Simon Kraft

Matthias Kittsteiner

epiphyt

<p>Have you ever used WordPress’ new block editor Gutenberg and wished for a way to influence, when and to whom blocks are shown? We’ve been in this situation, that’s why we came up with Block Control. This nifty little plugin allows you to control, whether a block should be displayed under certain circumstances or not. And that’s of course true for both WordPress’ default blocks and blocks added by third-party plugins.</p>
<p>You can hide blocks based on:</p>
<ul>
<li>Device types (desktop, mobile, screen reader)</li>
<li>Login status</li>
<li>Date (start and end date)</li>
<li>User roles</li>
<li>Page types</li>
<li>Posts of the current post type</li>
<li>Feeds</li>
<li>Page number in numbered pages (in archives and search results)</li>
</ul>
<p>Additionally, you can set an inline formatting to display certain text only for screen readers.</p>
<h4>Contribution</h4>
<p>Feel free to contribute. The code is available at <a href="https://github.com/epiphyt/block-control" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a>.</p>
<h4>Documentation</h4>
<p>You can find the documentation for BLock Control at <a href="https://docs.epiph.yt/block-control/" rel="nofollow ugc">docs.epiph.yt</a>.</p>


Block Control

I've used this plugins on two websites now. It works just great. The visibility option for different devices is very useful.

It works just smoothly

Lovely helper plugin lets you select, if you need to be logged in to see a block in a post or page and whether it should be hidden on certain devices.

Currently the plugin description may be a little vague ("it does what?") but the plugin works right out of the box and may be for many a smart solution for a simple task. 

Well done, Matthias and Simon. 👏🏻

Nice little helper plugin

Block Control allows you to take control of all the blocks on your website. Tailor a unique experience for your visitors.

Abhishek Kumar

<p>RenderWhen for Blocks adds conditional visibility to every block in the WordPress block editor. Decide who sees what, and when, with a panel that reads exactly how you’d say it out loud:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Show this block when the user is logged in.</em><br />
  <em>Show this block when the date is between March 1 and March 31.</em><br />
  <em>Show this block when the device is mobile.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>RenderWhen is built around two ideas that set it apart from other visibility plugins:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Server-side rendering only.</strong> When a block is hidden by a condition, it is not rendered into the page output at all. No CSS <code>display: none</code>, no DOM bloat, no leaked content in view-source. Search engines, screen readers, and your page weight all benefit.</li>
<li><strong>Public Conditions API.</strong> The three built-in conditions are registered through the same public API your plugin or theme can use to add your own. No hacks, no internal-only code paths.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the editor, a subtle dashed border marks every block that carries a visibility rule, so a rule-bearing block never disappears from the published page as a surprise. A “Preview as audience” sidebar lets you simulate a logged-out visitor, a specific role, or a different device class right in the editor — blocks whose rule would hide them fade out with a clear badge, no save-and-reload cycle required.</p>
<h4>Built-in conditions (v1.0)</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>User state</strong> — show to logged-in users, logged-out users, or specific roles</li>
<li><strong>Date range</strong> — show between two datetimes, timezone-aware</li>
<li><strong>Device type</strong> — show on desktop, tablet, or mobile</li>
</ul>
<h4>Designed for</h4>
<ul>
<li>Agencies and freelancers building client sites who want a clean, predictable visibility tool</li>
<li>Developers who need an extension point, not another walled garden</li>
<li>Anyone who cares about page weight and SEO hygiene</li>
</ul>
<h4>What this plugin deliberately does NOT do</h4>
<p>It does one thing well rather than ten things adequately. Out of scope in v1.0:</p>
<ul>
<li>Multi-condition AND/OR groups (planned for v1.1)</li>
<li>URL / cookie / referrer / geolocation conditions</li>
<li>WooCommerce, ACF, or membership integrations</li>
<li>A settings dashboard</li>
</ul>
<p>If you need those today, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/conditional-blocks/" rel="ugc">Conditional Blocks</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-visibility/" rel="ugc">Block Visibility</a> are excellent and well-established choices.</p>
<h4>For developers</h4>
<p>Register a custom condition in three steps. Implement the interface, add it to the registry, ship.</p>
<pre><code>add_action( 'renderwhen_register_conditions', function ( $registry ) {
    $registry->register( new My_Plugin\\Conditions\\Country_Condition() );
} );
</code></pre>
<p>Your condition class implements <code>RenderWhen\Conditions\Interface_Condition</code>:</p>
<pre><code>namespace My_Plugin\Conditions;

use RenderWhen\Conditions\Interface_Condition;

class Country_Condition implements Interface_Condition {
    public function get_id(): string {
        return 'country';
    }

    public function get_label(): string {
        return __( 'Visitor country', 'my-plugin' );
    }

    public function get_schema(): array {
        return array(
            'type'       => 'object',
            'properties' => array(
                'countries' => array(
                    'type'  => 'array',
                    'items' => array( 'type' => 'string' ),
                ),
            ),
        );
    }

    public function evaluate( array $settings, array $context ): bool {
        $current = my_plugin_detect_country();
        return in_array( $current, $settings['countries'] ?? array(), true );
    }
}
</code></pre>
<p>The full set of public filters:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>renderwhen_register_conditions</code> — register your conditions here</li>
<li><code>renderwhen_evaluate_{condition_id}</code> — last-mile override of any condition’s result</li>
<li><code>renderwhen_render_block_hidden</code> — fires when a block is hidden, useful for cache busters and SEO tools</li>
<li><code>renderwhen_device_type</code> — swap in your own device detection</li>
</ul>
<p>The plugin is developed openly on GitHub. Issues, PRs, and architecture discussions welcome: https://github.com/abhishekfdd/renderwhen</p>


RenderWhen for Blocks

Show or hide any block when conditions match. Developer-first API and true server-side rendering — hidden blocks never reach the browser.

Block Control vs RenderWhen for Blocks