AboutBuzz Stories Embed

AboutBuzz Stories Embed renders a responsive, lazy-loading carousel of verified video reviews from AboutBuzz.com. Add the shortcode [aboutbuzz_reviews code="ABZ-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"] anywhere in your content and the plugin handles fetching, caching, and rendering.

2.0.2 Branding refresh, mobile layout fix, and per-review language labels. Updates the widget palette to the new AboutBuzz brand colors, resolves a mobile-only layout bug where the rating stars wrapped onto a second line on narrow cards, and renders the "Verified product review" label in the language of each individual review.

• Per-review "Verified product review" label. The label under each video is now selected from the review's acf.jezik field (returned by /wp-json/aboutbuzz/v1/stories/by-code), so a Slovenian review shows "Ocena testiranega izdelka" while an English review on the same page shows "Verified product review". Six languages are supported out-of-the-box, with both Slovene-language and English-language native names accepted as input values:
• Slovenian (Slovenščina / Slovenian) → "Ocena testiranega izdelka"
• English (Angleščina / English) → "Verified product review"
• Russian (Ruščina / Russian) → "Проверенный отзыв о товаре"
• German (Nemščina / German) → "Verifizierte Produktbewertung"
• Latvian (Latviščina / Latvian) → "Apstiprināta produkta atsauksme"
• Turkish (Turščina / Turkish) → "Doğrulanmış ürün yorumu"
• Unknown / missing values fall back to the WordPress site locale via the existing __('Verified product review', …) translation, so behavior on existing sites is unchanged when the API has no language data.
• language added to the sanitized story array. A new language key (canonical 2-letter code) is now stored in the per-story sanitized array and the 5-minute response cache. A migration guard discards any 2.0.1 transient entry that's missing this key on first read after upgrade, so the new label kicks in immediately on the next render — no manual cache flush required.
• Brand palette updated. --aboutbuzz-text changed from #545454 to #404040, and --aboutbuzz-accent changed from #007cba to #01798C (new AboutBuzz teal). Affects body text and any element bound to the accent variable (logo text, etc.).
• Loading spinner restyled. Spinner border thickness increased from 2px to 3px, and the active arc color now uses the new accent #01798C instead of the previous #3498db.
• Mobile card width increased from 58% to 80% of the viewport (@media (max-width: 600px)). The narrower card was causing the rating row to overflow and the star icons to wrap onto a new line on small screens. scroll-padding-inline was updated in lockstep so scroll-snap centering still works.
• Rating row hardened against overflow. .row-0 / .ab-info-row now declares flex-wrap: nowrap with gap: 8px. The rating-stars container is inline-flex with flex-shrink: 0 and white-space: nowrap, and .aboutbutzz_like_wrapper is also flex-shrink: 0. Stars and the like button stay on a single row regardless of card width.

2.0.1 Privacy hardening. Reduces the surface area for personal data from the AboutBuzz API to land on the client site.

• Response caching now holds a sanitized array instead of the raw API body. The aboutbuzz_stories_bycode_<md5> transient previously stored the full JSON response body as a string, meaning any fields the server returned (including ones this plugin does not render) would sit in wp_options for up to 5 minutes per activation code. The transient now stores only the allowlisted $sanitized_posts array (ID, rating, vote_count, watermark_video, product_source, brand, and the video URL) that the template actually consumes. Extra server-returned fields are dropped before caching.
• Removed the unused post_title field from the sanitized story array. It was being copied from the API response but never rendered anywhere in the template. Since post_title on the AboutBuzz side can contain reviewer names, stripping it here removes that field from the client's in-memory and cached representation of each story.
• Migration guard for the legacy cache format. Existing transient entries (stored as JSON strings by earlier builds) are discarded on first read after upgrade; the next render repopulates the cache in the new array format. No manual cache flush required.
• 5-minute cache TTL and the ?abz_nocache=1 admin bypass are unchanged.
• Removed per-review title interpolation from video aria-label and alt strings; accessibility labels are now generic ("Predvajaj video oceno" / "Predogled video ocene"). Translations (.pot, sl_SI, en_US) updated to match the new msgids.

2.0.0 Major release. Card design redesigned to match aboutbuzz.com homepage, CSS architecture moved to @scope for isolation, response caching added, new Product Source badges, admin diagnostics for error paths.

• "Verified Purchase" / "Verified Tester" overlay badges driven by the product_source ACF field; assets bundled locally.
• Rating row always renders 5 inline-SVG stars (filled #FFB600, empty outlined #C7C7C7).
• Always-on single-row scroll-snap carousel; mobile cards at 58% of viewport so neighbours peek.
• All widget styles wrapped in @scope (.aboutbuzz-reviews-host) { ... }; CSS custom properties exposed for theming (--aboutbuzz-card-bg, --aboutbuzz-text, --aboutbuzz-muted, --aboutbuzz-accent, --aboutbuzz-star-filled, --aboutbuzz-star-empty, --aboutbuzz-radius, --aboutbuzz-video-height).
• 5-minute response cache per activation code; errors never cached. Per-visitor rate limit counts cache misses only (60/hour). Admin ?abz_nocache=1 bypass.
• Admin-only yellow info boxes for rate-limit / HTTP error / network error / invalid-JSON paths; public visitors see nothing.
• New ABOUTBUZZ_EMBED_VERSION constant drives enqueue cache-busting and API User-Agent.
• Star row carries an aria-label with the numeric rating; individual SVGs are aria-hidden. Decorative check alt emptied.
• .pot, en_US.po, sl_SI.po updated; .mo files recompiled.

Breaking changes:

• The legacy "wrap as a row at 1–3 videos, carousel at 4+" layout is gone — every count renders as a carousel.
• Brand-site CSS targeting class names the plugin never emits (.playbutton, .heart-icon, .vote-button-overlay, .vote-count, .voting, .video-preview) will continue to do nothing.
• If a brand theme forces .ab-info-row { display: grid }, the flex-based layout will break — remove the conflicting rule.

1.9.x

• 1.9.3 — Fixed first thumbnail not loading on sites using third-party lazy-loaders (WP Rocket, LiteSpeed). Added data-no-lazy, data-skip-lazy, skip-lazy, no-lazyload to the first image.
• 1.9.2 — Updated plugin logo.
• 1.9.1 — Full i18n support: translatable strings, .pot template, sl_SI and en_US catalogs, translatable ARIA labels.
• 1.9.0 — Shortcode renamed [aboutbuzz_smart_stories] → [aboutbuzz_reviews]. Auto-detects brand from the activation code; code is the only parameter.

1.8.x

• 1.8.2 — Removed problematic all: unset reset.
• 1.8.1 — Assets fix.
• 1.8.0 — Visual redesign: modern layout, refreshed colors, improved spacing, better like-button feedback, custom Nunito Sans font, new SVG carousel arrows.

1.7.x

• 1.7.9 — Heart icon styling fix (red, proper opacity states).
• 1.7.8 — Added "Oddaj video mnenje" upload link.
• 1.7.7 — Major WordPress.org compliance pass: external CSS/JS, AJAX likes, CORS + nonces, no inline styles.
• Earlier 1.7.x — Initial release, carousel, like button, mobile centering, caching.