Super Duper Reading Index

Super Duper Reading Index manages the section structure of your posts. Rename a heading and its anchor changes with it, so every bookmark, newsletter link, internal cross-reference and search engine jump link that pointed at the old one silently lands at the top of the page instead – and nobody ever notices. This plugin remembers the anchors each heading has had, keeps serving the retired ones, tells you when a heading structure is broken, and publishes the outline in a form search engines and answer engines can read. The table of contents is the visible output of all that.

🇨🇭🇩🇪🇦🇹 Hinweis für DACH-Nutzer: Plugin und Support sind auf Deutsch (Schweiz/Deutschland/Österreich) verfügbar.

Permanent anchors

Anchors are derived from heading text, which makes them break every time an editor improves a heading. Nothing warns you, nothing 404s, the link simply stops arriving where it was meant to.

• Anchor history per heading. Every save records which anchor each heading produced.
• Retired anchors keep working. A former anchor is re-emitted as an empty, invisible element inside its heading, so old links resolve exactly where they always did. It adds no visible markup and no layout.
• Renames are visible while editing. The editor sidebar shows which headings were renamed and which anchors they used to have.
• Deleted headings are reported, because those anchors genuinely cannot be saved – you get told rather than left guessing.
• Site wide deep link scan under Tools > Reading Index: finds links pointing at an anchor that no longer exists anywhere. It runs only when you press the button – no background job, no scheduled task.

Structure check

A table of contents is only ever as good as the headings underneath it, so the plugin grades them. Each post gets a score from 0 to 100 in the editor sidebar, and Tools > Reading Index lists the whole site, worst first.

• Skipped heading levels (an H4 straight after an H2).
• More than one H1, or an H1 in the content where the theme already prints one.
• Empty headings, which produce empty index entries and unusable anchors.
• Duplicated heading text, which forces numbered anchors that break as soon as the order changes.
• Sections that run on past a configurable word limit without a subheading.
• Headings too long to make a usable anchor or a readable index entry.
• Outlines that start at H3 for no reason.

Machine readable outline

Every section is published as schema.org ItemList data with its own deep link. Search engines use a section list to offer jump links straight into a chapter, and answer engines use it to see how a long document is divided before they quote from it. It is added only where an index is really shown, and never on AMP pages or password protected posts.

The table of contents

• Automatic heading detection for H2 to H6 – you choose which levels are listed.
• Anchors are added for you. Headings that already have an ID keep it, so existing links stay valid.
• Smooth scrolling to the selected section, with an adjustable offset for sticky headers.
• Active section highlighting while the visitor scrolls.
• Collapse and expand with a show/hide button; the visitor’s choice can be remembered.
• Reading time estimate in the index header, based on an adjustable words-per-minute value.
• Reading progress bar at the top or bottom edge of the screen.
• Sticky sidebar index that fades in once the inline index has scrolled out of view.
• Foldable sub-headings – every entry that has sub-entries gets its own fold-out control.
• Show more – long indexes are shortened to a set number of entries with a “show all” button.
• Gutenberg block, Elementor widget and shortcode for manual placement.
• Free position control for the automatic insertion: above the content, after the first paragraph, before the first heading or below the content.

Integrations

• Elementor – a “Reading Index” widget with its own title, heading levels, style and marker settings.
• AMP – on AMP pages the index switches to a script-free variant: a native fold-out element plus CSS smooth scrolling, valid AMP markup without a single line of JavaScript.
• Advanced Custom Fields – headings inside named ACF fields get anchors too and are listed in the index, even though the theme prints those fields outside the post content.

Design

Three ready-made presets – Classic (bordered box), Modern card (soft shadow) and Minimal (accent line) – plus full control over accent, background, border, text and link colour, corner radius, font size, width, alignment, maximum height and the list markers (none, bullets, numbers or nested numbers such as 1.1).

Fine control

• Word count limit – short posts stay without an index.
• Device target – show the index on all devices, on desktop only or on mobile only.
• Alternative headings – show a shorter label in the index without touching the heading in the text.
• Exclude headings by name, with pipe separated patterns and asterisk wildcards.
• H1 to H6 – every level can be indexed.

Global or per post

Every option has a sensible global default. On top of that, each post and page has its own Reading Index panel below the editor with overrides for automatic insertion, header label, position, word count limit, device target, alignment, initial state, counters, heading levels, alternative headings, excluded headings, reading time, progress bar and floating index – all for that one post.

Languages

The plugin is fully internationalised. Translations are contributed and delivered through translate.wordpress.org, so every locale is kept up to date without shipping catalogues inside the plugin.

Accessibility

The index is a labelled navigation landmark, the show/hide button carries the correct ARIA state, the current section is marked with aria-current, keyboard focus moves to the target heading, and the prefers-reduced-motion setting is respected.