Launch Curtain shows visitors a branded \"Coming Soon\" page while a site is being built, while logged-in administrators keep browsing the live site as usual. Everything is configured from one settings screen \u2014 no code editing required \u2014 which makes the plugin equally suited to a single site or a whole roster of client projects.<\/p>\n\n
Design<\/strong>\n* Four built-in themes \u2014 Classic, Minimal, Dark, Split \u2014 switchable in one click.\n* Customizable heading, subtitle, badges\/tags, call-to-action button, image and color palette.\n* Clickable social media icons (Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, VK, YouTube, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, email, phone).\n* The stub is a normal WordPress page with no theme header\/footer, so it can be further refined in Elementor or the block editor.<\/p>\n\n Access & SEO<\/strong>\n* Administrators (manage_options) always see the real site.\n* Optional list of IP addresses that always see the real site (client, designer, contractors).\n* Two display modes: a simple redirect (302), or an in-place stub with a proper HTTP 503 status and Retry-After header \u2014 recommended for SEO during a temporary outage.\n* Automatic noindex on the stub page while it's active.\n* Optional auto-disable on a scheduled date\/time.<\/p>\n\n Multilingual<\/strong>\n* Fully translatable (WordPress i18n standard) \u2014 ships with an English source and a Russian translation; add more via the included .pot file.<\/p>\n\n\n Just replace the plugin files as usual (or update through the Plugins screen once the plugin is listed in the directory). Existing settings are preserved; only newly added fields get their default value.<\/p>\n\n\n Yes. Regular visitors are shown the stub page instead of the rest of the site. Anyone logged into WordPress as an administrator keeps seeing the real site as normal, so you can keep building without switching accounts or using a private\/incognito window.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes. The stub is a normal WordPress page with no theme header\/footer, so you can open it in Elementor or the block editor and change anything by hand. Just keep in mind that clicking \"Save\" on the settings screen rebuilds the page from the settings fields again, which would overwrite manual edits \u2014 use the settings fields for day-to-day changes, and manual page editing for one-off design tweaks you don't want the plugin to touch again.<\/p><\/dd>\n You choose. \"Redirect (302)\" sends visitors to the stub page's own URL \u2014 simple, but the address bar changes. \"No redirect (503 + Retry-After)\" shows the stub at whatever URL the visitor requested, with a proper HTTP 503 status \u2014 the approach generally recommended for a temporary outage, since search engines understand the site is only temporarily unavailable instead of treating it as a permanent change.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes \u2014 add their IP address under \"Always show the real site to\" in the settings.<\/p><\/dd>\n Deactivating just stops the redirect; the stub page itself stays in your Pages list untouched. Deleting the plugin removes its settings but does not delete the stub page \u2014 you can keep, edit, or delete that page like any other.<\/p><\/dd>\n Yes \u2014 a small, unobtrusive \"Powered by Hookmaster\" text link appears at the bottom of the stub page, pointing to the developer's wordpress.org profile. It doesn't collect or send any data, doesn't affect functionality or performance, and isn't an advertisement for a third party.<\/p><\/dd>\n\n<\/dl>\n\n\n\n
launch-curtain<\/code> folder to \/wp-content\/plugins\/<\/code>, or install the plugin directly through the \"Plugins \u2192 Add New\" screen in WordPress.<\/li>\nUpdating from a previous version<\/h4>\n\n
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Will visitors really not notice anything is wrong?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Can I edit the stub page's design directly, instead of using the settings fields?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Does this create a real redirect, and is that bad for SEO?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Can I let specific people (client, designer, QA) see the real site without logging in?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
What happens to my content if I deactivate or delete the plugin?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
Does this plugin link back to the developer anywhere?<\/h3><\/dt>\n
4.10.1<\/h4>\n\n
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wp_kses()<\/code> and a purpose-built tag\/attribute allowlist (svg\/path\/rect\/circle\/text plus the wrapping div\/a), instead of a phpcs:ignore<\/code> suppression. This matters because the icon set is filterable via launcu_social_icons<\/code> for future extensibility, so its output could no longer be assumed to always be hardcoded, trusted markup \u2014 real escaping now provides a genuine safety net if a third-party filter callback ever returns something unexpected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n4.10.0<\/h4>\n\n
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launcu_<\/code>\/LAUNCU_<\/code> prefix instead of the too-short lc_<\/code>\/LC_<\/code>, to avoid collisions with other plugins\/themes.<\/li>\nwp_register_style()<\/code> + wp_add_inline_style()<\/code>) instead of a raw <style><\/code> tag in the template \u2014 and now uses the actual configured background color instead of a hardcoded one.<\/li>\n4.9.3<\/h4>\n\n
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phpcs:ignore<\/code> documentation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n4.9.2<\/h4>\n\n
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lc_social_html()<\/code> is now documented with phpcs:ignore<\/code> \u2014 lc_social_icon_svg()<\/code> only ever returns one of a small set of hardcoded, developer-authored SVG strings (never user input), so it doesn't need runtime escaping.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n4.9.1<\/h4>\n\n
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load_plugin_textdomain()<\/code> call \u2014 WordPress has auto-loaded bundled plugin translations since 4.6, so this was unnecessary and is now handled automatically.<\/li>\n$_POST<\/code> are now unslashed and sanitized before verification (wp_verify_nonce()<\/code>), per WordPress coding standards.<\/li>\nphpcs:ignore<\/code> + a reason) the handful of places where a helper function\/variable already built from escaped pieces (esc_html()<\/code>\/esc_attr()<\/code>\/esc_url()<\/code>) is echoed as a whole \u2014 automated scanners can't trace escaping through a variable, so these are expected, reviewed exceptions, not unescaped output.<\/li>\n.distignore<\/code> file (a build-tool helper, not part of the plugin itself) is no longer bundled into the distributed zip, since hidden\/dot files aren't allowed in the WordPress.org package.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n4.9.0<\/h4>\n\n
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lc_show_credit<\/code> filter, reserved for a future Pro add-on (add_filter('lc_show_credit', '__return_false');<\/code>).<\/li>\n4.8.1<\/h4>\n\n
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4.8.0<\/h4>\n\n
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lc_themes<\/code> and lc_page_content<\/code> filters let extra themes be registered without touching core; lc_social_platforms<\/code> \/ lc_social_icons<\/code> let extra social networks be added; lc_is_visitor_bypassed<\/code> filter for custom access rules (e.g. password protection); lc_default_settings<\/code> \/ lc_sanitize_settings<\/code> filters and lc_settings_page_after_theme<\/code> \/ lc_settings_page_end<\/code> action hooks for extra settings sections.<\/li>\nlc_show_credit<\/code> for a future Pro add-on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n4.7.0<\/h4>\n\n
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4.6.2<\/h4>\n\n
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4.6.1<\/h4>\n\n
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4.6.0<\/h4>\n\n
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4.5.0<\/h4>\n\n
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4.4.0<\/h4>\n\n
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4.3.0<\/h4>\n\n
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4.2.0<\/h4>\n\n
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4.1.0<\/h4>\n\n
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4.0.0<\/h4>\n\n
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3.0.1<\/h4>\n\n
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