In WordPress, the author function refers to a feature that allows you to display information about the author of a post or page. These functions are used to retrieve and display details about the authors, such as their username, display name, bio, avatar, and more.
In WordPress, the author link function is a PHP function that generates a link to the author's archive page or profile on a WordPress website. This function is typically used within the loop while displaying posts to allow users to access more content by the same author.
Although they serve slightly different purposes, the author function and the author link function are similar in that they both relate to displaying information about the author of a post or page on a WordPress website. A difference between the two is that, while both functions deal with author-related information, the author function is primarily for displaying the author's name, and the author link function is for generating a link to the author's archive page.
The author function helps retrieve and display author-related information on individual posts or pages, while the author link function generates a link to the author's archive page, enabling users to explore more content by that author on your WordPress site. Both of these functions are useful for giving credit to content creators and helping readers explore more of an author's work on a WordPress website.