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Old Article Notice

WordPress plugin that displays a configurable notice on old articles so readers know when content may be outdated. Built for news sites, blogs, and documentation.

by Maggie McGuire · github.com/maggiemcgu/old-article-notice · website

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/maggiemcgu/old-article-notice/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Readme github.com/maggiemcgu/old-article-notice ↗

A WordPress plugin that displays a configurable notice on old articles so readers know when content may be outdated. Built for news sites, blogs, and documentation.

Version: 1.2.0 | Requires: WordPress 5.0+ / PHP 7.4+ | License: GPL v2

The Problem

Old articles stick around forever, and readers don't always check the date. I run a small-town newspaper in Moab, Utah. One day I realized someone was making decisions based on a three-year-old article about water rates. So I wrote 13 lines of PHP to slap a warning on anything over a year old. It worked. Then I thought: every news site, blog, and documentation site has this exact problem.

Old Article Notice adds a clear, customizable warning to articles past their freshness date. One file, zero front-end JavaScript, and it just works.

Features

  • Set your threshold — days, months, or years
  • Modified-date aware — skip the notice on recently updated articles, even if originally published years ago
  • Write your own message — template tags like {time_ago}, {date}, and {updated_date} make each notice specific
  • Coverage links — automatically point readers to your category or tag archive for newer coverage on the same topic
  • SEO-aware — respects Yoast SEO and Rank Math primary term settings
  • Full styling control — border color, text color, background, border width, corner radius
  • Live preview — see your notice as you design it
  • Post type support — posts, pages, custom post types
  • Category exclusions — skip categories that don't age (obituaries, evergreen pages)
  • Per-post override — disable with a checkbox on any individual article
  • Developer filters — three hooks for customizing behavior without forking
  • Lightweight — no external dependencies, no front-end JavaScript, no performance impact

Installation

  1. Download the latest release or clone this repo
  2. Upload the old-article-notice folder to /wp-content/plugins/
  3. Activate through the Plugins menu
  4. Configure at Settings > Old Article Notice

Template Tags

Use these in your notice message:

Tag Output
{time_ago} Human-readable time (e.g., "2 years ago")
{years} Number of years since publication
{months} Number of months since publication
{days} Number of days since publication
{date} Original publication date
{updated_date} Date the article was last modified
{coverage_link} Link to newer coverage (requires Coverage Link enabled)
{term_name} Primary category/tag name (requires Coverage Link enabled)

Example Messages

Basic:

This article was published {time_ago} and is kept for archival purposes. Some information may be outdated.

With coverage link:

This article was published {time_ago}. {coverage_link}

With updated date:

Originally published {date}, last updated {updated_date}. Some information may be outdated.

When enabled, {coverage_link} automatically generates a link to the article's primary category or tag archive page, so readers can find newer coverage on the same topic.

How it works:

  1. Enable under Settings > Old Article Notice > Coverage Link
  2. Choose a taxonomy (categories, tags, or any custom taxonomy)
  3. Set your link text (use {term_name} for the category/tag name)
  4. Add {coverage_link} to your notice message

The plugin picks the article's primary term from your chosen taxonomy. If Yoast SEO or Rank Math has set a primary term, that's used. Otherwise it falls back to the first assigned term. If the article has no matching terms, the tag quietly resolves to nothing -- no broken output.

Example output:

This article was published 2 years ago and is kept for archival purposes. Some information may be outdated. See our latest Local Government coverage →

Modified Date Awareness

Enable "Use last modified date" in settings and the plugin checks the article's last modified date instead of its published date. An article from 2020 that was updated last week won't trigger the notice.

This is ideal for evergreen content like guides, reference pages, or documentation that gets periodic refreshes.

Developer Filters

Three filters let you customize behavior without modifying the plugin:

opn_should_show_notice

Control whether the notice appears on a specific post.

// Hide the notice on posts with a specific custom field
add_filter( 'opn_should_show_notice', function( $show, $post_id, $age ) {
    if ( get_post_meta( $post_id, 'still_relevant', true ) ) {
        return false;
    }
    return $show;
}, 10, 3 );

opn_notice_html

Modify the full notice HTML before output.

// Add a custom class based on article age
add_filter( 'opn_notice_html', function( $html, $post_id, $settings ) {
    $age = time() - get_the_time( 'U', $post_id );
    if ( $age > 2 * YEAR_IN_SECONDS ) {
        $html = str_replace( 'opn-notice', 'opn-notice opn-very-old', $html );
    }
    return $html;
}, 10, 3 );

opn_primary_term

Override which term is used for coverage links.

// Always use the term with the most posts (broadest coverage page)
add_filter( 'opn_primary_term', function( $term, $post_id, $taxonomy ) {
    $terms = get_the_terms( $post_id, $taxonomy );
    if ( $terms && ! is_wp_error( $terms ) ) {
        usort( $terms, function( $a, $b ) { return $b->count - $a->count; } );
        return $terms[0];
    }
    return $term;
}, 10, 3 );

Who Is This For?

  • News publishers -- your archived coverage should tell readers it's archived
  • Bloggers -- that tutorial from 2019 might not work anymore
  • Documentation sites -- old docs are worse than no docs if people follow outdated instructions
  • Anyone who keeps old content published and cares about their readers

FAQ

Can I disable the notice on specific posts? Yes. Each post has an "Old Article Notice" meta box in the sidebar with a disable checkbox. Perfect for evergreen content.

Can I use HTML in the message? Yes -- links, bold, italic, line breaks are all supported.

Does this add JavaScript to my front end? No. The notice is pure HTML and inline CSS. Zero performance impact.

Does this work with custom post types? Yes. Any public post type shows up in settings.

What if my article was recently updated? Enable "Use last modified date" in settings. The plugin will check when the article was last modified instead of when it was published. A 5-year-old article updated last month won't get a stale warning.

Support

This plugin is free and always will be. If it saves you time or makes your site better for your readers, consider buying me a coffee. I'll drink it while publishing tomorrow's paper.

More tools and projects at maggie-mcguire.com.

Changelog

1.2.0

  • "Use last modified date" setting -- recently updated articles skip the notice
  • {updated_date} template tag
  • opn_should_show_notice filter -- programmatically control notice visibility
  • opn_notice_html filter -- modify notice HTML before output
  • opn_primary_term filter -- override term selection for coverage links

1.1.0

  • Coverage Link feature -- automatically link readers to newer coverage via category/tag archives
  • {coverage_link} and {term_name} template tags
  • Taxonomy picker (categories, tags, or custom)
  • Yoast SEO and Rank Math primary term support
  • Coverage Link settings with show/hide toggle and live preview

1.0.0

  • Initial release
  • Configurable age threshold, template tags, styling, live preview
  • Post type selection, category exclusions, per-post disable