Restore WordPress functions that have been removed from recent updates.
| Author: | David Artiss (profile at wordpress.org) |
| WordPress version required: | 4.6 |
| WordPress version tested: | 5.2.2 |
| Plugin version: | 3.1.1 |
| Added to WordPress repository: | 21-12-2015 |
| Last updated: | 27-08-2019
Warning! This plugin has not been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.
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| Rating, %: | 100 |
| Rated by: | 1 |
| Plugin URI: | https://github.com/dartiss/restore-lost-funct... |
| Total downloads: | 6 141 |
| Active installs: | 500+ |
 Click to start download |
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This plugin allows you to add or remove features to restore previous WordPress functionality. Where this function change requires more than a few lines of code, and an existing plugin exists to do this, a link will be provided so that this plugin can be installed instead and it’s installation status will be shown on this screen.
Features are often removed simply due to streamlining the UI but sometimes there can be a more serious reason for the change. Please ensure you read all the details in this README before proceeding.
The following features are available for adding/removing…
- Restore the OpenSans font in Admin (changed in WordPress 4.6)
- Change the behavior of automatic updates (adds in WordPress 3.7)
- Move comment text field to the bottom (removed in WordPress 4.4)
- Disable DNS prefetching (added in WordPress 4.6)
- Disable enhanced embeds (added in WordPress 4.4)
- Re-enable Get Shortlink button (removed in WordPress 4.4)
- Re-add advanced image properties (removed in WordPress 3.9)
- Restore the old image quality (changed in WordPress 4.5)
- Switch off inline links (introduced in WordPress 4.5)
- Add Links Manager to the administration menu (removed in WordPress 3.5)
- Once Links Manager is back you can also add the “Link This” bookmarketlet (removed in WordPress 2.5)
- Option to display Shortlink in admin toolbar (removed in WordPress 3.3)
- Switch back to a single column dashboard (changed in WordPress 3.8)
- Remove SRCSET parameter from images (added in WordPress 4.4)
- Add the ability to specify a title for links (removed in WordPress 4.2)
- Restore the TinyMCE editor buttons to how they were (changed in WordPress 4.7)
- Bring back the “classic” editor (to be removed in WordPress 5.0)
- Press This returns! It was removed in WordPress 4.9
- Add an Advanced Settings menu for Jetpack – lists all the modules!
Technical specification…
- Licensed under GPLv2 (or later)
- Designed for both single and multi-site installations
- PHP7 compatible
- Passes WordPress.com VIP coding standards and fully compatible with their platform
- Fully internationalized, ready for translations. If you would like to add a translation to this plugin then please head to our [Translating WordPress](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/[plugin folder] “Translating WordPress”) page
- Gutenberg ready
Once the plugin is installed head to Settings => Restore Functionality menu in the administration screen and switch on the functionality that you require. Only the functions available for your version of WordPress will be displayed. Further information is available via the Help tab at the top of the screen.
Please visit the Github page for the latest code development, planned enhancements and known issues.
Admin Fonts
System fonts have been used in Admin since WordPress 4.6. These replaced OpenSans for performance reasons.
To switch back to the OpenSans fonts you will need to install the OpenSans FTW plugin, written by George J. An installation link to this plugin can be found in the Restore Lost Functionality options screen.
Advanced Settings for Jetpack
Some time ago Jetpack lost the ability to list all of the available modules, allowing you to turn them on and off individually.
This option, when activated, will add a new sub-menu to Jetpack named ‘Advanced’, where you can, once again, see and control the complete list of modules. The code to do this was written by Jeremy Herve.
Automatic Updates
Since WordPress 3.7, minor updates have updated automatically. This is to ensure critical bugs and security updates are pushed out as quickly as possible. Major updates, though, require a manual initiation.
A plugin by the name of Update Control, written by George Stephanis and Chip Bennett, allows you to control the behavior of automatic updates. You can switch off automatic updates but, equally, switch them on for major updates as well. An installation link to this plugin can be found in the Restore Lost Functionality options screen.
Classic Editor
WordPress 5.0 is due to replace the editor with Gutenberg. For those who want to return it to how it is, the “Classic Editor” plugin will do just this.
Comment Text Field
In WordPress 4.4 the comment text field was moved to after the other comment fields (name, etc). This was because, when users clicked on the reply button, they were taken to the comment text area. If a user was on mobile, they may not even see the comment name and email fields and may write and submit a comment only to return back with an error. Therefore this change addressed usability and accessibility issues.
By activating this option within this plugin, the comment text field will be moved to the bottom of the comment section again.
DNS Prefetch
Since WordPress 4.6, DNS prefetching code has been added to the site’s header. By default a WordPress site will be added, which is for emojis. Others will be added, depending on your theme or plugin requirements (for example, a Google fonts URL will often be added if your theme uses them).
Why is this there? Some browsers will use this to perform DNS lookups in advance, improving perceived latency issues later.
If, however, you’d like to switch this off then you can via from this plugin’s settings screen.
Enhanced Embeds
In WordPress 4.4 the ability to embed other WordPress site’s posts was added. However, this is a two-way process so as long as you have this active to allow your site to accept embeds, others can embed your site as well. You can read more about this on Make WordPress Core.
To switch off this functionality you need to install the Disable Embeds plugin, written by Pascal Birchler. An installation link to this plugin can be found in the Restore Lost Functionality options screen.
Get Shortlink Button
The Get Shortlink button, available in the post editor, was removed in WordPress 4.4 in an effort to clean the interface. Activating this option within this plugin will cause it to re-appear.
Image Properties
In WordPress 3.9 the ability to easily add a border, vertical, and horizontal padding to images was removed. This was done to simply clean the UI as these changes can be easily made via CSS.
To re-add these properties you must install the Advanced Image Styles plugin, written by Gregory Cornelius. An installation link to this plugin can be found in the Restore Lost Functionality options screen.
Image Quality
In WordPress 4.5 the image quality was reduced from 90 to 82.
You can read the proposal to fully understand the research and decision. If, however, you’d like the old quality back, activate this option to restore it back to 90!
Inline Links
Inline links were introduced in WordPress 4.5 but many people haven’t approved of them.
Activate the plugin Advanced WPLink, written by Nico Martin, to give you a number of enhancements, including the option to disable the inline linking. An installation link to this plugin can be found in the Restore Lost Functionality options screen.
Link Manager
Removed in WordPress 3.5, the Link Manager (which some use to build blogrolls) is disabled by default. It was removed because it was hardly used and not felt necessary to be part of the standard WordPress installation.
Activating this option with this plugin will cause the Links administration menu option to appear.
Link This Bookmarklet
Removed in WordPress 2.5 this bookmarklet, once saved to your browser favorites, will make it easy to add any site you’re visiting to your Link Manager.
Press This
Press This, available as Tool, allowed you to easily import the content from another web page to your own site, usually in the form of a post. In WordPress 4.9, this functionality was removed and moved to a plugin. Activating this option will restore the Press This capability – simply head to Tools -> Available Tools for all the details, once activated.
Restore Editor
WordPress 4.7 removed the underline and justify buttons and re-arranged other buttons. This option will put everything back to how it was!
Shortlink in Admin Toolbar
When viewing posts with the admin toolbar switched on, there was an option to get a shortlink. This was removed in version 3.3 because it was felt it was no longer required.
Activating this option with this plugin will cause the shortlink option to be displayed in the admin. toolbar when viewing posts.
Single Column Dashboard
In WordPress 3.8 the old single column dashboard was changed to multiple columns. Want the old single column back? Activate this to switch it back.
SRCSET Attribute
This parameter was added in WordPress 4.4 to improve responsive image output. However, it’s known to cause issues with some plugins and themes (particularly when images are served via a CDN).
Activating this option with this plugin will mean that the SRCSET parameter will no longer be added to images, although this may have a detrimental effect on responsive image output.
Title for Links
Removed in version 4.2, WordPress actively discourages the use of title attributes in links as they are largely useless outside of providing the “hover tooltip” many visual users enjoy, and more importantly, they don’t promote good accessibility. You can read more about the accessibility issues that it causes here.
To re-add the link title option you must install the Restore Link Title Field plugin, written by Samuel Wood (Otto) and Sergey Biryukov. An installation link to this plugin can be found in the Restore Lost Functionality options screen.