❆ Let It Snow (or not) — All about Jetpack Holiday Snow

Here is all you need to know about Holiday Snow in Jetpack.

It’s that time of the year again. Starting today and until January 4th, the Jetpack plugin will add an option at the bottom of the General settings screen in your dashboard. Turn that option on, and snow will fall on your blog ❆ !

Of course, like with all Jetpack features, we’ve added some filters allowing you to extend or customize it. Here is all you need to know about Holiday Snow in Jetpack.

I don’t want snow on my Jetpack site

No worries! The option is off by default. It will only be enabled if you go to Settings > General in your dashboard, and check the box. If you checked it last year, Jetpack will remember your choice and enable it again this year.

Jetpack Snow option

Note: that checkbox only appears between December 1st and January 4th, when the feature is actually available and visible on your site. However, if you’d like to check the status of the Snow option on your site at any time during the year, you can access the setting under Jetpack > Settings.

I don’t want to see that option on my site

If you don’t even want to see the option, you can add the following code to a functionality plugin:

/**
 * Remove the Snow option from your dashboard.
 *
 * That option appears in Settings > General between December 1st and January 4th.
 * It is off by default.
 * This filter removes it completely.
 */
add_filter( 'jetpack_is_holiday_snow_season', '__return_false' );

Why January 4th? I want snow to fall on my blog until April 1st!

That’s not a bad idea. You can use the jetpack_is_holiday_snow_season filter to do just that:

/**
 * Show the Snow option until April 1st
 *
 * By default, the option disappears on January 4th
 *
 * @return bool true|false Is it holiday season?
 */
function jeherve_snow_fools() {
    $today          = time();
    // First snow day. December 1st here.
    $first_snow_day = mktime( 0, 0, 0, 12, 1 );
    // Last Snow day. April 1st in our example.
    $last_snow_day  = mktime( 0, 0, 0, 4, 1 );

    // $snow will return false if we're outside holiday season.
    $snow = ( $today >= $first_snow_day || $today < $last_snow_day );

    return $snow;
}
add_filter( 'jetpack_is_holiday_snow_season', 'jeherve_snow_fools' );

Your snowflakes are way too small. I have my own snow, can I use it instead of yours?

Sure thing. You’ll want to use the jetpack_holiday_snow_js_url filter, like so:

/**
 * Enqueue our own snow Javascript file.
 *
 * @return string Snow js file.
 */
function jeherve_custom_snow() {
    // Your custom Snow JS file
    $snowstorm_url = plugins_url( 'my_own_snow.js', __FILE__) );

    return $snowstorm_url;
}
add_filter( 'jetpack_holiday_snow_js_url', 'jeherve_custom_snow' );

I’d like my readers to be able to turn snow on and off as they please

There is a plugin for that! Jetpack Holiday Snow Opt-In only shows snow if your reader has opted in by clicking on a snowflake appearing in the top right corner of your site. Hopefully this will make it to Jetpack itself at some point.

I don’t want to see any snow, anywhere

You can use this Chrome Extension to hide snow from all Jetpack and WordPress.com sites.

Why would someone want to disable snow on their site? It looks great!

While it does look nice, animations like falling snow may cause discomfort, headaches, and sometimes even seizures to some people. Consider this before to turn on the Snow option on your site.

Any other questions? Let me know!