Add Admin CSS

Author: Scott Reilly
Version: 2.5
First released: 2011-12-05
Last update: 2025-04-30
Compatibility: WP 5.5 – 6.8.1
Download: [ zip ]
Description:

Easily define additional CSS (inline and/or by URL) to be added to all administration pages.

Extended Description

Ever want to tweak the appearance of the WordPress admin pages by hiding stuff, moving stuff around, changing fonts, colors, sizes, etc? Any modification you may want to do with CSS can easily be done via this plugin.

Using this plugin you’ll easily be able to define additional CSS (inline and/or files by URL) to be added to all administration pages. Hooks are provided to customize the output of the CSS, the CSS files, and if/when the CSS should even be output (see Hooks section).

Links: Plugin Homepage | Plugin Directory Page | GitHub | Author Homepage

Developer Documentation

Developer documentation can be found in DEVELOPER-DOCS.md. That documentation covers the hooks provided by the plugin.

As an overview, these are the hooks provided by the plugin:

  • c2c_add_admin_css : Filter to customize the CSS that should be added directly to the admin page head.
  • c2c_add_admin_css_files : Filter to customize the list of CSS files to enqueue in the admin.
  • c2c_add_admin_css_disable_css : Filter to customize if the CSS defined via this plugin should be output or not.

Find out more at the plugin’s WordPress Plugin Repository page.

Screenshots

Click to see full-size image.

  1. A screenshot of the plugin's admin settings page.

    A screenshot of the plugin’s admin settings page.

Installation

  1. Install via the built-in WordPress plugin installer. Or install the plugin code inside the plugins directory for your site (typically /wp-content/plugins/).
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ admin menu in WordPress
  3. Go to “Appearance” -> “Admin CSS” and specify some CSS to be added into all admin pages. (You can also use the “Settings” link in the plugin’s entry on the admin “Plugins” page).

Release Log

2.5 (2025-03-29)

  • New: Add c2c_add_admin_css_disable_css filter to override if CSS defined via this plugin should be output or not
  • New: Add is_recovery_mode_enabled() to determine is recovery mode is enabled
  • Change: Only support query parameter method of enabling recovery mode if current user can configure plugin settings
  • Change: Display the files setting help text as a list rather than a paragraph
  • Change: Check specifically if recovery mode is enabled before displaying admin notice that recovery mode is enabled
  • Change: Explicitly state the plugin name in the recovery mode admin notice to avoid ambiguity
  • Change: Switch use of parse_url() to wp_parse_url()
  • Change: Escape output of all translated strings
  • Change: Use instance method invocation instead of a deprecated static method invocation
  • Change: Convert ‘input_attributes’ value of config items from a string to an array
  • Change: Add translator comments for a pair of strings with placeholders that didn’t have one
  • New: Add DEVELOPER-DOCS.md and move hooks documentation into it
  • Change: Update plugin framework to 068
    • 068:
    • Change: Discontinue unnecessary explicit loading of textdomain
    • Change: Ignore a PHPCS warning that doesn’t apply
    • Change: Minor code reformatting
    • Change: Note compatibility through WP 6.8+
    • Change: Update copyright date (2025)
    • Unit tests:
      • Change: Generify unit tests to centralize per-plugin configuration to the top of the test class
      • Change: Define method return types for PHP 8+ compatibility
      • New: Add some header documentation
    • 067:
    • Breaking: Require config attribute ‘input_attributes’ to be an array
    • Hardening: Treat input attributes as array and escape each element before output
    • Change: Ensure config attribute values are of the same datatype as their defaults
    • Change: Simplify form_action_url() to avoid using a server global
    • Change: Use form_action_url() in plugin_action_links() rather than duplicating its functionality
    • Change: Escape output of all translated strings
    • Change: Make get_hook() public rather than protected
    • Change: Explicitly declare object variables rather than doing so dynamically
    • Change: Convert register_filters() to an abstract declaration
    • Change: Use double quotes for attribute of paragraph for setting description
    • Change: Prevent unwarranted PHPCS complaints about nonces
    • Change: Improve function documentation
    • Change: Adjust function documentation formatting to align with WP core
    • Change: Note compatibility through WP 6.5+
    • Change: Drop compatibility with version of WP older than 5.5
    • Change: Update copyright date (2024)
    • 066:
    • New: Add customization of capability needed to manage plugin settings (via new filter {plugin_prefix}_manage_options_capability)
    • Change: Add styles for nested lists within settings descriptions
    • Change: Note compatibility through WP 6.3+
    • 065:
    • New: Add support for ‘inline_help’ setting configuration option
    • New: Add support for ‘raw_help’ setting configuration option
    • New: Add support for use of lists within settings descriptions
    • Change: Add an ‘id’ attribute to settings form
    • Change: Add styles for disabled input text fields and inline setting help notices
    • Change: Support ‘number’ input by assigning ‘small-text’ class
    • Change: Tweak styling for settings page footer
    • Change: Note compatibility through WP 6.2+
    • Change: Update copyright date (2023)
    • 064:
    • New: For checkbox settings, support a ‘more_help’ config option for defining help text to appear below checkbox and its label
    • Fix: Fix URL for plugin listing donate link
    • Change: Store donation URL as object variable
    • Change: Update strings used for settings page donation link
  • Change: Ignore some PHPCS checks that don’t apply
  • Change: Update and improve long description and numerous FAQ entries
  • Change: Note compatibility through WP 6.8+
  • Change: Note compatibility through PHP 8.3+
  • Change: Drop compatibility with version of WP older than 5.5
  • Change: Tweak installation instruction
  • Change: Update copyright date (2025)
  • Change: Reduce number of tags defined in readme.txt
  • Change: Remove development and testing related files from release packaging

2.0.1 (2021-05-30)

  • Change: Update plugin framework to 063
    • Fix: Simplify settings initialization to prevent conflicts with other plugins
    • Change: Remove ability to detect plugin settings page before current screen is set, as it is no longer needed
    • Change: Enqueue thickbox during 'admin_enqueue_scripts' action instead of during 'init'
    • Change: Use is_plugin_admin_page() in help_tabs() instead of reproducing its functionality
    • Change: Trigger a debugging warning if is_plugin_admin_page() is used before 'admin_init' action is fired
  • New: Add new string (from plugin framework) for translation

2.0 (2021-05-12)

  • Change: Outright support HTML5 rather than check for theme support of HTML5, since that isn’t relevant to admin
  • Change: Update plugin framework to 062
    • 062:
    • Change: Update is_plugin_admin_page() to use get_current_screen() when available
    • Change: Actually prevent object cloning and unserialization by throwing an error
    • Change: Check that there is a current screen before attempting to access its property
    • Change: Remove ‘type’ attribute from style tag
    • Change: Incorporate commonly defined styling for inline_textarea
    • 061:
    • Fix bug preventing settings from getting saved
    • 060:
    • Rename class from c2c_{PluginName}_Plugin_051 to c2c_Plugin_060
    • Move string translation handling into inheriting class making the plugin framework code plugin-agnostic
      • Add abstract function get_c2c_string() as a getter for translated strings
      • Replace all existing string usage with calls to get_c2c_string()
    • Handle WordPress’s deprecation of the use of the term “whitelist”
      • Change: Rename whitelist_options() to allowed_options()
      • Change: Use add_allowed_options() instead of deprecated add_option_whitelist() for WP 5.5+
      • Change: Hook allowed_options filter instead of deprecated whitelist_options for WP 5.5+
    • New: Add initial unit tests (currently just covering is_wp_version_cmp() and get_c2c_string())
    • Add is_wp_version_cmp() as a utility to compare current WP version against a given WP version
    • Refactor contextual_help() to be easier to read, and correct function docblocks
    • Don’t translate urlencoded donation email body text
    • Add inline comments for translators to clarify purpose of placeholders
    • Change PHP package name (make it singular)
    • Tweak inline function description
    • Note compatibility through WP 5.7+
    • Update copyright date (2021)
    • 051:
    • Allow setting integer input value to include commas
    • Use number_format_i18n() to format integer value within input field
    • Update link to coffee2code.com to be HTTPS
    • Update readme_url() to refer to plugin’s readme.txt on plugins.svn.wordpress.org
    • Remove defunct line of code
  • Change: Use plugin framework’s is_plugin_admin_page() instead of reinventing it
  • New: Add a recommendation for Add Admin JavaScript plugin to settings page
  • Change: Output the multiple tips on the settings page as a list instead of multiple paragraphs
  • Change: Prevent appending newline to value of setting passed to filter unless an actual value was configured
  • Change: Move translation of all parent class strings into main plugin file
  • Change: Tweak conditional checks to be more succinct
  • Change: Ensure there’s a current screen before attempting to get one of its properties
  • Change: Omit inline styles for settings now that plugin framework defines them
  • Change: Output newlines after paragraph tags in settings page
  • Change: Note compatibility through WP 5.7+
  • Change: Update copyright date (2021)
  • Change: Change plugin’s short description
  • Change: Tweak some readme.txt documentation
  • Change: Tweak some inline function and parameter documentation
  • Unit tests:
    • New: Add tests for JS files getting registered and enqueued
    • New: Add tests for add_codemirror()
    • New: Add help function get_css_files()
    • Change: Restructure unit test directories and files into tests/ top-level directory
    • Change: Remove ‘test-‘ prefix from unit test files
    • Change: In bootstrap, store path to plugin file constant so its value can be used within that file and in test file

Copyright & Disclaimer

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Scott Reilly (aka coffee2code)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

Discussion / Support

Have any questions, comments, or suggestions? Please provide them via the plugin’s WordPress.org support forum. I’ll do my best to reply in a timely fashion and help as best I can.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide guaranteed support, nor do I provide support via any other means.

Was this plugin useful useful to you? Consider giving it a rating. If you’re inclined to give it a poor rating, please first post to the support forum to give me a chance to address or explain the situation.

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