What happen to Menu Label

We removed this functionality in 2.3.11. https://github.com/semperfiwebdesign/all-in-one-seo-pack/issues/628 discusses reasons why.

You can use https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/page-menu-editor/ if you’d still like this functionality.

@michael Torbert
This is a very, very strange answer. As you could imagine, there are many users, that used the menu-label to structure the navigation of their sites.

For all of these, removing this feature means, that the layout could be/will be destroyed. They now can rollback (to version 2.3.10.2) or – that is what I strongly recommend – remove AIOSEO completely and use another SEO-Plugin.

Funny, that you post a link to an internal discussion, that did not for a second consider that changing this will have influence on a lot of sites.

And finally you post a link to a plugin that has not been updated for more than 3 years (!) as a replacement.

All together this show (again, as there where similar issues of removeing feartures in teh last weeks), that you are obviously not interested in which effects the changes of the plugin have for the users.

“This is a very, very strange answer. As you could imagine, there are many users, that used the menu-label to structure the navigation of their sites.”

This functionality is built into WP core, and has been for over 6 years. As mentioned in issue #628, modern themes (since WP 3.0 came out in 2010) use wp_nav_menu instead of wp_list_pages. Using wp_list_pages exclusively for a nav menu is prohibited by the theme review team for inclusion in the .org repository, and pretty much only outdated themes wouldn’t be supporting custom nav menus.

“Funny, that you post a link to an internal discussion,”

It is literally the opposite of an internal discussion. We switched to a public github repository for the sole reason of having development, and discussions about development, open to anyone. As they say in WP core development, decisions are made by those who show up.

“And finally you post a link to a plugin that has not been updated for more than 3 years (!) as a replacement”

I may be mistaken, but off the top of my head I think it’s been more than 3 years since we’ve touched this functionality (which is kind of the point… we haven’t touched it because it’s functionality for an outdated way of doing things in WordPress).
That Sarah’s plugin hasn’t been updated in 3 years doesn’t mean anything. Plenty of useful plugins don’t need regular updates.

“All together this show (again, as there where similar issues of removeing feartures in teh last weeks),”

For the most part, we aren’t removing features so much as we’re removing the UI for some of the features that don’t need a UI. We’re in the process of trying to make the options screens easier, less confusing, etc.

“that you are obviously not interested in which effects the changes of the plugin have for the users.”

Anything that’s removed (whether functionality or just the UI for that functionality) is carefully considered. The decision is based on what is determined to be in the best interest of users. Ultimately, it was determined that maintaining legacy code, two options on the options page, and two settings on the edit page page for outdated functionality that’s been handled in WordPress itself for over 6 years wasn’t in the best interest of users.

@michael Torbert same as you say many plugins don’t need frequent updates apply to many themes until you break them. There are many old and popular themes in the www.ads-software.com repository that the user community rely on. These themes were designed before the WP 3.0 Menu feature and therefore we relied on your All-in-One SEO Menu Label field. One such popular theme is Intepidity which is used by a lot of WP based sites.

It will be nice that when you plan to remove a feature from a plugin that will affect a large amount of users that you will give us some advance notice so we can plan accordingly.

There’s a difference between plugins and themes. You could potentially have a small (even one-line) plugin that will always work with future WP versions, uses the appropriate standards and methods of accomplishing its functionality, and has no need to be updated. Themes generally require updates to keep up with the latest template tags, etc.

I don’t actually recommend using Sarah’s plugin in general, as this functionality is built into WordPress. I only recommended it be used as a quick fix if you actually need the functionality and it isn’t supported by your theme… even better would be to use a modern theme.

As for Intrepidity, it has a zero percent compliance rating by themecheck https://themecheck.org/score/wordpress-theme-intrepidity.html and would not be allowed into the repository if submitted today, for a variety of reasons, including not supporting wp_nav_menu.

I reached out to a member of the .org Theme Review Team today, who agreed that a) themes should be supporting wp_nav_menu and b) that support for this legacy functionality and wrong way of doing nav menus should not be in AIOSEOP.

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We do give advanced notice.
a) changelog
b) follow along (or even participate) on Github
c) Many, but not all (and not this one), updates have a blog post, although this is largely just rehashing the changelog.

I welcome any suggestions you have to better provide advance notice than these three methods.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Michael Torbert.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Michael Torbert.

Here’s an add-on plugin you can install that adds this functionality back to AIOSEOP https://github.com/semperfiwebdesign/aioseopmenulabel

Hi Michael – Thanks for providing the add-on plugin.

I ran plugin updates across a dozen sites (thankfully on our staging server), and noticed that all of our menus were broken. Of course the problem was that we were relying on the ‘menu label’ functionality in your plugin.

While the functionality to change the menu labels is built into core, it isn’t provided on individual static pages, only on menu items. In order to use that function, you would have to manually build out the menus.

For themes that automatically generate menus based on page and page meta that functionality isn’t available.

I have to be honest in saying that I don’t completely understand what the purpose of removing the function is. While I appreciate that you have provided and add-on plugin…wouldn’t it have simply been easier to keep it in the main plugin? Especially given how many sites will be affected, and may not find this solution.

Also, I just installed and activated the ‘aioseopmenulabel’ plugin, and don’t see a post/page metafield for changing the menu label (on the individual page admin screen, where the option was previously).

I installed the linked plugin, and updated the All-in-one SEO pack, and don’t see it. Any suggestions?

Thanks

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by lostarts00.

We’re currently in the process of making the plugin easier for new users, and part of that is to have a cleaner interface. (This is especially important as the plugin continues to grow with new features and new options.) Pro users like you who’ve watched the plugin grow over the years may not have a problem with all the extra settings, but for a new user, it can be overwhelming.
The decision to remove these two settings was a difficult one, just like the decision to add/remove any other setting, or to make a live change to a site.
Ultimately, we decided to remove a) an option with zero SEO value and possible accessibility issues and b) an option that is frankly outdated. Modern themes support menu labels for anything added to menus, including pages (and any other URL).
I previously discussed this with a member of the www.ads-software.com Theme Review Team, who agreed that the functionality should be removed.

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In order to edit the menu label and title attribute for a page, enable custom fields in your screen options on the edit post screen.

You can then assign values to _aioseop_menulabel and _aioseop_titleatr as needed.

Hi Michael,
Yes, that’s understandable that you would want to make the plugin easier for new users.

Unfortunately that add-on plugin didn’t seem to do anything even with the custom fields on. I didn’t see anything in the screenoptions related to it.

However, the Page Menu Editor plugin does seem to work well, and even allows a one click migration for those that were using All-in-one-SEO Pack to manage menu labels. So for anyone else reading, I would personally recommend that.

Thanks for your replies, and of course your plugin.

The add-on plugin will apply any meta stored as _aioseop_menulabel and _aioseop_titleatr to the front end of the site as before. The AIOSEOP to edit them in edit.php isn’t included, so you have to use the WP custom fields interface to do it. I’m not sure why you don’t have the checkbox… probably a plugin or your theme has removed it. You also seem to be missing Featured Image.

I also recommend using Sarah’s Page Menu Editor plugin if you want this functionality. Its import is very handy. Even better would be to use the custom menu functionality built into WordPress.