a BreadcrumbList. This is the pattern used by X (Twitter), GitHub, and LinkedIn profiles. Helps search engines and AI tools recognize the URL as a canonical profile page.
• [New] BreadcrumbList schema automatically emitted alongside the Person/Organization schema whenever JSON-LD is enabled. Two-step path (Home → page name). Google uses this in SERPs in place of the raw URL line.
• [New] Open Graph & Twitter Card meta tags. Share previews on Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Discord now display your MyLink page properly. Configure globally or per-page; the share image falls back gracefully through per-page → global → Yoast → avatar so something always renders. Defers to Yoast when Yoast is handling Open Graph.
• [New] Default share-image option (recommended size 1200×630) on Settings → MyLinks → Global, with per-page overrides on the MyLink editor.
• [New] Twitter / X handle field on Settings → MyLinks → Global. Used for twitter:site and twitter:creator. The @ is added automatically if missing.
• [New] Additional Social Platforms metabox on the MyLink editor (placed right under the existing Social Media metabox so it’s impossible to miss). Add Threads, Bluesky, GitHub, Mastodon, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, or any other platform via a CMB2 repeater with sortable rows. Each row accepts a name, profile URL, and optional icon. Existing hardcoded 8 platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, Discord) are preserved exactly, no migration risk.
• [New] Accessibility improvements: skip-to-content link, ARIA labels on every social icon and link button, “opens in new tab” hints for screen readers, graceful avatar alt fallback when the name is empty, decorative images correctly marked with empty alt. WCAG 2.2 compliant.

Permalink fixes (the long-standing 404 bug)

• [Fixed] Permalink conflicts that caused 404s when MyLink slugs collided with pages, posts, or pagination. The post type now registers with a real mylink rewrite slug and resolves slug-only URLs through the WordPress request filter with proper collision detection, no more fragile pre_get_posts hacks.
• [Fixed] Activation hook was registered against the wrong file path, so rewrite rules were never flushed on activation. Activation now flushes rules correctly, and a one-time auto-flush runs on the first admin page load after every update so existing installs heal themselves transparently.
• [Fixed] Slug-stripping no longer corrupts post permalinks whose slug happens to contain the word “mylink”. The replacement is now anchored to the home URL via regex.
• [Fixed] pre_get_posts callback was registered twice and contained a logic bug ('' == isset(...)) that made the post-type override fire on every front-page query.
• [Fixed] wp_mylinks_request filter no longer breaks when other plugins add query vars (the brittle 2 != count($query->query) check has been removed).
• [Added] Canonical 301 redirect from /mylink/<slug>/ to /<slug>/ for SEO consistency.
• [Added] wp_mylinks_cpt_rewrite_slug filter so developers can change the internal CPT slug without breaking public URLs.

Data preservation & uninstall

• [Fixed] Deactivation no longer deletes user options. The previous code wiped every plugin setting on deactivation, which destroyed configuration for anyone who toggled the plugin off temporarily. A separate uninstall.php now handles true uninstallation.
• [New] “Delete Plugin Data on Uninstall?” option on Settings → MyLinks → Global. Off by default, preserve your settings across uninstall/reinstall cycles. Enable it for a clean removal of all plugin options and oEmbed caches.
• [Added] WP_MYLINKS_PURGE_POSTS_ON_UNINSTALL constant for users who want a complete data purge (including posts) on plugin deletion.
• [Added] Proper uninstall.php that cleans up options and oEmbed transients (when opted in), but preserves MyLink posts by default.

Security & code quality

• [Security] Hardened admin settings page: every option output is now properly escaped, every register_setting() has an explicit sanitize_callback, and tab parameters use a strict allowlist.
• [Security] Admin column rendering now escapes URLs with esc_url() and esc_attr().
• [Security] All user-supplied script/style content output through tightly-scoped wp_kses() allowlists. Admin-only with manage_options capability gating remains. Custom-script settings now use a dedicated wp_mylinks_sanitize_raw_script() callback that strips control characters and normalizes line endings while preserving raw HTML/JS/CSS content.
• [Changed] Front-end template refactored to produce clean, predictable HTML output with consistent two-space indentation. PHP control structures now sit at column 0 so their whitespace doesn’t leak into the rendered markup.
• [Changed] Empty <div class="user-profile"> and <div class="description"> wrappers are no longer emitted when those sections have no content (eliminates ~60px of phantom vertical space).
• [Changed] Inline <style> blocks consolidated from three separate tags into one <style id="wp-mylinks-inline-css"> block per page.
• [Changed] Asset enqueueing moved to <head> for stylesheets and just-before-</body> for scripts (proper WordPress convention).
• [Changed] Renamed the global Plugin class to Wp_Mylinks_Front_Page_Plugin to avoid namespace collisions with other plugins.
• [Changed] Renamed misspelled function wp_mylinks_custom_sidebar_suppport to wp_mylinks_custom_sidebar_support (with backward-compat alias).
• [Misc] Frontend template upgraded <div class="mylinks"> to <main class="mylinks"> for better semantic markup.
• [Misc] Invalid duplicate id="link_count" on multiple anchors replaced with a link_count class. Obsolete align="middle" attribute removed. Image alt text reflects link title.
• [Misc] <meta name="generator"> added to identify plugin output for support.

Internationalization

• [New] Eleven new translatable strings on the MyLink CMB2 metaboxes (Choose Avatar, Choose Icon × 8, Choose Favicon, Select a link…) that were previously hard-coded English.
• [New] Submenu titles for the Collection sidebar (UTM Campaign Builder, Support) and admin sidebar quick links (Rate This Plugin, Buy Me a Coffee, etc.) are now translatable.
• [Misc] Added /* translators: */ comments to every sprintf() call in admin output for translator clarity.
• [Misc] All add_submenu_page(), add_meta_box(), and CMB2 field labels now flow through __() / _x() with the wp-mylinks text domain.

Hooks & filters for extension

• [Added] New action hooks for plugin extension: wp_mylinks_head, wp_mylinks_body_open, wp_mylinks_before_links, wp_mylinks_after_links, wp_mylinks_footer.
• [Added] New filter hooks: wp_mylinks_schema_data (mutate JSON-LD before encoding), wp_mylinks_og_meta (mutate Open Graph meta lines before output).
• [Added] wp_mylinks_extract_youtube_id() helper recognizes regular, short (youtu.be), embed, mobile, and shorts YouTube URLs. Previously, only the standard ?v= URL format worked.

Frontend assets

• [Misc] Frontend JavaScript modernized: added 'use strict', switched to an IIFE, validates YouTube IDs before injecting them, lazy-loads thumbnails, supports keyboard activation (Enter/Space), forces HTTPS for thumbnail URLs.
• [Misc] Frontend CSS rewritten to WordPress CSS Coding Standards: tab indentation, alphabetized selectors per section, the @keyframes slidebg block consolidated from three duplicates to one, removed long-obsolete -webkit-/-moz- border-radius and gradient prefixes, and the minified file regenerated to match the source.
• [Added] .screen-reader-text helper class with WCAG-compliant focus styling for the new skip-to-content link.
• [Added] Bundled globe.svg fallback icon for Additional Social Platforms with no custom icon configured.

Admin assets

• [Misc] Admin assets (CSS and JS) now only enqueue on plugin-relevant screens (the settings page and the mylink/mylinks-collection edit screens) instead of every wp-admin page, eliminating the prior risk of leaking styles into other admin areas.
• [Misc] Admin JavaScript modernized: wrapped in IIFE with 'use strict', switched to event delegation, no more global mediaUploader leak. Reusable media-frame helper now drives both the favicon and the new Open Graph share-image pickers without conflict.
• [New] Friendly admin footer text on plugin screens with a 5-star review prompt linking to the WordPress.org reviews page. Footer text on every other admin page is left untouched.

WordPress 7.0 compatibility

• [Misc] Bumped minimum WordPress version to 6.0 and tested up to WordPress 7.0.
• [Misc] Audited the codebase for PHP 8.x compatibility.
• [Misc] View counter switched to atomic update_post_meta() and skips admin/cron requests for cleaner counts.

1.0.7 – September 26, 2024

• [Security] Fixed Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability as discovered and reported by SOPROBRO to Patchstack, reported by Darius Sveikauskas (Kudos to SOPROBRO, Darius Sveikauskas and Patchstack)
• [Fixed] Fixed JavaScript issues preventing users to add new links
• [Fixed] Fixed several unsanitized fields on the MyLinks page output
• [Fixed] CSS issues making several templates not responsive on smaller screens
• [New] Added extra options for Transparent avatar style and adding scripts to after the open tag
• [Misc] Changed and optimized several fields on the MyLinks editor screen
• [Misc] Updated CMB2 to the latest version 2.11.0
• [Misc] Updated select2.min.js to the latest version 4.1.0-rc.0
• [Misc] Optimized a large part of the MyLinks page template
• [Misc] Compatibility with latest version of WordPress v6.6.2

1.0.6 – April 28, 2023

• [New] Enhanced Media Embedding: In addition to embedding YouTube videos, you can now seamlessly embed media from any site supported by WordPress.
• [New] Organized Link Collections: Easily save and access important links in a dedicated collections page, eliminating the need to repeatedly enter the same links manually.
• [New] Searchable Link Lists: The Link input field now includes a search function, allowing you to find previously defined links from your Links Collection, existing posts, or pages by default.
• [New] Added Discord social media support
• [Fixed] Flush permalink issue
• [Misc] Compatibility with latest version of WordPress

1.0.5 – February 25, 2022

• [New] Youtube Video embed
• [New] Card-style Link
• [New] Avatar Styles
• [New] Social Buttons position
• [Fixed] Flush permalink issue
• [Misc] CSS issues
• [Misc] Compatibility with latest version of WordPress