AUX WordPress Theme Changelog

Github commit history for the main branch: https://github.com/tamu-edu/aux-wordpress/commits/main

This theme is following Semantic Versioning.

2.1.0

Released: Tuesday October 20, 2026

New features for site editors

• Added - AUX Logo Grid Block.
• Added - “DOI Options” in the Meta Box area for the news post type. If you are writing a news article about published research, ask the researcher for the DOI number. The digital object identifier (DOI) is a persistent, unique id for their research. Completing this information will display the DOI and information about the research paper and publication in a standardized format. This will also add additional meta data to the article that can be read by search and AI answer engines.
• Changed - the directory archive page now supports manually selecting which Directory Groups are visible in the Directory Search archive page. If the Directory Search is enabled and groups are not specified, all groups will be listed alphabetically in the dropdown on the search page.

Adjustments to help AUX Gutenberg blocks work better with the latest version of WordPress

• Added - new notice shown to logged-in site editors for blocks that don’t have content. There was a change in WordPress 7.1 and Advanced Custom Fields that resulted in new / empty blocks being rendered as empty white space in the editor. As a result, there was not an obvious way to edit these blocks. This improves that user experience.
• Changed - now using version 3 of Advanced Custom Field blocks if WordPress is version 7.1 or later. ACF Blocks Edit Mode has been removed and replaced with a slide-out sidebar/modal. The preview area is always the preview area, and fields can be edited by selecting a block by clicking on it, then clicking the "Open Expanded Editor" button in the sidebar, or clicking the pencil icon in the block toolbar. https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/acf-blocks-v3/

Changes for developers

• Updated - CSS, JS and HTML now on Aggie UX version 2.1.2.
• Added - new aux_kses function that we will slowly migrate to using to filter all output. It allows any valid html and attributes from Aggie UX and WordPress and strips out JavaScript to prevent cross site scripting and other security issues.
• Added - new filter/action hooks documentation for ALL AUX WordPress theme hooks. Available in the README folder at the top-level of the theme.
• Updated - main theme README.md for developers.
• Added - new AGENTS.md built to provide instructions and context for any coding agent used for theme development
• Added - Schema.org JSON-LD metadata. This is duplicating Schema.org metadata that is currently implemented in html <meta> tags. Since they are redundant, the <meta itemprop tags will be removed in a future release.
• Changed - the Kint PHP debugger will only run if WP_DEBUG is defined and set to true.
• Changed - iframes are now allowed in the Custom HTML block.
• Changed - made the check for a local development environment more robust so local dev sites aren't trying to auto update the parent theme. In the past we've had problems where the local site autoupdates and overwrites the github tracked development code for the theme.
• Changed - now using the native WordPress back button in the top-left of the Gutenberg block editor. The WordPress "W" icon was replaced with an explicit back button in the WordPress 7.1 update released in August 2026. We were using the A&M logo instead of the WordPress “W”. The new native back button is a better user experience If a child theme has a logo in images/gutenberg-editor-logo.svg, it will still work.
• Changed - a child theme can now override the A&M logo in the admin bar by adding an SVG file named "wp-admin-bar-logo.svg” in the /images/ folder. Added for the System Offices. TAMU units should keep the default A&M logo.
• Added - new aux/head/meta_tags WordPress filter for meta tags. Documented in README/filters/aux--head--meta-tags.md
• Added - new aux/head/schema_item_type(/{$postType}) filter. Documented in README/filters/aux--head--schema-item-type.md - this filter allows developers to modify the schema.org itemtype for the current request. For example, you could use http://schema.org/BlogPosting if you added a blog to a site.

Bug fixes

• Fixed - header style options for elegant/bold/default disappeared when the “Landing” Page Header type was selected.
• Change span to p to fix black text on maroon bg.
• Fixed - horizontal scrollbar was showing on pages that are longer than the browser window in some cases.
• Fixed - taxonomies with long names were causing problems with search filters on archive pages. When fields have names that are too long to store completely (a known issue from ACF), values cannot be saved and retrieved. For search, this means that search terms for certain fields cannot be saved. For fields with names that are too long, until (and if) a fix is discovered, we now hide the select field and provide a helpful note explaining that the options will be automatically selected.
• Fixed - CTA buttons were being displayed even if they didn’t have text.
• Fixed - a banner saying the page was unpublished was being displayed to logged-in editors and admins on archive pages. The banner will only be displayed to logged-in users for unpublished pages, news and posts now.
• Fixed - no social share image was shown when content was shared on social media if a default social image wasn’t set by the site admin. There is now a default image with a Texas A&M logo on a maroon background.
• Fixed - breadcrumbs on taxonomy archive pages were defaulting to ‘Posts’. Now the tag/category/custom taxonomy title will be used.
• Fixed - <aside id="in-page-nav"... has been moved above the aux-body-content div to improve the reading order for screen reader users.
• Fixed - removed empty <h2> on alerts if an alert title is not entered.
• Fixed - “PHP Notice: Function WP_List_Util::pluck was called incorrectly” - when a post had no tags.

2.0.1

Released: Tuesday June 23, 2026

Fixed

• Fixed external video in the Captioned Media block was not loading.
• Improve labels for the Page Header and Sidebar options.
• Add instructions to encourage users to use description field Page Header Video instead of the text file video transcript option.
• Improve the warning message displayed to site editors and admins when they are viewing a page that is missing a description for the header background video. The message now includes a direct link to the video in the media library and instructions for adding the description.

2.0.0

Released: Monday June 15, 2026

Fixed

• Fixed - Duplicative thumbnails in social shares
• Fixed - Contact Card collections outputting empty ULs
• Fixed - PHP notice on child theme activation
• Fixed - AUX Card Group anchor ID is not added to the front-end html
• Fixed - Level A Issue on Accordions in WP
• Fixed - Alt text for featured images in feeds
• Fixed - Link target option doesn't work on all components
• Fixed - Broken Img Showing in Accordion Group (WP, Chrome)
• Fixed - Update aria-label of accordions to include all visible text
• Fixed - YouTube Link in Footer Requires @ (WP)
• Fixed - WP search box doesn't have a place for placeholder text
• Fixed - Block Quote with Image display on WP
• Fixed - Media Feature Image Not Displaying Correctly - WP
• Fixed - Mobile Menu Dropdown on Marcomm.tamu.edu
• Fixed - Program/sub-unit header in WP doesn't have a place to link back to main unit.
• Fixed - Odd character added to dismissible filter tags in Stories search results
• Fixed - PHP warning if Customizer site name is empty
• Fixed - WordPress 'W' and A&M logo flicker back and forth on Gutenberg editor screen
• Fixed - Missing class on callouts with image
• Fixed - Script Conflict Between Quicklinks (Desktop) and Mobile Menu in WordPress AUX
• Fixed - Related News Feature Not Working in AUX WP
• Fixed - Captioned media is pulling in a cropped version of photos in WordPress [Stories theme]
• Fixed - Add Flickr icon to WordPress icon selector
• Fixed - Missing canonical meta tag on archive pages in WP
• Fixed - Solve for missing alt text in default media gallery
• Fixed - Added <source src="" type="video/mp4"> to video components
• Fixed - Improved TinyMCE editor toolbar options
• Fixed - Missing tab index to skip linked images in cards
• Fixed - Hide Patterns option in Gutenberg
• Fixed - Captioned media block layout bug + empty markup
• Fixed - Multicolumn Custom Content fatal error
• Fixed - Collection Feature PHP warning
• Fixed - Invalid HTML in main nav UL (#menu)
• Fixed - Card Group with Standard Featured Card empty output markup
• Fixed - CTA Feature empty output markup
• Fixed - Media Feature empty output markup
• Fixed - Media Slab empty output markup
• Fixed - Card Slab PHP warning
• Fixed - Icon List Collection, Single List fatal error
• Fixed - Directory Contact Card Collection PHP warning
• Fixed - Link Slab PHP warning
• Fixed - Mismatched x/twitter logos
• Fixed - Card Group with Inline Featured Card fatal error + empty markup
• Fixed - Update Footer Column Headings from spans to true headings
• Fixed - Check headings on Q&A Collection
• Fixed - CORS Errors Blocking Icon Assets on dentistry-jobboard.tamhsc.edu
• Fixed - Undefined value php warnings
• Fixed - Build backend to support directory
• Fixed - Remove the full site editor link from Appearance > Design
• Fixed - Disable the Stretchy Text blocks (fitText)
• Fixed - Social Share Icons - ARIA attribute unsupported or prohibited (WCAG)
• Fixed - Exclude the person post type from Recent Posts block
• Fixed - Remove Inline Feed Group block from WP
• Fixed - Factoid Collection fatal error
• Fixed - Visible Label and Accessible name do not match: Accordions on WP
• Fixed - PHP error in LinkListItemEntity::addNestedLink
• Fixed - Gravity form hidden field has a dotted line

Added

• Updated to Aggie UX 2.0
• New Aggie UX 2.0 navigation
• New Directory
• Add Microscope, Computer Chip, Radar, Cube, and Fax icons to WordPress icon selector

1.0.3

Released: Thursday March 5, 2026

Fixed

• CTA Feature now supports (optionally) opening a link in a new window.
• Hid PHP notice when activating the child theme.
• Fixed bug that output empty lists in contact card collections. Now, if you don't fill out contact information, no list will be output.
• Fixed bug that resulted in duplicative images in shares via iMessage. Now, you should only see one image or preview when sharing links to an Aggie UX page, news post, or post.
• Fixed display issue with media feature with image on featured news posts.
• Fixed display issue with images in standalone block quote on featured news posts.
• Fixed error when link list collections would not use the default number of columns.

1.0.2

Released: Wednesday February 11, 2026

Changed

• Upgraded the Aggie UX framework from version 1.13.1 to 1.13.2. This patch introduces some CSS fixes to Gravity Forms components, including hiding the honeypot and error validation styling.
• Hid "uncategorized" category tags. "Uncategorized" is now removed from the list of categories everywhere on the front-end of the website. Before, if a post was in the "Uncategorized" category, that was displayed in a few places.

Policy-driven Updates

• Added required Dublin Core meta data to comply with Texas law. 1 TAC 206.73 and 13 TAC §3.3 require the fields specified in Texas Records and Information Locator (TRAIL).

Changes to WP Admin

• Disabled suggested third-party blocks feature. This Gutenberg feature suggests block plugins to install to users when they are adding a block to a page or post. We disabled this because many third-party blocks are incompatible with our theme, inaccessible or security risks.
• Fixed bug that hid login button. The bug caused the login button to not appear when "Web team — local site login" was clicked. The login page now remembers if the local login or the login with NetID was used. The next time you visit the login page, it defaults to the method you used last time.
• Disabled Gravity Form themes. If enabled, they conflicted with AUX styling. Thank you to Mark Bennett at Engineering for identifying the problem and for providing the code!
• Allowed Gravity Forms Gutenberg block as a way to add a form to a page. Using a shortcode still works too.

Accessibility Fixes

• Fixed heading level issue on card groups with featured cards. In some situations, headings were incorrectly ordered.
• Removed title attribute from anchor links in cards. The title attribute was providing redundant information to screen readers.
• Added tab index to skip linked images in cards. This prevents screen readers from reading links in cards twice (in some situations, cards with images are linked in addition to a linked heading).
• Added a space between name and title in standalone blockquote. Some strings of text were separated with a <span> html tag. Visually, they were separated by a new line or a space but Siteimprove and other scanners viewed the text as not having a new line or space and was flagging combined words as misspellings.
• Removed target="self" attribute from card links. This attribute was unnecessary.

1.0.1

Released: November 14, 2025

Changed

• Upgrade to AggieUX 1.13.1

Added

• Styling for all Gravity Forms field types (1.0.0 only styled some field types)
• CSS classes added to section html tag for the types of blocks in that section.
• Code for developers:
  • Getter functions for block name, block slug, raw block data - in /WP_AUX/Entities/AuxFramework/BlockHandlerEntity.php
  • Element attributes handler - Manage element attributes independent of an HTML element object - in /inc/WHOOP/Entities/ElementAttributes.php
  • Refactor - added service to create section and slab with reduced code. See code examples in /blocks/ for creating and customizing blocks.
  • More inline documentation and usage examples.
  • Support registering a plugin as an AUX plugin for seamless integration with parent theme code and file structure features. This will make it possible to show php documentation in the wp-admin UI and other future improvements.

Fixed

• Utility navigation links in the top of the header now appear in the mobile navigation menu. Note: currently, links in the "For You" and "Quicklinks" menus are not reproduced in the mobile menu. This will be fixed in a future release.
• Consistent labels in WordPress admin for custom post types.
• Prevent error condition if a mime type is not returned for a video embed from YouTube or any other video provider.
• Wrap shortcodes in
  html tag where applicable to fix layout issues.
• Do not put internal class on non-component sections.
• Collection feature now has correct spacing and layout.
• Section html attributes: css class, data, name.
• Thumbnail and full-screen-width image options are not cropped now.
• Removed unused vertical-thumbnail image option.
• Caching issue for styles in the editor.

1.0.0

Released: September 12, 2025

Added

• 32 Aggie UX components implemented as Gutenberg blocks.
• Ability to customize — developers can customize the CSS and extend the functionality with a child theme.
• Native WordPress updates — site admins will see when an update is available in the WordPress admin and can choose when theme updates are applied.
• A custom news post type that is purpose-built to support news for university websites.
• Built-in support for common website needs — no need to install plugins for Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, SEO metadata or navigation.