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Link Extension for XFN documentation

Link Extension for XFN

Link Extension for XFN adds XFN (XHTML Friends Network) relationship options to the WordPress block editor’s link tools, so you can say how you know the person behind a link. These docs help you install the plugin, tag your first link, and display relationships on your site.

What the plugin does

Section titled “What the plugin does”

XFN lets you describe how you know the person or site you’re linking to — friend, colleague, spouse, met, and so on. The plugin stores those relationships in the link’s standard HTML rel attribute, which is visible to anyone reading the page source and to tools that parse XFN. There are 18 values in 7 categories, and the plugin enforces the XFN 1.1 rules for which values can be combined.

It also ships three server-rendered blocks — XFN Blogroll, Relationship Badge, and Relationship Directory — that turn the relationships in your published content into browsable listings.

Who it’s for

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Bloggers, IndieWeb users, and site owners who want semantic, human-readable relationships on their links — without a custom database table or a separate link manager.

Before you install

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As of version 1.0.4, the plugin requires:

  • WordPress 6.9 or higher (frontend tooltips need WordPress 7.0 or later).
  • PHP 8.2 or higher.
  • The block editor — the plugin doesn’t use or restore the classic Link Manager.

Get the plugin

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Link Extension for XFN is published in the WordPress.org plugin directory — install it from Plugins → Add New Plugin in wp-admin. Installation also covers GitHub installs, and Playground preview lets you try it in your browser first.

Get started

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  1. Installation — install and activate the plugin.
  2. Getting started — add your first XFN relationship to a link.
  3. Settings — decide which editor interfaces to enable.

Compatibility notes

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  • No specific theme is required — rel attributes work with any theme.
  • Frontend tooltips (a hover/focus popover showing a link’s relationships) are gated to WordPress 7.0 or later by a feature flag; on 6.9 they don’t appear. See FAQ.
  • The optional Outpost plugin’s Micropub bridge can set relationships automatically; see Common tasks.

Get help

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Source code

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The plugin is developed in the open at github.com/courtneyr-dev/link-extension-for-xfn. Developer and maintainer documents (QA guides, testing notes, historical reports) live in the repository, separate from these user docs.