Custom Highlight Color
by Nick Halsey · Uncategorized
Also makes 23 other plugins · 20.6K+ installs across the portfolio →
Many devices and browsers provide less-than-ideal colors when selecting text on sites. Users may select text for a variety of reasons, including as a …
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Health
A 85/100
Few reviews
Active installs
900+
≈960 estimated
Momentum
-9%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “theme color”, “highlights” and “background color” to your wp.org tags. You rank #5, #6 and #8 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
85 health vs 58 average across 25,755 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →7.2%
of downloads still active
At least 900 of 12.5K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,772 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Uncategorized plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 111 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.0.8, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 5 reviews, smoothed to 4.18★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
40
Momentum
Mixed: one swing, the rest drifting
0.0
Velocity
places per keyword, 27d
22%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 27d
+0.2
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| highlight your tag | #3 | #12 | down 1 |
| color your tag | #3 | #7 | down 1 |
| custom color your tag | #3 | #9 | up 1 |
| theme color | #5 | #16 | up 1 |
| selection your tag | #9 | #20 | down 2 |
| highlights | #6 | #19 | down 1 |
| text highlight | #4 | #11 | 0 |
| background color | #8 | #17 | down 1 |
| highlight text | #5 | #11 | 0 |
| colors | #12 | #19 | down 1 |
| custom colors | #10 | #20 | 0 |
| text color | #6 | #12 | 0 |
| color text | #6 | #10 | 0 |
| custom colors plugin | #15 | #22 | up 2 |
34 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 14 listed. 20 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).
What to do about it
- Add “theme color”, “highlights” and “background color” to your wp.org tags. You rank #5, #6 and #8 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 760 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 32% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “900+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 5 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 59% of the way through.
Install history since 24 Dec 2016
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ wiredgorilla4.9y ago
Great simple tool! Thanks heaps!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ diegom115.6y ago
A life saver when you’re not so good with css code, it does exactly what it says it does.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ ekofan6.3y ago
Finally found a great and easy plugin to highlight text in the desired color. I use Avada theme and it works great in Firefox.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Joseph8.2y ago
This is an incredible plugin, really helpful. Just a heads up to the community, the color settings seems not to show up on certain themes, that doesn’t mean the plugin doesn’t work. Just switch to twenty fourteen theme and the option will show up. After configuring the text highlight settings, you can switch back to your preferred theme and your text highlight settings will still take effect on that new theme.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ romanzy9.6y ago
Thank you for the good work. I appreciate people like you who do a fantastic job for WordPress.
Read on wp.org ↗
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
3 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 3 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 2 of 3 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 434 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text 2 of 4 tags appear in the text; "custom color", "selection" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-06-06 1K+ → 900+ down after 8 days in tier
- 2026-05-29 900+ → 1K+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-05-28 1K+ → 900+ down after 1332 days in tier
- 2022-10-04 700+ → 1K+ up after 805 days in tier
- 2020-07-21 400+ → 700+ up after 598 days in tier
- 2018-12-01 300+ → 400+ up after 91 days in tier
- 2018-09-01 200+ → 300+ up after 183 days in tier
- 2018-03-02 50+ → 200+ up
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Mark Posts 1K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A -
Colored Admin Post List 500+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags A -
Mxwlsoft Post Row Colors – Background Highlighter for Admin — installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags -
String locator 100K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A -
Central Color Palette 10K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag D -
Highlighting Code Block 10K+ installs · 4.3★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Custom Highlight Color into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/custom-highlight-color" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Custom Highlight Color — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Custom Highlight Color: 900+ active installs, 5.0★ (5 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/custom-highlight-color
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