WP Minor Edit – a WordPress Plugin for minor edits

Note: This plugin requires WordPress 2.7 or later. (Although see below for other options)

One of the more irritating aspects of WordPress, at least from a feed subscriber’s perspective, is that minor edits cause the last-updated date to change. The knock-on effect is that the post will find its way back to the top of an atom feed causing readers to see it again. Not the desired effect if you are, for example, correcting an insignificant typo, updating a moved link or adding a category, and even worse if you were to reorganise categories and thus blitz your poor readers with a whole batch of old posts all at once.

This plugin provides the answer, by adding a ‘Minor Edit’ checkbox when you’re editing a post. If you tick the box, the post’s last-updated date will be left alone. If you leave it unchecked, things will happen as normal. It’s that simple.

Where to get it: Download the latest version from the WordPress plugins directory.

How to install it: 1. Download and extract the zip file. 2. Upload the plugin directory to /wp-content/plugins on your server. 3. Go to the Plugins screen in your WordPress Admin and activate it.

How to get help: If you have problems using the plugin, or suggestions as to how to improve it, comment here or email me (see the Who? page for contact details).

What it works with:WordPress 2.7 or later. Other options that work for the more technically inclined: a) If you’re running 2.6 (or 2.6.x) you could make these two changes to your WordPress installation: one and two, or b) If you run an SVN version, you need to be at least this up to date.