Auto Justify Content

Version: 3.0.0 Requires WordPress: 5.6+ Requires PHP: 7.4+ License: GPLv2 or later Author: MENJ Plugin URI: https://github.com/menj/auto-justify-content

Professional typography toolkit for WordPress. Automatic text justification and decorative drop caps for posts, pages, and Elementor content.

Requirements

PHP 7.4 is required for typed class properties (private array, private const) used throughout the plugin class.

Installation

Via WordPress Admin

1. Download the .zip from the releases page.
2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Upload the .zip and click Install Now.
4. Activate the plugin.
5. Configure at Settings → Auto Justify.

Via FTP / File Manager

1. Extract the zip and upload the auto-justify-content/ folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate from Plugins → Installed Plugins.

Via WP-CLI

wp plugin install auto-justify-content --activate

File Structure

auto-justify-content/
├── auto-justify-content.php      # Main plugin class (AutoJustifyContent)
├── uninstall.php                 # Cleans up all DB options on uninstall
├── readme.txt                    # WordPress.org repository readme
├── README.md                     # This file — technical documentation
├── CHANGELOG.md                  # Full version history
├── UPGRADING.md                  # Upgrade notes and future roadmap
├── assets/
│   ├── css/admin.css             # Settings page styles (includes colour picker overrides)
│   └── js/admin.js               # Settings page interactions and live preview
├── templates/
│   └── settings-page.php         # Settings page HTML template
└── languages/
    └── auto-justify-content.pot  # Translation template

Database Options

All options are stored in the WordPress wp_options table. No custom tables are created.

Justification

Drop Cap

All 13 options are removed cleanly on plugin uninstall via uninstall.php.

CSS Output

The plugin uses wp_add_inline_style() throughout — no external stylesheets are loaded by the plugin itself. CSS is generated in PHP and injected inline on each page load.

Justification (ajc-justify handle)

Enqueued when ajc_enabled is true and the current page matches the configured scope. blog_only fires only on is_singular('post').

Core selectors (always):

.entry-content p, .entry-content li,
.wp-block-post-content p, .wp-block-post-content li,
.elementor-widget-text-editor p, .elementor-widget-text-editor li,
.elementor-widget-theme-post-content p, .elementor-widget-theme-post-content li

With ajc_fallback enabled, additionally:

article p, article li

With ajc_hyphen enabled:

-webkit-hyphens: auto; -ms-hyphens: auto; hyphens: auto; overflow-wrap: break-word;

With ajc_mobile enabled, all CSS is wrapped in:

@media (min-width: 768px) { ... }

Drop Cap (ajc-dropcap handle)

Enqueued when ajc_dc_enabled is true, subject to the same scope rules as justification.

Targets ::first-letter on the first paragraph in standard WordPress content wrappers, plus a .ajc-drop-cap class used by the [dropcap] shortcode:

.entry-content > p:first-of-type::first-letter,
.wp-block-post-content > p:first-of-type::first-letter,
... { font-family: ...; font-size: ...; color: ...; float: left; ... }

span.ajc-drop-cap { /* same rules, for shortcode use */ }

Font sizes by line span: 2 lines → 2.8em, 3 lines → 4.0em, 4 lines → 5.4em.

Drop style uses line-height: 0.83, raised style uses line-height: 1.0.

Google Fonts (frontend)

When a Google Font is selected, the plugin enqueues it on the frontend via:

wp_enqueue_style( 'ajc-dropcap-font', 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=...' );

Only the selected font is loaded. If inherit or custom is selected, no external request is made.

Exclusions

The ajc_exclude option applies to both justification and drop caps. Each excluded selector receives:

{selector}, {selector} p, {selector} li {
  text-align: inherit !important;
  hyphens: manual !important;
}

Shortcode

[dropcap]Word[/dropcap]

Wraps the first character of the enclosed text in <span class="ajc-drop-cap">. Works in the Classic Editor, text widgets, and anywhere WordPress shortcodes are processed.

The shortcode applies drop cap styling whether or not ajc_dc_enabled is on. If drop caps are disabled globally, a minimal inline style is output so the shortcode still renders visibly.

Hooks & Filters

ajc_drop_cap_fonts

Filters the curated font registry before it is used anywhere (settings page dropdown, CSS generation, admin JS data). Use this to add custom fonts or build add-on font packs.

add_filter( 'ajc_drop_cap_fonts', function( array $fonts ): array {
    $fonts['my_font'] = [
        'label'  => 'My Custom Font',
        'google' => null,             // null = no Google Fonts request
        'stack'  => '"My Custom Font", serif',
    ];
    return $fonts;
} );

To add a Google Font:

$fonts['eb_garamond'] = [
    'label'  => 'EB Garamond',
    'google' => 'EB+Garamond:wght@700',  // passed directly to the Google Fonts API URL
    'stack'  => '"EB Garamond", Georgia, serif',
];

wp_resource_hints (internal use)

When a Google-hosted font is selected, the plugin hooks add_google_fonts_preconnect() into wp_resource_hints at priority 10. This injects <link rel="preconnect"> hints for fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com, overlapping DNS/TLS connection time with HTML parsing. Reduces first-visit font latency by 100–300ms (LCP improvement).

wp_head (internal use)

When a Google-hosted font is selected, output_google_font_link() is hooked to wp_head at priority 1. It outputs a non-blocking preload tag:

<link rel="preload" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=...&display=optional"
      as="style" onload="this.onload=null;this.rel='stylesheet'">
<noscript><link rel="stylesheet" href="..."></noscript>

The font is fetched at high priority without blocking the critical rendering path. display=optional is used instead of display=swap to prevent the layout shift a large decorative cap causes when swapping fonts at 3–5em (CLS improvement).

Admin Assets

Dependencies

Localised JS data (ajcData)

The admin JS receives current settings and the font registry via wp_localize_script:

ajcData = {
    fonts:        { /* font registry object, keyed by font slug */ },
    currentFont:  'playfair',
    currentColor: '#1e293b',
    currentLines: 3,
    currentStyle: 'drop',
    customFont:   ''
}

This data drives the live preview on the Drop Cap settings tab.

Internationalization (i18n)

• Text domain: auto-justify-content
• .pot file: languages/auto-justify-content.pot
• Loaded via load_plugin_textdomain() on the init action

To regenerate the .pot file:

wp i18n make-pot . languages/auto-justify-content.pot

Development

Coding Standards

Targets WordPress Coding Standards:

• !defined('ABSPATH') guard at top of every PHP file
• esc_url(), esc_attr(), esc_html(), sanitize_hex_color(), sanitize_text_field() used throughout
• All settings registered via register_setting() with explicit sanitize_callback
• Admin assets scoped to settings_page_auto-justify-content hook only
• No direct DB queries — all data via WordPress options API

Running PHPCS

composer require --dev wp-coding-standards/wpcs
./vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=WordPress auto-justify-content.php

Support

Open an issue at: https://github.com/menj/auto-justify-content/issues