P3: Plugin header metadata — declare PHP/WP requirements and load the text domain

[Herm71]

Roadmap items 20, 21 (P3). Grouped: both are plugin.php header/bootstrap metadata.

Roadmap item 20 — Declared PHP floor is wrong

The code uses union types (array|string), so the true minimum is PHP 8.0. Meanwhile:

• CONTRIBUTING says 7.4+
• phpcs is configured with minimum_supported_wp_version 4.9
• plugin.php declares no Requires PHP: or Requires at least: headers at all

A 7.4 install will fatal on parse rather than being cleanly blocked by WordPress.

Fix: add Requires PHP: 8.0 and a realistic Requires at least: to the plugin header, bump the phpcs minimum_supported_wp_version to match, and correct CONTRIBUTING.

📍 src/Components/News_Block_Controller.php:27, plugin.php

Roadmap item 21 — Text domain ucsc is never loaded

There is no Text Domain: / Domain Path: header and no load_plugin_textdomain() call, so every __() / _e() / esc_html__() in the plugin is untranslatable — the calls are inert pass-throughs.

Fix: add the headers and load the text domain on init (or rely on WP 6.7+ just-in-time loading, which still requires the header). Ship a languages/ directory with a POT file if translations are actually wanted.

📍 plugin.php

Acceptance

• Requires PHP, Requires at least, Text Domain, Domain Path present in the plugin header
• Text domain loads; a test translation resolves
• phpcs minimum_supported_wp_version and CONTRIBUTING agree with the header

Related: existing issue #27 also proposes adding an Update URI: header — worth landing in the same header pass.