Changelog Feed Widget

Publish product updates as a clean release-notes feed: each version gets its date in the reader's own format, text pills such as New, Improved, Fixed and Security, and older releases fold away behind one button.

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Theme
Auto follows the visitor's light/dark setting.
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Attribution on your page
Optional and entirely your choice. The exact line is shown in the code below; it links to the tool with rel="nofollow".
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Starting values
One item per line. Long content is carried after the # in the embed code, so it never reaches a server.
Leave blank to use the widget's defaults. Visitors can still change every value.

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Exactly what your visitors will see

Embed code

<iframe src="https://a2z.tools/embed/w/changelog-feed" title="Changelog Feed by A2Z Tools" width="100%" height="452" style="border:0;width:100%" loading="lazy" allow="clipboard-write"></iframe>

A plain iframe. Works everywhere, including site builders that strip scripts. Adjust height if your content needs more room.

Works with

How it works

Write a heading line for every release - two hashes, the version and/or an ISO date such as 2026-09-22, then optional tags and an optional link, separated by vertical bars - followed by its changes as bullet lines starting with a dash. A plain line straight under the heading becomes a short summary. Dates are read only in the unambiguous YYYY-MM-DD form that Keep a Changelog recommends, checked against the calendar (2026-02-30 is left as text) and shown through Intl in each reader's locale: Sep 22, 2026 in the US, 22 Sept 2026 in the UK. Tags understand New, Improved, Fixed, Security, Breaking and Deprecated plus synonyms such as added, changed or bugfix; any other word becomes a neutral pill, and a single change can carry its own tag as [fixed] at the start. Releases stay in the order you write them, newest first, and the top one is marked Latest. The first 3, 5 or 10 are shown; the rest sit behind a "Show 4 older releases" button with aria-expanded. Change text understands **bold** and `code` and nothing else.

Method

  • Heading: ## version and/or YYYY-MM-DD | tags (comma separated) | https link; bullets: - text, * text or • text; "- [fixed] text" tags one change
  • Tag map: added/new/feature -> New; changed/improved/updated -> Improved; fix/fixed/bugfix -> Fixed; security; removed/breaking -> Breaking; deprecated
  • Dates: valid calendar dates only, formatted with Intl (timeZone UTC so the day never shifts) in the reader's locale
  • Visible releases = min(total, v_show) where v_show = 3 (default) | 5 | 10 | all; at most 60 releases and 40 changes each
  • Inline markup: **bold** -> strong, `code` -> code; everything else is text

Worked examples

Heading with version, date, tags and link

Inputs: ## v2.4.0 2026-09-22 | new, improved | https://example.com/blog/2-4

Result: Title v2.4.0, date Sep 22, 2026 (en-US), pills Latest, New, Improved, and a "Release notes for v2.4.0" link

The ISO date is pulled out of the heading and the two tags map to their pills.

Five releases, default show

Inputs: 5 release headings, v_show blank

Result: 3 releases visible and a "Show 2 older releases" button with aria-expanded=false

visibleCount = min(5, 3) = 3.

Impossible date

Inputs: ## v1.0 - 2026-02-30

Result: Title "v1.0 - 2026-02-30" shown as written, no date line

February 2026 has 28 days, so the text is not treated as a date.

Limitations

  • Release notes are pasted into the builder; the feed does not read GitHub releases, RSS or a CHANGELOG.md file automatically.
  • No per-visitor unread markers, subscriptions or email alerts.
  • Only **bold** and `code` formatting; no images, headings or tables inside a release.

Where publishers use it

  • A SaaS dashboard's What's new page listing monthly releases with Security fixes called out
  • A WordPress plugin author's support site showing version history next to the download button
  • A mobile app's landing page summarising the last three App Store updates in plain language
  • An online course platform telling teachers which grading features changed this term
  • An open-source project's GitHub Pages site mirroring the CHANGELOG with readable dates

Questions

Do I have to use semantic version numbers?

No. The version part is shown exactly as written - v2.4.0, Build 1187, Autumn 2026 update or nothing at all. If a heading has only a date, the date itself becomes the title, for example September 22, 2026. Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH) simply makes it easy for readers to see that 2.4.0 adds features while 2.3.1 only fixes things.

Why must dates be written as 2026-09-22?

Because 03/04/2026 means 3 April in Britain and March 4 in the US. The ISO 8601 form is unambiguous, sorts correctly and is what Keep a Changelog recommends. The widget then displays it the way each reader expects - 22 Sept 2026, Sep 22, 2026 or 22. Sept. 2026 - using the browser's own date formatting.

Which tags should I use?

Keep a Changelog groups changes as Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed and Security. The feed shows those as New, Improved, Deprecated, Breaking, Fixed and Security pills, each with its own text so meaning never depends on colour. Up to four tags fit on a release heading; tag a single change by starting its line with [security] or [fixed].

Can it show an unread dot for returning visitors?

No. The feed runs inside an iframe served from A2Z, so it cannot know who read your earlier releases on your site, and it deliberately stores nothing about readers. The first release is labelled Latest instead, which is accurate for every visitor.

How many releases should I paste in?

As many as you like up to 60; a typical choice is the last 10-15, with 3 shown and the rest behind Show older. Very long notes are better summarised in two to five bullets per release with a link to the full post - the whole feed travels in the embed code, which is capped at about 16,000 characters.

Sources

  1. Keep a Changelog 1.1.0 - Olivier Lacan . Change types Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed, Security; latest version first; ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD dates. Checked 2026-10-01.
  2. Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 - semver.org . MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH meaning used in the FAQ.

Cite or recommend this tool

If you reference this tool in an article, course or documentation, these formats are ready to copy. They are optional - nothing is added to your site unless you paste it.

A2Z Tools Changelog Feed
https://a2z.tools/embed/changelog-feed

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