README

Orbit moulds some of WordPress' default behaviour to simplify the CMS experience, protect users from changing settings that should be reserved for website developers, and reinforce some areas of the CMS that tend to be a little weak.

The plugin is unapologetically opinionated to fit the needs and preferences of our web agency. We feel the choices we've made (including which ones are even configurable in the CMS) are sensible and pragmatic for the kinds of websites we work on and the control we tend to hold back from CMS users. We understand not everyone will agree with the choices we have made.

Installation

This plugin has no prerequisites. Assuming you're using a modern Composer workflow for WordPress development (such as our Nebula WordPress stack) just run the following command and Orbit will be installed as a must-use plugin:

composer require eighteen73/orbit

If necessary, you may install it manually by downloading a Zip archive from GitHub and extracting it to your plugins directory.

Summary of Features

UI Cleanup

Remove unwanted items from the menu (with limited configuration)
Remove unwanted items from the toolbar (with limited configuration)
Remove unwanted dashboard widgets
Replace the login logo (configurable)
Remove the footer message in CMS

Security

Disable user endpoints in the REST API (configurable)
Disable XML-RPC (configurable)
Hide the WordPress version in page markup (configurable)
Disable/hide unwanted website markup
- Short links
- REST API links
- Oembed links
- Windows Live Writer manifest links

Capabilities

Restrict user access based on capabilities (configurable)
Restrict editor access based on capabilities (configurable)
Restrict Gravity Forms access based on capabilities (configurable)

Other Safety Measures

Disallow robot indexing in non-production environments
Disable updates (configurable via orbit_enable_wordpress_updates)

Other Features

Adds endpoint "/wp-json/orbit/up" for use as quick website availability check
Load media files from a production URL in non-production environments (requires ORBIT_REMOTE_FILES_URL environment variable/constant)

Available Filters

The following filters can be used to override the default behavior of certain features. Set the filter to true to enable the feature, or false to disable it.

orbit_enable_wordpress_updates: Control the visibility of the WordPress updates item in the toolbar. Default false (hidden).
orbit_enable_xmlrpc: Enable or disable XML-RPC functionality. Default false (disabled).
orbit_enable_user_caps_access: Enable Orbit's user capability restrictions. Default true (enabled).
orbit_enable_editor_caps_access: Enable Orbit's editor capability restrictions. Default true (enabled).
orbit_enable_gravity_forms_access: Enable Orbit's Gravity Forms capability restrictions. Default true (enabled).
orbit_enable_expose_wordpress_version: Show or hide the WordPress version in the site's frontend markup. Default false (hidden).
orbit_enable_admin_environment_name: Control the display of the environment name in the admin area. Default true (enabled).
orbit_enable_menu_item_dashboard: Control the visibility of the Dashboard menu item. Default true (visible).
orbit_enable_menu_item_posts: Control the visibility of the Posts menu item. Default true (visible).
orbit_enable_menu_item_comments: Control the visibility of the Comments menu item and toolbar item. Default false (hidden).
orbit_enable_toolbar_item_new_content: Control the visibility of the "New Content" item in the toolbar. Default true (visible).
orbit_enable_login_logo: Enable replacement of the login logo. Default true (enabled).
orbit_login_logo_url: Provide a URL to replace the default WordPress login logo. No default.
orbit_enable_rest_api_user_endpoints: Enable or disable REST API user endpoints. Default false (disabled).
orbit_remote_files_url: Override the production URL used for loading remote media files. Default value comes from ORBIT_REMOTE_FILES_URL.

Examples

You can use standard WordPress functions like __return_true and __return_false to easily toggle these features. Add the following lines to your theme or a custom plugin:

// Example: Enable XML-RPC (Orbit disables it by default)
add_filter( 'orbit_enable_xmlrpc', '__return_true' );

// Example: Show the WordPress version in the site markup (Orbit hides it by default)
add_filter( 'orbit_enable_expose_wordpress_version', '__return_true' );

// Example: Disable the Posts menu item (Orbit shows it by default)
add_filter( 'orbit_enable_menu_item_posts', '__return_false' );

// Example: Disable the login logo replacement (Orbit enables it by default)
add_filter( 'orbit_enable_login_logo', '__return_false' );

eighteen73 / orbit

Maintainers

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