Inline Context
Inline Context is a powerful Block Editor enhancement that lets you create inline expandable notes or clean tooltip-style popovers anywhere in your content. It is ideal for content-rich websites, including editorial platforms, research sites, online magazines, documentation hubs, and educational blogs that rely on clear explanation without breaking the reader’s focus.
Instead of sending readers to glossary pages or external links, Inline Context allows you to provide definitions, references, clarifications, and annotations in place — keeping readers engaged and your content structured.
Notes can be reusable, categorized, styled, centrally managed, and automatically updated everywhere they appear.
Why this is valuable for content-heavy websites
Websites with substantial text often need:
- definitions and terminology
- source references
- background information
- contextual inline explanations
- mini footnotes without scrolling
- inline callouts, tips, or warnings
Inline Context delivers all of this with a frictionless, accessible user experience. It helps readers stay focused, reduces navigation fatigue, and improves knowledge retention — especially in long articles or research-based content.
How it works
- Highlight text in the Block Editor.
- Click Inline Context.
- Enter your note content (rich text supported).
- Optionally assign a category with custom icon & color.
- Publish — your note appears inline or as a tooltip, depending on settings.
You can also create reusable notes from a dedicated Custom Post Type. Updating a reusable note updates all instances site-wide.
Key Features
Display modes
- Inline expansion (reveals a small content panel)
- Tooltip popovers (floating contextual bubbles)
- Smart tooltip positioning to avoid off-screen display
- Direct anchor links (
#context-note-xxx) for deep linking - Auto-open on page load when accessed via link
Editor productivity
- Reusable notes with global updates
- Notes Library with usage tracking (shows where each note is used)
- Quick Search inside the editor to insert existing notes
- Rich text support via ReactQuill (bold, italic, lists, links)
- Clean, integrated Rich Text toolbar button
Categories & icons
- Create unlimited categories (Definition, Reference, External Article, Tip, Warning, etc.)
- Choose from curated Dashicons or any of 300+ icons
- Separate icons for open and closed states
Styling & customization
Full styling control from Settings → Inline Context:
- Link colors, hover, and focus states
- Note padding, spacing, borders, backgrounds, shadows
- Tooltip appearance
- Chevron/indicator styling
- Live interactive preview of all style changes
Accessibility & security
- ARIA support, focus lock, Escape key behavior
- Keyboard-navigable for both link and note
- DOMPurify sanitization of note content
Internationalization
Inline Context is fully translation-ready.
Examples & inspiration
The idea for this plugin originated from a project with Renée Kool — a visual artist working in public art, film, and emerging media. She wanted to create a website where a single link could reveal additional content containing multiple related links. We looked at the Dutch journalism platform De Correspondent, which use subtle inline notes to provide context without interrupting the flow of reading. You can see examples of their inline notes in this article: Hoe Nederland kampioen deeltijdwerken werd
Source code
Inline Context uses @wordpress/scripts with webpack and npm to build assets.
Full source (including uncompiled JS and CSS) is available at: https://github.com/jooplaan/inline-context