The On This Day Widget should handle untitled posts more nicely

[alshakero]

All details can be seen here: ​https://wordpress.org/support/topic/on-this-day-widget/

To summarize, when a post has no title, the widget should show a few words from the post's body instead of "(no title)".

## Summary

Trac: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/65658
See: ​https://wordpress.org/support/topic/on-this-day-widget/

This adds the same untitled-post fallback used in the posts list table to the On This Day dashboard widget. When a matching post has no title, the widget now appends a trimmed excerpt after (no title) when the current user can read the post and the post is not password protected.

The change keeps protected post excerpts hidden and adds PHPUnit coverage for the trimmed excerpt and password-protected cases.

## Testing

• Checkout this PR locally and run npm run env:start, then npm run env:install.
• Go to Dashboard (admin:password), you should see the widget.
• Insepect its empty state.
• Import this file to create backdated posts: ​filexml
• Use the widget.
• Update the post to get rid of the title.
• It should render (no title) 15 word excerpt.

Thank you @alshakero for jumping right on it!

[joedolson]

I'm switching this to a bug, on the grounds that it's an inconsistency in how posts are represented between these two cases, and the content will be significantly more relevant in cases where it applies.

[softglaze]

Test report for ​PR 12581 against current trunk (7.1-beta3-src).

Environment: Windows host, wordpress-develop Docker environment, Chrome. Test data created via WP-CLI: a titled post and an untitled post backdated to today's date in 2024, plus a password-protected untitled post backdated to 2025.

Unit tests:

• --filter OnThisDay: OK (15 tests, 36 assertions) — includes the PR's new coverage for the trimmed-excerpt and password-protected cases.
• --filter dashboard: OK (4 tests, 7 assertions). PHPUnit 9.6.35, no failures or errors.

Manual verification (trunk → PR 12581):

Case	Trunk	With PR 12581
Untitled post	bare "(no title)"	"(no title)" + trimmed ~15-word excerpt, matching the posts list table ✅
Password-protected untitled post	bare "(no title)"	still bare "(no title)" — no excerpt ✅
Titled post	normal	unchanged ✅

Password-protection guard, verified at output level: searched the rendered dashboard HTML via view-source — the protected post's content appears zero times anywhere in the page, so the guard holds in real rendering, not only in the unit tests.

Result: the fallback works as described and the protection guard holds. Tests well.

One observation for consideration (not a blocker): the Activity → Recently Published widget on the same dashboard still shows bare "(no title)" for the same untitled posts. If the rationale in comment:3 is consistency of untitled-post representation, Activity may be worth the same treatment in a follow-up.

Addressed all!

Hi @peterwilsoncc! Can we have this merged? I think it's good to go.

[iamraju]

Test Report

Patch tested: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/12581

Environment

• WordPress: 7.1-beta3-20260727.223424
• Subdirectory: No
• PHP: 8.3.32
• Server: PHP.wasm
• Database: WP_SQLite_Driver (Server: 8.0.38 / Client: 3.51.0)
• Browser: Chrome 150.0.0.0
• OS: macOS
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.5
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins:
  • Test Reports 1.3.0

Steps taken

1. Opened the WordPress Playground preview for PR #12581 and logged in to the admin dashboard.
2. Created a new post with content and set its publication date to match the current month and day so it would appear in the On This Day dashboard widget.
3. Removed the post title and published the post.
4. Verified that, before applying the patch, the widget displayed only "(no title)" for the untitled post.
5. Repeated the same steps with the patch applied.
6. Confirmed that the widget displayed "(no title)" followed by a trimmed excerpt of the post content.
7. Created another untitled post with password protection enabled and confirmed that only "(no title)" was displayed, with no excerpt exposed.
8. Verified that posts with titles continued to display normally.

Result: ✅ Patch is solving the problem.

Expected result

• Untitled posts in the On This Day dashboard widget should display "(no title)" followed by a trimmed excerpt when the current user can read the post and the post is not password protected.
• Password-protected untitled posts should continue to display only "(no title)", without exposing any excerpt.
• Posts with titles should remain unchanged.

Additional Notes

Comparison of behavior before and after applying the patch:

• Untitled post

• Trunk: Displays only "(no title)".
• With PR #12581: Displays "(no title)" followed by a trimmed (~15-word) excerpt, matching the behavior of the Posts list table. ✅

• Password-protected untitled post

• Trunk: Displays only "(no title)".
• With PR #12581: Continues to display only "(no title)", with no excerpt exposed. ✅

• Titled post

• Trunk: Displays normally.
• With PR #12581: No change in behavior. ✅

No regressions or unexpected behavior were observed during testing.

Screenshots/Screencast with results

• Screenshot before applying the patch.
• Screenshot after applying the patch.
• Screenshot of the password-protected untitled post (optional).

Support Content

1. WordPress Playground preview for PR #12581.
2. Before/after screenshots demonstrating the fix.

[iamraju]

before applying the patch

[iamraju]

After applying the patch

[iamraju]

After applying the patch with password protected untitled post

[mirmpro]

Test Report

Patch tested: ​https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/12581.diff

Environment

• WordPress: 7.1-beta3-62828-src
• Subdirectory: No
• PHP: 8.3.31
• Server: nginx/1.31.2
• Database: mysqli (Server: 9.7.2 / Client: mysqlnd 8.3.31)
• Browser: Chrome 150.0.0.0
• OS: macOS
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.5
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins:
  • WordPress Importer 0.9.5
  • Test Reports 1.3.0

Steps taken

1. Launched the WordPress environment via both Playground and Docker and verified the "On This Day" dashboard widget.
2. Imported backdated test posts using the XML file.
3. Edited a post to remove its title and returned to the dashboard to confirm it correctly renders as (no title) followed by the 15-word excerpt fallback.
4. Created an untitled post with password protection enabled and verified that only (no title) is displayed with no excerpt exposed.

• ✅ Patch is solving the problem

Expected result

• When a matching post in the "On This Day" widget has no title, it should display a (no title) fallback followed by a trimmed excerpt (for readable, non-password-protected posts), matching the posts list table behavior.

Additional Notes

• Successfully tested and verified the patch.

Screenshots/Screencast with results

• Yes

Support Content

• Patch URL: https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/12581.diff

[nazmulasif]

✅ After pulling the PR the on This Day widget is working as expected with protected posts as well.

@joedolson @t-hamano thanks for the reviews! Addressed.

Thanks so much for jumping right on this. I just managed to test this today and opened a trac issue prematurely only to find you all are all over it. It's looking great to me, UI wise.

[joedolson]

#65784 was marked as a duplicate.

[shailu25]

Test Report

This Report Validates that the indicated patch address the issue.✅

Patch Tested: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/12581

Environment:

WordPress - 7.1-beta4-20260731.072215
OS - Windows
Browser - Chrome
Theme: Twenty Twenty Five
PHP - 8.2
Plugin - None

Actual Results:

• Issue Resolved with Patch ✅

Additional Notes

• With this PR, the issue is resolved. The only remaining item is to address the review feedback by adding the two requested test cases.

Supplemental Artifacts

• Attached

[shailu25]

Before Patch

[shailu25]

After Patch

Hi @t-hamano! Addressed. Thank you so much for the review.

[joedolson]

In 62968:

Widgets: Show post excerpts in On This Day widget if no title.

Match the behavior of posts in list tables by showing a short excerpt in the On This Day widget when the post does not have a saved title.

Developed in ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/12581

Props alshakero, softglaze, iamraju, mirmpro, shailu25, bph, nazmulasif, wildworks, annezazu, mukesh27, peterwilsoncc, joedolson.
Fixes #65658.