Joop Laan

<p><strong>Inline Context</strong> is a powerful Block Editor enhancement that lets you create inline expandable notes or clean tooltip-style popovers anywhere in your content. It is ideal for <strong>content-rich websites</strong>, including editorial platforms, research sites, online magazines, documentation hubs, and educational blogs that rely on clear explanation without breaking the reader’s focus.</p>
<p>Instead of sending readers to glossary pages or external links, Inline Context allows you to provide definitions, references, clarifications, and annotations <em>in place</em> — keeping readers engaged and your content structured.</p>
<p>Notes can be <strong>reusable</strong>, categorized, styled, centrally managed, and automatically updated everywhere they appear.</p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/inline-context/?preview=1" rel="ugc">Check the live preview</a></p>
<h4>Why this is valuable for content-heavy websites</h4>
<p>Websites with substantial text often need:</p>
<ul>
<li>definitions and terminology</li>
<li>source references</li>
<li>background information</li>
<li>contextual inline explanations</li>
<li>mini footnotes without scrolling</li>
<li>inline callouts, tips, or warnings</li>
</ul>
<p>Inline Context delivers all of this with a frictionless, accessible user experience. It helps readers stay focused, reduces navigation fatigue, and improves knowledge retention — especially in long articles or research-based content.</p>
<h4>How it works</h4>
<ol>
<li>Highlight text in the Block Editor.</li>
<li>Click <strong>Inline Context</strong>.</li>
<li>Enter your note content (rich text supported).</li>
<li>Optionally assign a category with custom icon & color.</li>
<li>Publish — your note appears inline or as a tooltip, depending on settings.</li>
</ol>
<p>You can also create <strong>reusable</strong> notes from a dedicated Custom Post Type. Updating a reusable note updates all instances site-wide.</p>
<h3>Key Features</h3>
<h4>Display modes</h4>
<ul>
<li>Inline expansion (reveals a small content panel)</li>
<li>Tooltip popovers (floating contextual bubbles)</li>
<li>Smart tooltip positioning to avoid off-screen display</li>
<li>Direct anchor links (<code>#context-note-xxx</code>) for deep linking</li>
<li>Auto-open on page load when accessed via link</li>
</ul>
<h4>Editor productivity</h4>
<ul>
<li>Reusable notes with global updates</li>
<li>Notes Library with usage tracking (shows where each note is used)</li>
<li>Quick Search inside the editor to insert existing notes</li>
<li>Rich text support via ReactQuill (bold, italic, lists, links)</li>
<li>Clean, integrated Rich Text toolbar button</li>
</ul>
<h4>Categories & icons</h4>
<ul>
<li>Create unlimited categories (Definition, Reference, External Article, Tip, Warning, etc.)</li>
<li>Choose from curated Dashicons or any of 300+ icons</li>
<li>Separate icons for open and closed states</li>
</ul>
<h4>Styling & customization</h4>
<p>Full styling control from <strong>Settings <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Inline Context</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Link colors, hover, and focus states</li>
<li>Note padding, spacing, borders, backgrounds, shadows</li>
<li>Tooltip appearance</li>
<li>Chevron/indicator styling</li>
<li>Live interactive preview of all style changes</li>
</ul>
<h4>Accessibility & security</h4>
<ul>
<li>ARIA support, focus lock, Escape key behavior</li>
<li>Keyboard-navigable for both link and note</li>
<li>DOMPurify sanitization of note content</li>
</ul>
<h3>Internationalization</h3>
<p>Inline Context is fully translation-ready.</p>
<h3>Examples & inspiration</h3>
<p>The idea for this plugin originated from a project with Renée Kool — a visual artist working in public art, film, and emerging media. She wanted to create a website where a single link could reveal additional content containing multiple related links. We looked at the Dutch journalism platform De Correspondent, which use subtle inline notes to provide context without interrupting the flow of reading. You can see examples of their inline notes in this article: <a href="https://decorrespondent.nl/15887/hoe-nederland-kampioen-deeltijdwerken-werd/9053b712-3591-0002-29b3-8c7b69eae0c3" rel="nofollow ugc">Hoe Nederland kampioen deeltijdwerken werd</a></p>
<h3>Source code</h3>
<p>Inline Context uses <code>@wordpress/scripts</code> with webpack and npm to build assets.</p>
<p>Full source (including uncompiled JS and CSS) is available at:<br />
<a href="https://github.com/jooplaan/inline-context" rel="nofollow ugc">https://github.com/jooplaan/inline-context</a></p>


Inline Context

Add inline expandable notes or tooltips to provide context, definitions, and references without disrupting the reading flow.

lazardanlucian

<p>Dan’s Annotator lets logged-in users (and email based collaborators) highlight elements on any page and discuss them in threaded comments. It adds a floating UI to create, browse, and close annotation threads, plus @-mentions with email notifications.</p>
<h3>Features</h3>
<p>– Custom database tables for threads, comments, tags, and collaborators (created on activation).<br />
– Admin bar toggle to enable/disable annotation mode for logged-in users.<br />
– Front-end badges showing counts and a side panel UI for reading/posting comments.<br />
– @username tagging with autocomplete and email/admin-notice notifications.<br />
– REST API endpoints used by the front-end JavaScript.<br />
– Support for outside collaborators with email-based or link-based access.</p>
<h3>Usage</h3>
<h3>@ Completion (User Tagging)</h3>
<p>To mention a registered WordPress user in an annotation comment:<br />
1. Type <code>@</code> followed by the username or email<br />
2. An autocomplete dropdown will appear showing matching users<br />
3. Select the user from the list or continue typing their username<br />
4. The tagged user will receive a notification (admin notice for logged-in users)</p>
<p>Example: <code>@john</code> or <code>@admin</code></p>
<h3>@email Collaborators (Email-Based Access)</h3>
<p>To invite external collaborators who don’t have WordPress accounts:<br />
1. In a comment, type <code>@</code> followed by their email address<br />
2. Example: <code>@john@doe.com</code><br />
3. The collaborator will automatically be created and receive an email with a secure magic link<br />
4. They can click the link to access and comment on the specific thread without creating an account<br />
5. Email-based collaborators are scoped to only the threads they’re tagged in</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> The magic link is unique and secure, tied to their email address. Enable this feature in Settings <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Annotator <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Outside Collaborators.</p>
<h3>!@link Collaborators (Link-Based Access)</h3>
<p>For lightweight collaborator access without requiring an email:<br />
1. In a comment, type <code>!@</code> followed by a name/identifier<br />
2. Example: <code>!@mike</code> or <code>!@designer</code><br />
3. A token-based collaborator is created with a shareable link<br />
4. Copy the generated link from the comment and share it directly<br />
5. Anyone with the link can participate using that collaborator identity<br />
6. Link-based collaborators are also scoped to the threads they’re tagged in</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Enable token-based collaborators in Settings <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Annotator <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Token-based collaborators. This is useful for quick feedback without email verification.</p>
<h3>License</h3>
<p>This plugin is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.</p>


Dan's Annotator

Lightweight front-end annotation tool with threads, tagging, and collaborator sessions.

Inline Context vs Dan's Annotator