No Nonsense

Description

For professional developers working with WordPress, the first steps in any new build frequently involve deleting default content and turning off built-in settings. This plugin encapsulates many of those tasks on a single, clean configuration screen.

Screenshots

FAQ

I installed and activated the plugin, now what?

After installing the plugin, navigate to Settings > No Nonsense to choose which built-in WordPress features you want to turn off. Be sure to click Save Changes when you’re done.

Reviews

Easy to use and the developer is quick to respond

Erik Joling August 27, 2022

This plugin offers settings to remove WordPress core functionality. The interface is nicely setup and the information around each setting is clear. Furthermore the plugin allows developers to extend or change the settings. And last but not least, the developer responds fast and friendly.

Awesome and useful plugin

Alex Lion (阿力獅) December 25, 2021

This plugin has many options that are useful to disable built-in features, they are so useful for advanced admins.

It doesn’t save my options at all…

xtremelora December 20, 2021 1 reply

It doesn’t work on my installation at all, I hit the Save button and when I refresh the page nothing is saved nether applied… It may be because W3Cache but purgin everything doesn’t work too…

Gro?artig, vielen Dank.

dirkliesenfeld December 19, 2021

Was für ein gro?artiges plugin. M?ge es über die n?chsten Jahre immer mehr Funktionen mit einschlie?en. Macht die WordPress Seite einfach viel schlanker und flinker.

Simple and useful

aztopdavid December 18, 2021

After reading the article/review in WP Tavern, I installed No Nonsense on three sites, turning off several things I find annoying in WP (especially the Widgets Block Editor) and it’s working very well. Thanks!

Great little plugin

Patrick Boehner December 18, 2021

Does exactly what it says without an fuss or confusion. Very simple and easy to use. I found myself turning on all the options as they are modifications I like.

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

3.5.0 – 2024.10.03

• Added new Plugins tab. Future updates will conditionally include settings for some popular plugins, which will display only if the relevant plugin is installed and active. Note: If no plugins are installed for which settings exist, the Plugins tab itself will not appear. Some plugin-specific options may also be incorporated into existing settings where relevant, e.g. under Remove Dashboard widgets.
• Removed unnecessary load_plugin_textdomain() call, and set $translate input parameter to false on get_plugin_data() call, as it may cause PHP notices as of WordPress 6.7. See the WordPress Trac for more details.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with new translation strings.

3.4.0 – 2024.08.22

• Added Disable author archives setting. Based partially on the Disable Author Archives plugin by @freemp.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with new translation strings.

3.3.3 – 2024.08.16

• Moved logic to kill any incoming XML-RPC request out of the r34nono_xmlrpc_disabled() function and into a conditional that runs directly in the no-nonsense.php file when the plugin is loading. The previous approach did not kill the request early enough, and would still return a WordPress XML-RPC status message with an HTTP 405 status. The new approach correctly returns a blank page with a 403 status.

3.3.2.2 – 2024.07.25

• Changed priorities for actions that call r34nono_admin_bar_logout_link_admin_bar_menu_callback() and r34nono_remove_howdy() to PHP_INT_MAX - 100, to account for changes introduced in WP core version 6.6.1. In wp-includes/class-wp-admin-bar.php, priorities for three actions in the WP_Admin_Bar::add_menus() method were changed from 4, 7, and 8 to 9991, 9992, and 9999. See Trac tickets #61615 and #61738 for discussion of this change, and the issues it introduces. At this point it is possible the core team may revert the change, but our modified priority should continue to work either way.
• Added conditional in r34nono_remove_howdy() to prevent possible PHP warnings if $wp_admin_bar node my-account is undefined when the function runs. (In practice this should be resolved by the aforementioned priority change.)
• Bumped Tested up to to 6.6.1

3.3.2.1 – 2024.06.04

• Added declaration of R34NoNo::settings property to prevent deprecation notices.

3.3.2 – 2024.04.23

• New logic for handling the current plugin version number.
• Bumped ‘tested up to’ to 6.5.2′

3.3.1 – 2023.11.20

• Added WHERE clause to SQL queries in Disable all comments and trackbacks, to only alter records where the status equals open.

3.3.0 – 2023.11.08

• Added new Disable all comments and trackbacks utility.
• Added version number to script enqueuing to fix issue of some JavaScript not functioning properly immediately after a plugin update, due to browser caching.
• Minified JavaScript and CSS files.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with new translation strings.
• Bumped Tested up to to 6.4. (This was an earlier hotfix.)

3.2.2 – 2023.04.21

• Replaced instances of filter_var() using the FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING (deprecated in PHP 8.1) with a new custom r34nono_sanitize_string() function, which runs both strip_tags() and htmlspecialchars() on the input string.
• Bumped Tested up to to 6.2. (This was an earlier hotfix.)

3.2.1.2 – 2022.12.29

• Added conditional to r34nono_admin_colors_css_variables() to prevent PHP notice, and added default values for the CSS variables, if user’s admin color palette can’t be loaded.

3.2.1.1 – 2022.12.21

• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with new translation strings.

3.2.1 – 2022.12.21

• Changed the way anchor links are constructed for secondary tab bar on admin page to resolve issues with translations in anchor links’ id attributes. Anchors for secondary tab items now are numbered, rather than using “sanitized” group label. This is because sanitize_title() is unsuitable in HTML attributes for Chinese characters.
• Modified JSON export to prevent export if there are unsaved changes to settings.
• Further improvements to JavaScript for tabs on initial page load.

3.2.0 – 2022.12.20

• Added Import/Export feature, using a JSON format. Useful if you are setting up multiple sites that all use the same settings, or if you prefer a quick code-based way to adjust your settings. Uses multiple layers of validation and sanitization to prevent abuse or accidental entry of invalid settings data.
• Improved JavaScript for tabs on initial page load.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with new translation strings.

3.1.0 – 2022.12.20

• Modified new interface tab underlines and toggle buttons to use the selected admin color palette, rather than No Nonsense brand colors.
• Added color functions to generate CSS variables for colors in the admin color palette, for use on the admin page and in the admin bar logout link. (These CSS variables are only loaded on the No Nonsense admin page, unless the admin bar logout link is turned on, in which case they are loaded on all admin pages. They are not loaded on any front-end pages, because WordPress does not apply admin colors to the admin bar on the front end.)

3.0.0 – 2022.12.17

• Redesigned admin user interface with tabbed layout and visual toggle buttons.

2.7.0 – 2022.12.06

• Added Prevent block directory access setting. This prevents the directory of installable blocks from appearing when a user searches for blocks in the block editor sidebar.
• Bumped Tested up to to 6.1.1.

2.6.1 – 2022.11.16

• Restored Delete inactive themes utility, with a new restriction that prevents it from running on Multisite installations.
• Removed some commented-out options for deprecated WordPress features.
• Removed deprecated r34nono_define_functions_array filter. (This filter never should have been used by any third-party developers, as it was renamed to r34nono_define_settings_array almost immediately.)
• Updated help box for Remove default tagline utility to indicate that the default tagline was removed from WordPress core in version 6.1. This utility has no effect unless the old default tagline is still in place on any given site.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with updated translation strings.

2.6.0 – 2022.11.11

• Added Redirect attachment pages to file URL setting.

2.5.4 – 2022.11.06

• Temporarily removed Delete inactive themes utility, pending further testing with Multisite installations.
• Added warning text in Utilities section for utilities that make permanent, irreversible changes.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with updated translation strings.

2.5.3 – 2022.11.05

• Added warning to Delete sample content utility, indicating that the sample content is deleted solely based on IDs; if they have been edited and are in use, they will still be deleted. (This can be especially of concern for developers who have the habit of repurposing the Sample Page as the site’s home page.)
• Added .warning CSS class to admin settings page to call attention to help hover boxes that contain important warnings (such as Delete sample content as described above.)
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with updated translation strings.
• Bumped Tested up to to 6.1.

2.5.2 – 2022.09.01

This is a usability/refactoring update. There are no functional changes to the capabilities of the plugin.

• Additional refactoring of no-nonsense.php. Split r34nono_install() function into separate r34nono_install() and r34nono_update() functions so only the relevant logic runs on initial activation vs. subsequent updates. (For example, this prevents the new introductory admin notice from displaying every time the plugin is updated.)
• Changed conditional for running update function to use version_compare(), rather than just checking for an unequal value.
• Reversed logic for version-specific conditional updates to check against old version, rather than new version. (This should clarify when the logic needs to run and eliminate some unnecessary processing.)
• Renamed r34nono_install_admin_notices() function to r34nono_deferred_admin_notices() for clarity of purpose. (Note: The old function name has not been retained as a deprecated function.)

2.5.1.1 – 2022.08.31

• Removed flush_rewrite_rules() from r34nono_install() to resolve fatal error on upgrade when running WordPress 4.9.

2.5.1 – 2022.08.27

This is a usability/refactoring update. There are no functional changes to the capabilities of the plugin.

• Added admin notice upon activation to help steer new users to the Settings page.
• Added Settings link on Plugins page.
• Refactored plugin initialization code in no-nonsense.php.
• Redesigned sidebar of admin page.
• Added No Nonsense icon file.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot with updated translation strings.

2.5.0 – 2022.08.15

• Added “Remove global styles (inline CSS)” setting. This dequeues the global-styles CSS that inserts color- and font-related inline CSS into the HTML head of every page.

2.4.1 – 2022.07.26

• Updated “Disable site search” option to support Block Editor (unregisters core search block).
• Fixed: Changed priority on after_setup_theme hook call to R34NoNo::add_hooks() from default 10 to 9 to resolve issue of “Remove Widgets block editor” not working.

2.4.0.1 – 2022.07.19

• Fixed: Changed logic when writing settings to wp_options table (R34NoNo::admin_page_callback() method) so keys are no longer required to begin with r34nono_.

2.4.0 – 2022.07.15

• Added “Deactivate and delete Akismet Anti-Spam plugin” utility. Note: We do recommend using Akismet or something similar to prevent spam on your website, but if your site does not support comments, and/or you already intend to secure it by other means, Akismet itself may not be necessary.
• Added “Delete inactive themes” utility.
• Added JavaScript confirmation on Run Selected Utilities button.
• Edited redundant description of “Deactivate and delete Hello Dolly plugin” utility.
• i18n: Updated no-nonsense.pot file with new/changed text strings.

2.3.2 – 2022.07.15

• Moved new filters into R34NoNo::add_hooks() method, and delayed execution of that method to the after_setup_theme action, to resolve issue of themes’ use of the new filters having no effect.

2.3.1 – 2022.07.12

• Changed name of class array (again) from functions to settings to reduce potential confusion for developers using the hooks introduced in 2.3.0. Also changed the name of the hook from r34nono_define_functions_array to r34nono_define_settings_array (retaining deprecated name for backwards compatibility).

2.3.0.1 – 2022.07.12

• Added sanitization function on keys when saving to wp_options table.

2.3.0 – 2022.07.12

• Added r34nono_define_functions_array and r34nono_define_utilities_array filters to allow developers to add (or remove) functions and utilities to No Nonsense from their themes or plugins. Usage is outlined in our Developer Documentation.
• Added show_in_admin to each function and utility, allowing developers to hide options in the admin, but still have them function via hardcoded values in themes or plugins. (Use in conjunction with the aforementioned filters.)
• Changed names of class arrays from function_details and utility_details to functions and utilities.
• Added sanitization functions on dynamic add_action() and add_filter() in R34NoNo::__construct() method, in preparation for adding filters for developers to extend this plugin’s functionality.
• Added tooltips to status color dots on admin notice after running utilities.
• Minor refactoring of R34NoNo::__construct() method.

2.2.0 – 2022.06.20

• Added “Remove default block patterns” option. This turns off all of the core block patterns, which may not match your theme, but retains the ability for you to create your own custom block patterns.
• Added “Block Editor” section to admin screen and reorganized all block editor-related options into that section.
• Updated text strings. (Removed somewhat inconsistent use of capitalization for terms such as “block editor,” “block patterns,” and “full site editing.”)
• Removed “(BETA)” label on “Remove comments from front end” option on admin page.

2.1.1 – 2022.05.22

• Fixed Deactivate and delete Hello Dolly plugin utility to handle both a manually installed instance (where Hello Dolly is contained in a hello-dolly folder) and the base install instance (where Hello Dolly is a bare hello.php file in the plugins folder). (Opinionated side note: This is yet another argument for why Hello Dolly is a bad example of how to create a plugin, which is ostensibly one of its intended reasons for inclusion in the core installation.)

2.1.0 – 2022.05.19

• Changed success/fail indicator UTF-8 characters in admin notices when running utilities, from check mark and X to “black circle” (colored green, orange or red), because WordPress 6.0 forces conversion of those UTF characters to emoji, which causes them not to render if the “Remove WP emoji” option is turned on!
• Modified utility functions to return true or false depending on whether or not they completed their intended actions, so admin notice “black circle” icons are colored accordingly: green for success; orange if the function ran but did not have an effect; and red for an error.
• Removed action hook to r34nono_deactivate_and_delete_hello_dolly_admin_head_callback() in r34nono_deactivate_and_delete_hello_dolly() because now that this is a utility, rather than a setting that runs on every admin page load, the function would not be firing anyway. The function has been retained in the plugin however and will not be deprecated.
• i18n: Added text domain to “Just another WordPress site” string.

2.0.0 – 2022.05.03

• Added new Utilities section with a set of one-time actions that are frequently part of the new site installation process.
• Moved Deactivate and delete Hello Dolly plugin to Utilities, so it only runs once.
• Minor interface refinements.

1.9.0 – 2022.05.02

• Added BETA Remove comments from front end option. This option uses standard hooks to hide comment output, along with a workaround for a deprecated backwards compatibility file, but it may not completely remove all traces of comments from the front end of your site, depending on its theme structure. Please provide any feedback you have on this functionality in the WordPress Support Forums.

1.8.1 – 2022.05.02

• Added Disallow Full Site Editing option to extend upon Remove “Edit site” link. This option removes the “Edit site” link in the admin bar, the “Editor” link under “Appearance” in the admin menu, the FSE notice in the Customizer, and force-redirects any direct attempts to access the FSE editing screen to the admin dashboard.

1.8.0 – 2022.04.21

• Added Remove “Edit site” link option to suppress the Full Site Editing link in the front-end admin bar on sites that use Block Themes.
• Refactored logic for Remove Comments from admin to properly hide the comment count in the front-end admin bar.

1.7.0 – 2022.04.18

• Added Remove duotone SVG filters option to suppress Block Editor’s duotone filter HTML SVG tags for Safari users.
• Bumped Tested up to to 5.9.3.

1.6.1.1 – 2022.02.28

• Corrected text domain in load_plugin_textdomain() function call.

1.6.1 – 2022.02.18

• Added Remove admin email check interval option to suppress periodic verification of the admin email address upon login.

1.6.0.1 – 2021.12.27

• Changed hook for Remove front end Edit links to fix an issue that may have prevented edit links from working on the admin side.

1.6.0 – 2021.12.27

• i18n: Numbered all placeholders in sprintf() functions.
• i18n: Added text domain path i18n/languages and created .pot file.
• Removed stray xmlrpc_enabled filter in main plugin file.

1.5.1 – 2021.12.22

• Changed optional custom site icon on login screen to use a 16-pixel border radius, to match how the icon is displayed in the Customizer.

1.5.0 – 2021.12.21

• Added Remove front end Edit links option. (Thanks to @ov3rfly for this suggestion and several others.)
• Changed priority on removing comments from admin bar to account for potential activity by other plugins.
• Changed fn key to cb in R34NoNo::function_details() for less potential confusion on its purpose.
• Changed Remove Posts from admin hook run on init (with other enclosed hooks as appropriate) and to include removal of New Post option from admin bar.
• For those who really don’t want “Hello Dolly” around, this version now also hides it in the “Add Plugins” search results, via CSS.
• Refactored Remove Howdy to remove greeting before username in all languages.
• Refactored r34nono_install() function to fix issues with updating version number and resetting deprecated option names.
• Replaced all closures with named callback functions.
• Return HTTP 301 status (instead of wp_redirect() default 302) on searches when Disable site search is turned on.
• Updated admin page sidebar content.
• Updated plugin description in no-nonsense.php to match readme.txt.

1.4.4 – 2021.12.20

• Added “Also prevent access to profile screen” option under Redirect admin to home page for logged-in non-editors. (Thanks to @dcavins for suggesting this change.)
• Fixed issue with Replace WP logo with site icon on login screen CSS when site icon is not set (hotfix).

1.4.3.1 – 2021.12.19

• Changed r34nono_remove_head_tags() to hook into init instead of wp_head to ensure that all enclosed hooks are applied in time.

1.4.3 – 2021.12.19

• Added Remove admin color scheme picker.
• Added dynamic sorting of functions alphabetically by title on admin screen, to keep the list organized as the set of options grows.

1.4.2 – 2021.12.19

• Added HTTP 403 status when XML-RPC requests are killed.
• Added logic to remove HTTP response headers for WP Shortlink and REST API.
• Added logic to also remove resource hints from login screen when set for the front end.
• Added “oEmbed Discovery Links” option in Remove head tags.
• Corrected checkbox label “Quick Press” to “Quick Draft” in dashboard widget options.
• Fixed priority on remove_action() for REST API.
• Modified admin bar logout button to use admin color scheme.
• Removed likes column from functionality affected by Remove Comments from admin because it is not part of WP core.
• Refactored r34nono_remove_head_tags() to use switch instead of if / elseif / else.
• Specified PHP 7.0.0 minimum requirement in readme file.

1.4.1 – 2021.12.18

• Added Remove Posts from admin, Disable site search, and Disallow theme and plugin file editing options.
• Fix: Changed r34nono_core_upgrade_skip_new_bundled hook type from filter to `action.

1.4.0 – 2021.12.18

NOTE Two options’ function names have changed in this version. The update script should automatically transfer their settings over to their replacements. However, you are encouraged to review your settings after running the update.

• Added Remove head tags, with options to turn off a number of <link> tags that WordPress inserts by default in the <head> of every page.
• Changed Remove WordPress logo on login screen to Replace WP logo with site icon on login screen. This will use the designated site icon and change the URL to the site’s home page. If there is no designated site icon, the icon will simply be removed instead.
• Modified Remove Comments from admin functionality to also remove comments (and likes) columns from admin index pages for Posts, Pages and Media Library. (Does not change settings for any custom post types.)
• Modified Disable XML-RPC functionality to add the option to immediately kill incoming XML-RPC requests. Due to the fact that this is a plugin-based solution, you may find it more effective to block access to xmlrpc.php directly in your site’s .htaccess file.

1.3.0 – 2021.12.18

• Added Admin bar logout link option.
• Refactored CSS.
• Fixed link error in sidebar on admin page.

1.2.0 – 2021.12.17

• Added option to deactivate, delete and prevent reinstallation of Hello Dolly plugin.

1.1.1 – 2021.12.15

• Changed all instances of esc_html() to wp_kses_post() on admin page.
• Removed unnecessary NAMESPACE constant from R34NoNo class.
• New branding assets.

1.1.0 – 2021.12.14

• Initial WordPress Plugin Directory version.
• Added option to deactivate Widgets Block Editor.
• Added option to remove Dashboard widgets, and related functionality to support sub-options on admin page.
• Duplicated Save Changes button at top of form.
• Updated sidebar on admin page.
  • Changed donation button to make it less likely to be mistaken for the Save Changes button.
  • Fixed links.
  • i18n: Added translation strings. (Translation files are not yet present.)
• Updated readme content and tags.
• Added input value filtering on update_option().
• Added esc_html() on all variable output on admin page.
• Changed text domain to conform with plugin directory requirements.

1.0.0 – 2021.12.13

• Original version.