WebberZone

Ajay

<p><strong>WebberZone Code Block Highlighting</strong> is the easiest way to add syntax highlighting to your WordPress site. It extends the native Gutenberg <code>core/code</code> block with <a href="https://prismjs.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Prism.js</a> highlighting — no shortcodes, no block replacement, no risk of breaking existing posts.</p>
<p>Simply activate the plugin and your code blocks will instantly display beautiful, readable syntax highlighting on the frontend. Choose from 40+ programming languages and 21 colour themes, all controlled from the block editor’s Inspector Controls sidebar.</p>
<h3>Two highlighting modes</h3>
<p>Pick the rendering mode that best fits your site from the settings page:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Client-side (default)</strong> — <a href="https://prismjs.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Prism.js</a> highlights your code in the browser. Best for interactive features such as copy-to-clipboard and expand/collapse.</li>
<li><strong>Server-side (highlight.php)</strong> — Code is pre-highlighted on the server with <a href="https://github.com/scrivo/highlight.php" rel="nofollow ugc">highlight.php</a>, so no Prism.js or any other JavaScript is loaded for highlighting. Ideal for performance, Core Web Vitals, AMP-style setups, and strict content-security policies.</li>
</ul>
<p>Both modes use the same 21 Prism themes and produce visually identical output, so you can switch between client-side and server-side rendering at any time without changing how your code blocks look.</p>
<h3>Why use this plugin?</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Safe by design</strong> — Works as a filter on top of <code>core/code</code>. Existing posts are never invalidated. Deactivate the plugin and your blocks are still valid standard WordPress code blocks.</li>
<li><strong>Zero configuration</strong> — Activate and start writing. No setup wizard, no shortcodes.</li>
<li><strong>No highlighting JavaScript in server mode</strong> — Server-side mode pre-renders syntax colours on the server. No Prism.js or any other JavaScript is enqueued for highlighting.</li>
<li><strong>Smart asset loading</strong> — Theme CSS (and, in client mode, Prism JS) only load on pages that actually contain code blocks. Pages without code stay fast.</li>
<li><strong>Per-block controls</strong> — Set language, theme, line numbers, word wrap, title, highlighted lines, and max height individually for each block.</li>
<li><strong>Developer-friendly</strong> — Filters to add languages, override themes, and force asset loading.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Supported languages</h3>
<p>40 languages including: Apache Config, Bash, C, C++, C#, CSS, Dart, Docker, F#, Go, GraphQL, Groovy, Haskell, HTML, Java, JavaScript, JSON, JSX, Kotlin, Lua, Markdown, Nginx, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, PowerShell, Python, R, Ruby, Rust, Sass, Scala, SQL, Swift, TOML, TSX, TypeScript, Vim, XML, YAML. Use the <code>wzcbh_languages</code> filter to add or remove entries from the language picker.</p>
<h3>Included themes (21)</h3>
<p>A11y Dark, Coldark Cold (Light), Coldark Dark, Dracula, Duotone Dark, Duotone Light, GitHub (Light), Gruvbox Dark, Gruvbox Light, Lucario, Material Dark, Material Light, Night Owl, Nord, One Dark, One Light, Shades of Purple, Solarized Dark, Synthwave ’84, VS Code Dark+, Xonokai (Monokai).</p>
<h3>Per-block features</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Language selector</strong> — Choose the programming language from the sidebar; applies the correct Prism grammar automatically.</li>
<li><strong>Line numbers</strong> — Toggle line numbers per block, with a configurable start line.</li>
<li><strong>File title / label</strong> — Add an optional filename or label displayed in the code block toolbar.</li>
<li><strong>Highlight lines</strong> — Specify lines or ranges (e.g. <code>1,3-5</code>) to visually highlight using Prism’s line-highlight plugin.</li>
<li><strong>Max height with expand/collapse</strong> — Set a maximum height in pixels; an expand/collapse toolbar button appears automatically.</li>
<li><strong>Word wrap</strong> — Toggle soft word wrapping per block.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Global settings</h3>
<ul>
<li>Highlighting mode — client-side (Prism.js) or server-side (highlight.php)</li>
<li>Default colour scheme (theme)</li>
<li>Default language</li>
<li>Default line numbers toggle and start value</li>
<li>Default word wrap</li>
<li>Copy-to-clipboard button</li>
<li>Show language label in toolbar</li>
<li>Font size</li>
</ul>
<h3>Developer filters</h3>
<ul>
<li><code>wzcbh_languages</code> — Filter the language list array (<code>slug => label</code>)</li>
<li><code>wzcbh_color_scheme_css_url</code> — Override the Prism theme CSS URL</li>
<li><code>wzcbh_force_load_assets</code> — Force Prism assets to load on every page</li>
</ul>
<h3>GDPR</h3>
<p>WebberZone Code Block Highlighting does not collect personal data, set cookies, or communicate with any external services.</p>
<h3>Contribute</h3>
<p>The plugin is open source and available on <a href="https://github.com/WebberZone/webberzone-code-block-highlighting" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a>. Pull requests for bug fixes and new features are welcome. Please use the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/webberzone-code-block-highlighting/" rel="ugc">WordPress.org support forum</a> for support and <a href="https://github.com/WebberZone/webberzone-code-block-highlighting/issues" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub Issues</a> for confirmed bug reports.</p>
<h3>Translations</h3>
<p>Help translate WebberZone Code Block Highlighting into your language on <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/webberzone-code-block-highlighting" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress.org</a>. See the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/rosetta/theme-plugin-directories/" rel="nofollow ugc">Translator Handbook</a> for guidance.</p>
<h3>Other plugins by WebberZone</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/contextual-related-posts/" rel="ugc">Contextual Related Posts</a> — Display fast, intelligent related posts to keep visitors on your site longer</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/top-10/" rel="ugc">Top 10</a> — Track daily and total visits and display popular and trending posts</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/add-to-all/" rel="ugc">WebberZone Snippetz</a> — Manage custom HTML, CSS and JS snippets across your site</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/knowledgebase/" rel="ugc">Knowledge Base</a> — Create a knowledge base or FAQ section on your WordPress site</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search/" rel="ugc">Better Search</a> — Contextual search results sorted by relevance</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/autoclose/" rel="ugc">Auto-Close</a> — Automatically close comments, pingbacks, trackbacks and manage revisions</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/popular-authors/" rel="ugc">Popular Authors</a> — Display popular authors in a WordPress widget</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/where-did-they-go-from-here/" rel="ugc">Followed Posts</a> — Show related posts based on what your visitors have already read</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/webberzone-link-warnings/" rel="ugc">WebberZone Link Warnings</a> — Add accessible warnings for external links and target=”_blank” links</li>
</ul>


WebberZone Code Block Highlighting

Syntax highlighting for the Gutenberg Code block — Prism.js, 21 themes, 40+ languages, plus an optional server-side highlighting mode.

Weston Ruter

Vladimir Jimenez

<p>This plugin extends the Code block in WordPress core to add syntax highlighting which is rendered on the server. Pre-existing Code blocks on a site are automatically extended to include syntax highlighting. Doing server-side syntax highlighting eliminates the need to enqueue any JavaScript on the frontend (e.g. Highlight.js or Prism.js) and this ensures there is no flash of unhighlighted code (FOUC?). Reducing script on the frontend improves frontend performance, and it also allows for the syntax highlighted code to appear properly in AMP pages as rendered by the <a href="https://amp-wp.org" rel="nofollow ugc">official AMP plugin</a> (see also <a href="https://github.com/ampproject/amp-wp/issues/972" rel="nofollow ugc">ampproject/amp-wp#972</a>) or when JavaScript is turned off in the browser.</p>
<p>This extended Code block uses language auto-detection to add syntax highlighting, but you can override the language in the block’s settings sidebar. (There is currently no syntax highlighting of the Code block in the editor, but see <a href="https://github.com/westonruter/syntax-highlighting-code-block/issues/8" rel="nofollow ugc">#8</a>.) The plugin supports all <a href="https://highlightjs.org/static/demo/" rel="nofollow ugc">programming languages</a> that <a href="https://github.com/scrivo/highlight.php" rel="nofollow ugc">highlight.php</a> supports (being a port of <a href="https://highlightjs.org/" rel="nofollow ugc">highlight.js</a>). The Code block also is extended to support specifying lines to highlight which get marked up with <code>mark</code> elements (including in RSS feeds). There is also a checkbox for whether to show line numbers on the frontend (with the numbers being non-selectable). Lastly, given inconsistencies across themes regarding whether lines in a Code block should be wrapped, this plugin adds styling to force them to no-wrap by default, with a checkbox to opt in to wrapping when desired.</p>
<p>For advanced usage, please see the <a href="https://github.com/westonruter/syntax-highlighting-code-block/wiki" rel="nofollow ugc">plugin wiki</a>.</p>
<p>This plugin is <a href="https://github.com/westonruter/syntax-highlighting-code-block" rel="nofollow ugc">developed on GitHub</a>. See <a href="https://github.com/westonruter/syntax-highlighting-code-block/issues" rel="nofollow ugc">list of current issues</a> with the plugin. Please feel free to file any additional issues or requests that you may come across. <a href="https://github.com/westonruter/syntax-highlighting-code-block/pulls" rel="nofollow ugc">Pull requests</a> are welcome. See <a href="https://github.com/westonruter/syntax-highlighting-code-block/wiki/Contributing" rel="nofollow ugc">contributing information</a>.</p>
<h4>Credits</h4>
<p>This is a fork of <a href="https://github.com/mkaz/code-syntax-block" rel="nofollow ugc">Code Syntax Block</a> by <a href="https://mkaz.blog/" rel="nofollow ugc">Marcus Kazmierczak</a> (mkaz), which is also <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/code-syntax-block/" rel="ugc">available on WordPress.org</a>. Copyright (c) 2018 Marcus Kazmierczak. Licensed under GPL 2.0 or later.</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/scrivo/highlight.php" rel="nofollow ugc">highlight.php</a> is released under the BSD 3-Clause License. Copyright © 2006-2013, Ivan Sagalaev (maniac@softwaremaniacs.org), highlight.js (original author). Copyright © 2013, Geert Bergman (geert@scrivo.nl), highlight.php</p>


Syntax-highlighting Code Block (with Server-side Rendering)

I love that this is baked into the core code block without having to resort to a third-party integration that may or may not work.

Well done on this one.

Just a heads up though, which may require more testing. The latest Gutenberg release and this plugin do not appear to play well together. I had to disable the Gutenberg plugin, which invalidated the code blocks, and I had to recover each one.

One feature request: Please add a rel attribute so I can display the language.

Thanks again,

Ronald Huereca

This Plugin is Amazing

This plugin is the best syntax highlighting plugin that I have used, thanks for all the hard work in developing it. One recommendation though...

I just stumbled upon the ability to change the color scheme in the Customizer. This is an awesome feature, but not one that is highlighted in the description of the plugin or in the screenshots. Of course it is mentioned in the Advanced Usage wiki, but I have been using the plugin for months and definitely overlooked that 😉. A brief mention in the main description and a screenshot of the different theme options would definitely help unobservant users like myself.

Thanks again!

Awesome plugin

Excelente plugin

Just found this gem of a plugin when looking for code syntax highlighting plugins. No hassle at all to get working, just install and activate and it formats and styles existing code blocks in posts.

Could not be happier with this plugin. Wlldone!

Great plugin with no setup needed

I confess, I've been a happy user of Code Syntax Block for quite a while — a plugin which the author, Weston Router, clearly states that Syntax Highlighting (Code Block) is based upon.

Alas, however, all the pages I had with the older plugin would suffer from an inevitable rendering slowdown — there is so much Javascript on web pages these days that such a slowdown is inevitable, and this is especially true to those scripts that attempt to recognise the language automatically — something that will consume plenty of CPU cycles on the browser. Parsing the language is also no mean feature by itself (I know, I've been doing some experiments for some code editors, and, believe me, it's tough!).

So why force the end-user to bear the burden of all that work? It makes much more sense to pre-render everything on the server, and then let the web server send the already-parsed HTML from its cache. That way, the end-user will already have everything on their browser, no need to wait for parsing!

Also, if you 'forget' to set the language that your code is in (it happens...), the auto-detecting feature will only run on the server, and just once, when you save the post you're writing. Even if it takes a fraction of a second more to save, think of how much time all those users will save when they get the already-rendered page!

So, this plugin is definitely recommended. As a bonus: if you are already using some sort of code block on your WP setup, once you turn off whatever plugin you were using, Syntax Highlighting (Code Block) will immediately pick it up and start its magic (you might need to open and save all the pages you've got code on, though — I'm not quite sure if that's really the case). That means zero effort (beyond saving) — what you already had will continue to work. And, naturally enough, when you disable this plugin, your code block will just revert to the internal WP code block instead — nothing will be 'lost' that way!

If you're still hesitant and reading this to the end... while you wasted your time here, think of how many of your users would have saved their time if you already had this plugin installed :)

It's time to switch to get more performance!

Nice plugin, thank you !

This works nicely.


missed just a download and/or copy button.



also for theme, maybe is best to update "usage instruction"! only after some search I understood can be changed via customized menu.



anyway, looks so good.



ty.


Very good job!


no one wants to conduct a real study to see how many of use hate the code block.


code block is not 100% of wp users bro

Extending the Code block with syntax highlighting rendered on the server, thus being AMP-compatible and having faster frontend performance.

WebberZone Code Block Highlighting vs Syntax-highlighting Code Block (with Server-side Rendering)