Retype adds one entry to the formatting toolbar of the block editor, in the “More” dropdown next to Highlight and Inline code. Select a word in a heading or a paragraph, choose Retype, type a few words separated by commas, and apply. The same popover can set, for that word only, the typing speed, the pause on each word and the color of the caret.

On the front end the selected word is shown first. After a pause it is erased letter by letter, the next word of the list is typed in its place, and the cycle goes on. A thin caret blinks at the end of the word while it types.

We help every <baker, potter, beekeeper> find their customers.

There is no settings page, no option in your database, no account and no outgoing request.

How it behaves

The word takes its real width as it is typed, so the text that follows it moves along with the writing.
A word that is entirely bold, italic or a link keeps that formatting while it is retyped. A word formatted only in part is left still.
Words added to the page after it loads, by a “load more” button for instance, are animated too.
The animation pauses when the browser tab is hidden or the word is scrolled out of view, and resumes when it comes back.
Nothing loads on pages that do not use the format. Where it is used, the front end gets a script of about 5 KB, loaded with defer in the footer, and a stylesheet under 1 KB.
The words are inserted as text, never as HTML.
The saved markup is a plain <span> with a class and a data attribute. If you deactivate the plugin, the selected word simply stays in the sentence, and no block is invalidated.

Accessibility

No plugin can make a site accessible on its own, and this one does not claim to. What it does, within its scope:

Screen readers are given the original word, once. The letters being typed are hidden from them, so a screen reader user hears a normal sentence rather than a stream of changes.
Visitors who ask their system to reduce motion see the original word, with no animation and no blinking caret. If they turn the setting on while reading, the animation stops and the original word comes back.
Without JavaScript, the original word is shown as plain text.

The animation loops for as long as the word is on screen, and the plugin offers no pause button. Moving content that starts on its own is something to use sparingly: one animated word per page, short words, and not in the middle of text people need to read. Whether it fits your site and its obligations is your call.

Timing and caret color

Each word can have its own typing speed, pause and caret color, set in the popover. Words without settings follow the site defaults, which a developer can change with the retype_delays filter. See the FAQ.

Source code and build

The scripts and stylesheets shipped in build/ are compiled from the src/ directory of the public repository, with @wordpress/scripts, the build tool maintained by the WordPress project:

https://github.com/Fyrins/retype

To reproduce the shipped files:

git clone https://github.com/Fyrins/retype.git
cd retype
npm install
npm run build

Fyrins Retype