Peter Raschendorfer

The Smart User Slug Hider Plugin hides usernames in Author Pages URLs to enhance Security
<h3>Retired Plugin</h3>
Development, maintenance and support of this plugin has been retired in october 2023. You can use this plugin as long as is works for you.
There will be no more updates and I won’t answer any support questions. Thanks for your understanding.
Feel free to fork this plugin.
<h3>Usage</h3>
The plugin automatically replaces user names with 16 digits coded strings. There are no settings. Just install and forget. Deactivating the Plugin restores the default WordPress behavior.
<h3>Why use this plugin?</h3>
WordPress uses the pattern <code>example.com/author/name</code> for author page URLs where <code>name</code> represents the users login name.
This means that the login names from all your users are publicly visible which is a serious security flaw.
The Smart User Slug Hider Plugin changes all author page URLs from e.g. <code>example.com/author/john</code> to something like <code>example.com/author/e9e716def73f76ac</code>.
The codes are generated automatically and its impossible to make conclusions about the user names. The WordPress default URLs will cause a 404 (not found) error.
<h3>Shortcodes</h3>
The plugin adds three shortcodes you can use in your posts:
<ul>
<li><code>[smart_user_slug]</code> – the user slug of the post author – e.g. e9e716def73f76ac</li>
<li><code>[smart_user_url]</code> – the url of the post author’s profile page – e.g. example.com/author/e9e716def73f76ac</li>
<li><code>[smart_user_link]</code> – adds a link to the post author’s profile page</li>
</ul>
<h3>Theme Functions</h3>
The plugin adds two functions that can be used in theme files:
<ul>
<li><code>get_smart_user_slug( $author_id )</code> to get the user slug for the author – the parameter $author_id is optional, if omitted the author`s ID of the current post is used</li>
<li><code>the_smart_user_slug( $author_id )</code> to display the user slug for the author – the parameter $author_id is optional, if omitted the author`s ID of the current post is used</li>
</ul>
<h3>Plugin Privacy Information</h3>
<ul>
<li>This plugin does not set cookies</li>
<li>This plugin does not collect or store any data</li>
<li>This plugin does not send any data to external servers</li>
</ul>

Smart User Slug Hider

Hide usernames in Author Pages URLs to enhance Security

OTWthemes

You can create a fully functional website using this widget. Check out the showcase. 
Drag & drop the widget in as many sidebars or custom widget areas as you like and build as many independent lists as you like. It is very easy to build any type of list you’d like. 
It works similar to SQL query but no coding knowledge is required! 
<a href="http://otwthemes.com/demos/smart-post-lists-light/?utm_source=wp.org&utm_medium=page&utm_content=demo&utm_campaign=spll" rel="nofollow ugc">Check out demo site</a>
<blockquote>
<a href="https://1.envato.market/c/1246358/275988/4415?subId1=spl&subId2=2020&subId3=https%3A%2F%2Fcodecanyon.net%2Fitem%2Fsmart-post-lists-widget-for-wordpress%2F935289&u=https%3A%2F%2Fcodecanyon.net%2Fitem%2Fsmart-post-lists-widget-for-wordpress%2F935289" rel="nofollow ugc">Upgrade to Pro Version</a> | 
 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A8q7UQJzLg" rel="nofollow ugc">Video demonstration</a>.
</blockquote>
How it works
Go to your widgets section. Drag and Drop the widget in a sidebar(widget area) that you want your list to appear in. Fill in the form and click save. Here are the options you can choose from:
<ul>
<li>Select multiple categories and tags to list posts from.</li>
<li>Choose the number of posts to list and where to start listing from.</li>
<li>Order the list by: author, date created, date modified, post title.</li>
<li>Order to display posts: ascending, descending.</li>
<li>Select fields you want to show: title, date, excerpt, number of comments.</li>
<li>Select excerpt length in words</li>
<li>Choose to show image on: all posts, first only or none</li>
<li>Choose size of the image: thumb, medium, large</li>
<li>Choose image float: top of text, left of text, right of text</li>
</ul>
By filling a simple form this plugin will build an SQL SELECT query, return a result set and build html code based on it. The form controls select expression, where condition, order by expression, limit expression. 
No coding is required!
Showcase
You can create a fully functional website using this widget. Get some ideas at the <a href="http://otwthemes.com/demos/smart-post-lists-light/?utm_source=wp.org&utm_medium=page&utm_content=demo&utm_campaign=spll" rel="nofollow ugc">demo site</a>.
<ul>
<li>Sidebar examples</li>
<li>Footer examples</li>
<li>Blog examples</li>
<li>Portfolio example</li>
<li>Products example</li>
<li>Widgetized page</li>
</ul>
Customize front-end
By default the widget looks like all other widgets from the same sidebar (widget area) you drop it in. It has its own CSS file that overrides the default styles for your list elements. You can use that file to further customize the front-end outlook.
Get more of this plugin
Most themes for WordPress will come with default sidebars and a few footer areas where you can drop widgets in. If you want to have custom widget areas for instance in content areas of your pages and post, or any other area of your site:
<ul>
<li>Create your custom widget areas by using a plugin. It’s fast and easy.</li>
<li>Create your custom widget areas by little coding – advanced users.</li>
<li>Use an advanced theme with more widget areas defined.</li>
</ul>

Smart Post Lists Light

Create custom post lists based on options you choose from a form in a widget. Different types of lists, blog, portfolio, services pages. No coding.

Smart User Slug Hider vs Smart Post Lists Light