Going back further, the free version of Tag Groups has been my first WordPress plugin. It went a long way from a quick patch on one of my websites to a complex data management tool. As it grew, I did as well: from a coder with no experience in front end development to an auto entrepreneur. This path entailed the need to do such diverse things as marketing, customer support and accountancy.

It has not been a light decision to give this very personal project into new hands. I moved to a new country and I felt it was time to benefit from comfort and security, and to meet people offline.

I am glad that Tag Groups has found a good home at PublishPress who has a genuine interest to foster and develop my work. I know their products from one of my former projects and I was always impressed by their work.

What this means for you

On a more practical note, this switch will not change anything for current customers. PublishPress will take my place at Freemius and at the WordPress.org repository. I apologize if there are some glitches during the transition period – we try to make it as smooth as possible.

I remember many inspiring meetings with customers and users, who made this project worthwhile. A big Thank You to all of you, it’s been a great time!

In the comings months and years I will continue developing Redirect URL to Post, but obviously only as a free time project.

Filter Tag Clouds

The Tag Cloud Search is a widget that – inserted into a post or page – lets your visitors filter the tags in our static tag clouds((namely: Tabbed, Accordion, Alphabetical, Table Tag Cloud and Simple Tag Cloud)). It comes with the “Premium” plan.

This release comes with two new features:

1. The Tag Cloud Search has a new option to show also tags that have matching text in their descriptions. Previously we were filtering only by tag name.
2. The Tabbed Tag Cloud, the Alphabetical Tag Cloud and the Accordion Tag Cloud automatically open the tab or panel that contains the first matching tag.

Try it out

Below is a demo. Try searching for “content” – you will find the “WordPress” tag because it has “Content Management System” in its description.

If you need to filter your tags by groups, you may want to check out the Shuffle Box.

Please note that – with or without the Tag Cloud Search – none of these tag clouds dynamically loads tags from the server. The filtering affects only tags that were initially loaded.

What it does

The goal is to turn off WiFi when I put my Mac to sleep so that it won’t connect and do anything online while it is supposed to be inactive. I also added another script that turns on WiFi again after waking up my Mac. That works in most cases, but sometimes I have to re-enable it manually.

Preconditions

You will need a code editor (that saves files without formatting, a light-weight one is, for example, Atom), Homebrew and some experience with a terminal.

Instructions

1. In the terminal, install sleepwatcher with homebrew:

brew install sleepwatcher

Note: After installation you will see the installation path among the messages, something like /opt/homebrew/opt/sleepwatcher/sbin/sleepwatcher .... Write it down if it looks different.

2. With your editor, save the following lines as /Library/Scripts/sleepscript.sh

#!/bin/sh

networksetup -setairportpower Wi-Fi off

3. With your editor, save the following lines as /Library/Scripts/wakescript.sh

#!/bin/sh

networksetup -setairportpower Wi-Fi on

4. In the terminal, make both scripts executable:

chmod +x /Library/Scripts/scripts/sleepscript.sh
chmod +x /Library/Scripts/scripts/wakescript.sh

5. Open the Automator app.

6. Open the menu File > New, choose Application.

7. Add a Run Shell Script action from the list. In the box that appears on the right, choose as Shell /bin/bash.

8. Paste into the text field inside the box

/opt/homebrew/opt/sleepwatcher/sbin/sleepwatcher --sleep /Library/scripts/sleepscript.sh --wake /Library/scripts/wakescript.sh

and save (cmd-s) the application in the /Applications folder as Sleep watcher.app. The path /opt/homebrew/opt/sleepwatcher may be different on your Mac – see the note above.

9. Launch the Sleep watcher app for testing. You might have to give the requested permissions in the Privacy tab of your System Preferences. When you now put your Mac to sleep and wake it up again, you should see the WiFi reconnecting (it takes some seconds).

10. Open the System Preferences, go to Users, select your account and add the Sleep watcher app to your Login Items.

How to apply the Black Friday & Cyber Monday coupon?

Simply continue to the Freemius checkout page and enter the promotional code FSBFCM2021 (if it’s not already pre-filled).

If you’re already using the free plan of the Tag Groups plugin, follow the upgrade link in the Tag Groups settings. Then enter the code on the Freemius checkout page.

If you want to start with a free trial, continue here and don’t forget to enter the same promotional code FSBFCM2021!

author__in, author__not_in, category__and, category__in, category__not_in, post__in, post__not_in, post_name__in, post_parent, post_parent__in, post_parent__not_in, tag__and, tag__in, tag__not_in, tag_slug__and, tag_slug__in

You will find them useful to narrow down the group of posts that should serve as basic set that we should pick the final destination from. Where ever you need to submit an array (see link below), you write the values as comma-separated list: tag__in=12,13,43

The parameter post_type is not new but now it understands also multiple post types, which you submit as comma-separated values: post_type=post,product.

Since these parameters work through the basic WordPress API, you find more information in the WordPress documentation.

Parent groups are only available with the Premium plan. If you are using the Free or the Tag Cloud Plus plan, you can upgrade from the Tag Groups settings.

What are Parent Groups?

Parent groups work like an optional second layer. They can hold only tag groups, but no tags. That means that we can have only two levels – parent groups and their child groups.

Tag Group Admin Page

On the Tag Group Administration you find a new text field where you can add a parent group. All default groups that are below a parent group are its children.

Just like default groups, you change the order of parent groups by drag and drop or by clicking on the up or down arrow at the end of the row. You can also edit the name or delete a parent group.

Tag groups will continue to work also with only one level. Feel free to work entirely without parent groups if you don’t actually need them.

Note: If you are using parent groups, all groups can have duplicate names. It is still recommended to avoid duplicates, however, because at some places you might confuse groups with identical names.

Tag and Post Filters

You will also find your parent groups in the drop-down menus above the lists of tags and posts. If you select a parent group, all of its children will automatically be included for the filter.

Note: Styling of parent groups in menus depends on browser capabilities.

Tag Clouds and Lists

Parent groups are not visible on your public web site((With the exception of post tags, see the next chapter.)) but they make your work easier on the back end. You can, for example, include or exclude all children by using their parent group. If you use shortcodes, you simply insert the parent group’s ID, exactly how you would use the list of group IDs.

Post Tags (under Posts)

In the Tag Group settings, under Front End > Post Tags, you will find a new option that lets you show also parent groups in the tags below the post content. Parent groups, default groups and tags are displayed in a table. The precise appearance depends on how your theme displays tables.

Tag Meta Box (on the Post Edit Screen)

Also the Tag Meta Box on the post edit screen shows your groups sorted under parent groups. This upper level acts only as a visual guidance that helps you organize your groups but it doesn’t change the way how you handle tags.

Further Information

• Tag Groups main page
• Tag Groups (premium) change log
• Tag Groups (free) change log
• How to update Tag Groups (premium)

Additionally to the existing placeholders {count} (for the post count) and {description} (for the tag description) you can now use {name} to display the tag name. Example:

custom_title="Click on {name} and see {count} posts."

Now you may wonder how to write this text so that it also matches cases where {count} will be replaced with “1”. Previously you had to use a workaround like “We have {count} post(s)”, mixing singular and plural. Starting from this release, however, you can have three different versions: for a post count of zero (if your tag cloud shows “empty” tags), a post count of 1 (for singular) and a post count greater than 1 (for plural):

custom_title="Click on {name} and see 1 post." custom_title_zero="Sorry, no posts use {name}." custom_title_plural="Click on {name} and see {count} posts."

You may have noticed that the default parameter custom_title holds now the text for the singular version.

Further Information

• Tag Groups main page
• Tag Groups (premium) change log
• Tag Groups (free) change log
• How to update Tag Groups (premium)

Synchronize groups across translations of tags

On multilingual sites that use the WPML plugin you find a new option to synchronize the groups of tags across all translations. This feature runs only when you save a tag.

If you turn off this option in the Back End settings, you can set the groups independently for each language version of a tag.

Starting from this version, we also copy over the assigned groups when you create a translation of a tag by clicking on the “edit” link in WPML’s “Language” box on the tag edit screen.

This feature is available for all plans.

Improved timeout for the Toggle Post Filter

We try to avoid search requests each time a visitor toggles a button or types a letter in the text field because the search should be launched only when the visitor is done selecting tags and typing text. We achieve this through a timeout of inactivity before the request is sent to the server.

This timeout plays an important role in reducing database load. We avoid to run redundant queries because when they are done the visitor has already made further changes in the menu and we need a new query.

This timeout is by default 1000ms (= 1 second) and starting from version 1.40.1 we dynamically increase it (plus up to 2 seconds) when we notice that a visitor needs more time selecting menu options. We reset this increased timeout when the posts load.

Since version 1.40.1 you can also set your own timeout to find a good balance between user experience (with a responsive search) and database load. Factors to be considered are the habits and needs of your typical visitors, the number of people who search simultaneously, the size of your database (posts and tags) and the power of your database engine.

Feel free to test it on the Toggle Post Filter demos.

Further Information

• Tag Groups main page
• Tag Groups (premium) change log
• Tag Groups (free) change log
• How to update Tag Groups (premium)

Until now only some selected tracking parameters were allowed. These parameters help you track redirects in web statistics.

Now, if you need any custom parameters, you can whitelist them in the wp-config.php file. Simply define a constant with a comma-separated list of your URL parameter keys. If it is only one key, you naturally don’t use any commas.

Example

Add into wp-config.php:

define( 'CHATTY_MANGO_RUTP_PASS_THROUGH', 'go,do' );

This would pass through any parameters like …&go=there&do=that.

Background

In case you are wondering why we’re not saving ourselves the trouble of whitelisting URL parameters in the first place: It’s for the extra peace of mind. Remember that anyone can modify the URL and then run it on your site. A reserved parameter could trigger something on the post or page where the redirect ends. And all that would be cloaked by a redirect.

While I’m not aware of any actual case where this could happen, I prefer to be a bit more restrictive rather than having to deal with the damage if someone discovers a loophole. The site owner should always be in control.

Photo by Christoph Amthor