# Regression: Collection author links empty in Elements 3.0.18 / CMS 2, including the Simple Blog sample

**URL:** <https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/regression-collection-author-links-empty-in-elements-3-0-18-cms-2-including-the-simple-blog-sample/57751>\
**Category:** Elements\
**Created:** [October 1, 2026, 12:03pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/regression-collection-author-links-empty-in-elements-3-0-18-cms-2-including-the-simple-blog-sample/57751 "2026-10-01T12:03:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ercross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@ercross](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/ercross)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 12:03pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/regression-collection-author-links-empty-in-elements-3-0-18-cms-2-including-the-simple-blog-sample/57751/1 "2026-10-01T12:03:29Z")

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Hi @ben @dan,

{{item.author.url}} in a Collection always outputs an empty string, so author bylines link to href=“”. It reproduces in your own Simple Blog sample project with no changes.

Steps

Open the Simple Blog sample in Elements 3.0.18 (24628).  
Preview the Blog page in a browser (or publish it).  
Inspect the “Posted by Jonny Appleseed” link.  
Expected: the link points to the Author page for that author. The Posts Collection has Author Page Template set to the Author page, and author/?author=jonny renders Jonny’s page correctly.

Actual: Jonny Appleseed, and the same for Julia Appleseed.

This used to work

The Elements 1.1.1 notes changed how author links are created and pointed to this sample.  
In October 2025 the CMS Load More thread confirmed “the initial posts/author-link is working”.  
Same result on my live site. A test Collection printing {{item.author|json\_encode}} gives name, slug, title, bio, image, email, social and website, but no url key. {{item.tags[0].url}} is empty too, while {{item.url}} works.

Likely cause (CMS pack, componentAssets/api/cms/)

The generated Collection code passes the author page through the builder: cms($ECMS\_options)-\>…-\>authorPagePath(‘…’). $ECMS\_options contains only site\_url and resources.  
CollectionBuilder::authorPagePath() only stores the value. Its only reader, the author block in applyUrls(), is empty: // Similar pattern for author URLs.  
Author URLs are built in Item::fromFile() → Authors::enrich(), which reads author\_page\_path from the cms() options, so the setting never reaches it.  
Tags have the same gap: applyUrls() builds $enrichedTags and then discards them.  
Workaround: I’ve hard-coded the byline link to /articles/author/?author=pastor, which works for a single author.

Thanks,  
Edward