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.

setzer

<p>Side Matter turns footnotes into sidenotes, magically aligning each note in the sidebar next to its corresponding reference in the text. Unlike hyperlinked footnotes, sidenotes don’t require jumping down the page to follow up on each reference; instead, they perch humbly and accessibly beside the material to which they refer.</p>
<p>To use, place the Side Matter widget in your sidebar, then enclose sidenote text in a page or post using the <code>[ref]</code> shortcode, like so:</p>
<pre><code>Here's the text to annotate.[ref]Note text goes here.[/ref]
</code></pre>
<p>To change default settings, use the Side Matter options page linked under the Appearance menu on your admin screen.</p>
<h3>Styling Side Matter with CSS</h3>
<p>Changing the appearance of Side Matter elements—for example, editing your notes’ typeface or indentation—requires using CSS. The simplest way to go about this is to install a custom CSS plugin that will preserve your rules even when Side Matter or your theme is updated. (<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-custom-css/" rel="ugc">Simple Custom CSS</a> is a good example.)</p>
<p>Side Matter comes with a set of built-in class selectors. As an example, all sidenote and reference elements may be styled at once using the class <code>side-matter</code>. The following CSS will render all Side Matter elements in blue serif text:</p>
<pre><code>.side-matter {
    color: blue;
    font-family: serif;
}
</code></pre>
<p>Notes and figures may be formatted with greater precision using element-specific class selectors. For example, the following CSS will render reference and list numerals in green and sidenote text in black:</p>
<pre><code>a.side-matter-ref, ol.side-matter-list {
    color: green;
}

div.side-matter-text {
    color: black;
}
</code></pre>
<h4>List of Class Selectors</h4>
<p>Here is a full list of Side Matter class selectors and their uses:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>a.side-matter-ref</code> selects the link elements that enclose in-text reference numerals. Use this class to modify the links’ colors, underline, etc.</li>
<li><code>sup.side-matter-sup</code> selects the <code>sup</code> (superscript) elements that enclose in-text reference numerals. Use this class to modify the numerals’ typographic properties, such as size, offset, and font.</li>
<li><code>.widget_side_matter</code> (note the underscores) selects the widget container element, which may be an <code>aside</code> or a <code>div</code>.</li>
<li><code>ol.side-matter-list</code> selects the <code>ol</code> (ordered list) element that encloses notes in the sidebar, including list numerals.</li>
<li><code>li.side-matter-note</code> selects sidenote <code>li</code> (list item) elements, including each note’s numeral.</li>
<li><code>div.side-matter-text</code> selects the <code>div</code> elements that enclose sidenote text, but not sidenote list numerals. Use this to style sidenote text separately from numerals.</li>
</ul>
<p>Each paragraph within a note is further wrapped in a <code>p</code> tag. However, as they’re generated outside the plugin, these <code>p</code> elements cannot be selected directly using the <code>side-matter</code> class. Instead, select them indirectly, e.g. <code>div.side-matter-text > p</code>.</p>
<h4>Default CSS</h4>
<p>Side Matter sets a few rules by default in the included stylesheet <code>side-matter.css</code>. These rules will generally defer to your theme stylesheet in the event of a conflict.</p>
<p>The first rule removes underlines from reference numeral links:</p>
<pre><code>a.side-matter:link,
a.side-matter:visited,
a.side-matter:hover,
a.side-matter:active {
    text-decoration: none;
}
</code></pre>
<p>The second rule specifies a consistent cross-browser, cross-theme format for superscript figures:</p>
<pre><code>sup.side-matter-sup {
    position: relative;
    top: -0.5em;
    vertical-align: baseline;
    font-size: 0.75em;
    line-height: 0;
}
</code></pre>


Side Matter

Turns footnotes into sidenotes, magically aligning each note in the sidebar next to its corresponding reference in the text.

Inline Context vs Side Matter