Author DID in Feeds

Download from: author-did-feeds

Author DID in Feeds is a small WordPress plugin that adds a DID field to WordPress user profiles and exposes author DIDs in RSS2 and Atom feeds.

The plugin is intended for author discovery only. It does not replace RSS or Atom author fields, and it does not sign feed entries.

• Adds a DID field to each WordPress user profile.
• Adds optional feed-level DID settings under Settings → Reading.
• Adds author DID links to RSS2 feed items.
• Adds author DID links to Atom feed entries.
• Uses rel="author" links rather than overloading RSS <author>, because RSS <author> is email-oriented.

For an RSS2 item, the plugin can output:

<atom:link rel="author" href="did:web:www.downes.ca" title="Stephen Downes" />

For an Atom entry, the plugin can output:

<link rel="author" href="did:web:www.downes.ca" title="Stephen Downes" />

Use the ZIP file for this plugin.

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

2. Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.

3. Click Upload Plugin.

4. Choose the plugin ZIP file.

   Do not unzip it first.

5. Click Install Now.

6. Click Activate Plugin.

If you already have an older version of this plugin installed, WordPress may ask whether you want to replace the existing plugin with the uploaded version. Choose the option to replace/update the existing plugin.

After activation:

1. Go to Users → Profile.

2. Find the new DID field.

3. Enter your DID, for example:

did:web:downes.ca

or:

did:web:www.downes.ca

4. Click Update Profile.

Your RSS and Atom feeds should now include your DID on posts you authored.

The plugin can also add a DID for the feed as a whole.

1. Go to Settings → Reading.

2. Find the Author DID in Feeds section.

3. Enter a value in Feed author DID.

4. Optionally enter a value in Feed author name.

5. Click Save Changes.

This feed-level setting is separate from the DID field on individual user profiles. Use the user profile DID for post authors. Use the feed-level DID only when you want the feed itself to advertise an author DID.

After adding your DID, open your RSS feed in a browser or feed validator and search the page source for:

rel="author"

You should see an author link with your DID, for example:

<atom:link rel="author" href="did:web:www.downes.ca" title="Stephen Downes" />

For Atom feeds, the element is unprefixed:

<link rel="author" href="did:web:www.downes.ca" title="Stephen Downes" />

If your site is hosted on WordPress.com, plugin upload availability depends on your plan and account permissions. If you do not see Upload Plugin, then your account may not permit custom plugin uploads, or you may not have administrator access.

Version 0.1.2 keeps the profile DID field simple and avoids hooking directly into user-meta saving. The DID is sanitized before feed output, but profile saving is left to WordPress' normal user-contact-method handling.

• Changed the plugin URL to https://clist.mooc.ca/wordpress/README.html.
• Expanded this README with full WordPress installation and configuration instructions.

• Removed the user-meta sanitizer hook used in 0.1.0, which could cause a critical error during user profile updates on some WordPress installations.
• Kept DID sanitization before feed output.

• Initial version.