By Till Krüss

June 10, 2019

Humans TXT Plugin

Credit the people behind your website in your humans.txt file. Easy to edit, directly within WordPress.

Credit the people behind your website in your humans.txt file. Easy to edit, directly within WordPress.

Use variables like a last-updated date, active plugins and many others…
Use the [humanstxt] shortcode to display your humans.txt on your site
Add an author link tag to your site’s <head> tag
Allow non-admins to edit the humans.txt
Customize everything with custom filters, actions and pluggable functions
Restore previously saved revisions of your humans.txt

More information on the Humans TXT can be found on the official Humans TXT website.

Variables

$wp-title$ – Name (title) of site/blog
$wp-tagline$ – Tagline (description) of site/blog
$wp-posts$ – Number of published posts
$wp-pages$ – Number of published pages
$wp-lastupdate$ – Date of last modified post or page
$wp-authors$ – Active authors and their contact details
$wp-language$ – WordPress language(s)
$wp-plugins$ – Activated WordPress plugins
$wp-charset$ – Encoding used for pages and feeds
$wp-version$ – Installed WordPress version
$php-version$ – Running PHP parser version
$wp-theme$ – Summary of the active WordPress theme
$wp-theme-name$ – Name of the active theme
$wp-theme-version$ – Version number of the active theme
$wp-theme-author$ – Author name of the active theme
$wp-theme-author-link$ – Author link of the active theme

Shortcode Usage

The default shortcode [humanstxt] will display the contents of the virtual humans.txt file. URLs, email addresses and Twitter account names are converted into clickable links. Plain email addresses are encoded for spam protection. The output will be wrapped with a <p> tag and can be styled via the humanstxt CSS class.

You can turn off the “clickable links” functionality: [humanstxt clickable="0"]

You can also toggle the clickable links individually: [humanstxt urls="1" emails="0" twitter="1"]

To display the humans.txt as preformatted text, use the pre attribute: <pre>[humanstxt pre="1"]</pre>

To display the untouched humans.txt, use the plain attribute: [humanstxt plain="1"]

You can omit the wrapping with the <p> tag: [humanstxt wrap="0"]

You can set a CSS id for the wrapping <p> tag: [humanstxt id="my-humans-txt"]

You can turn off the encoding of email addresses and common text entities: [humanstxt filter="0"]

Useful Functions

humanstxt()
Echos the content of the virtual humans.txt file. Use get_humanstxt() to get the contents as a string.

is_humans()
Determines if the current request is for the virtual humans.txt file.

Pluggable Functions

All callback functions of the default variables can be overridden. The callback functions are located in humanstxt/callbacks.php.

Plugin Constants

HUMANSTXT_METABOX
Define as false to disable the “rate this plugin” box on the options page.

Plugin Actions and Filters

Actions

do_humans
Runs when the current request is for the humans.txt file, right after the template_redirect action.

do_humanstxt
Runs right before the humans.txt is printed to the screen.

Filters

humans_txt
Applied to the final content of the virtual humans.txt file.

humans_authortag
Applied to the author link tag.

humanstxt_content
Applied to the humans.txt content. Applied prior to the humans_txt filter.

humanstxt_variables
Applied to the array of content-variables. See humanstxt_variables() for details.

humanstxt_max_revisions
Applied to the maximum number of stored revisions. If set to 0, revisions will be disabled. Default is 50.

humanstxt_shortcode_output
Applied to the final [humanstxt] shortcode output.

humanstxt_shortcode_content
Applied to the un-wrapped shortcode output.

humanstxt_shortcode_headline_replacement
Applied to replacement string for matched standard headlines: /* Title */. See humanstxt_shortcode() for details.

humanstxt_shortcode_twitter_replacement
Applied to replacement string for matched twitter account names. See humanstxt_shortcode() for details.

humanstxt_separator
Applied to the global text separator. Default is a comma followed by a space.

humanstxt_plugins_separator
Use to override the global text separator (see humanstxt_separator filter) for the list of active WordPress plugins.

humanstxt_languages_separator
Use to override the global text separator (see humanstxt_separator filter), for the current WordPress language(s).

humanstxt_postcount
Applied to the number of published posts: $wp-posts$ .

humanstxt_pagecount
Applied to the number of published pages: $wp-pages$ .

humanstxt_wptheme
Applied to the summary of the active WordPress theme: $wp-theme$ .

humanstxt_plugins
Applied to the list of active WordPress plugins: $wp-plugins$ .

humanstxt_languages
Applied to current WordPress language(s): $wp-language$ .

humanstxt_lastupdate
Applied to returned date of the $wp-lastupdate$ variable.

humanstxt_lastupdate_format
Applied to the used date-format of the $wp-lastupdate$ variable. Default is Y/m/d. Read more about date and time formatting.

humanstxt_authors
Applied to the list of active authors: $wp-authors$ .

humanstxt_authors_format
Applied to the format used for the author list $wp-authors$ variable. Please see humanstxt_callback_wpauthors() in humanstxt/callbacks.php for details.

Installation

For detailed installation instructions, please read the standard installation procedure for WordPress plugins.

Upload the /humanstxt/ directory and its contents to /wp-content/plugins/.
Login to your WordPress installation and activate the plugin through the Plugins menu.
Activate the plugin and edit your humans.txt file in the Settings menu under Humans TXT.

Please note: This plugin does not modify or create a physical humans.txt file on your server, it serves it dynamically. If your site root contains a physical humans.txt file, this file will be shown to the visitor and the one from this plugin will be ignored. To use this plugin, please delete your physical humans.txt (but don’t forget to migrate/backup it’s contents).

Screenshots

Plugin options page.
Plugin revisions page.
Shortcode result using pre attribute. (Theme: Twenty Eleven)
Default shortcode result. (Theme: Twenty Eleven)

FAQ

Error: The site root already contains a physical humans.txt file.

If your site root contains a physical humans.txt file, this physical file will be shown to the visitor and the one from this plugin will be ignored. To use this plugin, please delete the physical humans.txt file on your server (but don’t forget to migrate/backup it’s contents).

Error: Please update your permalink structure to something other than the default.

The plugin will only work, if WordPress is using “Pretty Permalinks”. You can activate them in WordPress in the Settings menu under Permalinks. Read more about using permalinks.

Error: The content has been imported, but the original file could not be renamed.

The content of the physical humans.txt file on your server has been imported, however the original file could not be renamed/moved. To use this plugin, please delete the physical humans.txt file on your server (but don’t forget to migrate/backup it’s contents).

Error: Import failed.

The physical humans.txt file on your server could not be imported and renamed. To use this plugin, please delete the physical humans.txt file on your server (but don’t forget to migrate/backup it’s contents).

Why isn’t the humans.txt file on my server modified?

This plugin does not modify or create a physical humans.txt file on your server, it serves it dynamically. If your site root contains a physical humans.txt file, this file will be shown to the visitor and the one from this plugin will be ignored. To use this plugin, please delete the physical humans.txt file on your server (but don’t forget to migrate/backup it’s contents).

Where is the humans.txt file located?

Theoretically in the root of your site, however this plugin doesn’t create a physical humans.txt file on your server, it serves it on the fly.

Changelog

1.3.1

Fix deprecated warning

1.3.0

Fix deprecated warning

1.2.9

Removed bundled translations (use translate.wordpress.org)

1.2.8

Removed “suggest variable” button
Use <h1> for admin UI headlines

1.2.7

Fixed issue that caused translated variables not to work
Updated Turkish and Persian translation
Removed MP6 related styles

1.2.6

WordPress 3.8 compatibility adjustments

1.2.5

Added MP6 compatibility

1.2.4

Fixed deprecated function calls

1.2.3

Removed limitation to only work on non-sub-directory installations
Added Chinese translation

1.2.2

WordPress 3.5 compatibility adjustments
Added Swedish translation

1.2.1

WordPress 3.4 compatibility adjustments
Updated Spanish, Persian, Danish translation
Added Portuguese translation

1.2

Added preview button for humans.txt editor
Added simple import functionality if a physical humans.txt file exists
Added Croatian translation
Variables are now grouped into “WordPress”, “Server” and “Themes & Plugins”
Revision can now be compared to each other
Improved contextual help menu
Several options page improvements
Several internal minor code improvements

1.1.3

Prevented PHP notice during plugin activation
Prevented browser caching issue with CSS/JavaScript file
Renamed humanstxt_shortcode() to _humanstxt_shortcode() to prevent plugin conflicts

1.1.2

Added Romanian translation
Removed all PHP shorthand tags to increase system compatibility

1.1.1

Added Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Persian and Spanish translations
Made admin interface compatible with right-to-left (RTL) languages

1.1

Added revisions functionality for the humans.txt
Added translation for several languages
Added variable for active authors and their contact details
Plugin is now compatible with WordPress 3.0 and higher
Replacing the translated and the english variable name in the humans.txt
Moved variable callback functions into callbacks.php
Removed Subscriber from the roles list
HUMANSTXT_IS_ROOTINSTALL constant overrides the result of humanstxt_is_rootinstall()
HUMANSTXT_METABOX constant can be used to hide the plugin rating box
humanstxt_shortcode() is now pluggable (primarily to prevent plugin conflicts)
Several other code and interface improvements…

1.0.5

Added new variables for the site/blog title, description and encoding
Added option to allow non-admins to edit the humans.txt file
Added shortcode usage to options page
Improved variable preview tooltip and options page styling
Improved loading of plugin options
Improved editor auto-grow in Internet Explorer

1.0.4

Added [humanstxt] shortcode with several attributes
Added new variables for the number of published posts and pages
Minor changes to admin interface text, layout and scripts
Added few shortcut functions like: humanstxt() and humanstxt_authortag()
Added filter for result of $wp-language$ variable callback function

1.0.3

Adjusted admin UI metabox styling for WP 3.2
Improved warning messages and notices

1.0.2

Improved text editor functionality
$wp-language$ supports now WPML/SitePress, qTranslate and xili-language
Fixed unwanted injection of author tag

1.0.1

Added warning message if WordPress version is older than 3.1
Prevented potential issue with $wp-theme-author$ variable
Prevented potential issue with preview of variable-callback result
Improved textarea auto-grow functionality
Improved Internet Explorer 6+7 support
Added filter for humanstxt_content() result
Revised plugin warning messages

1.0

Initial release