Show Me the Shortcode [VIDEO]

Shortcode

I’m going to start this post with a little disclaimer… I get that there are many purists out there who aren’t fans of the shortcode or plugins that create more shortcodes. They weigh the site down, you can do the same thing with code, blah, blah, blah.

This post isn’t for you.

The shortcode was created for us on-coders.

There’s more to it than that, but you get my point.

But the reality is not everyone knows how to do things in code and not everyone WANTS to do things with code. That’s not their “thing”. They use WordPress for their business and just want to go about doing their “thing”… not learning something that isn’t part of what they do day-to-day, or in the long run help’s them with their business (of course I’m not suggesting you install everything under the sun because you can. You still need to be smart about what you add to your site).

One the most amazing things about WordPress is the ability to extend its functionality with all the hundreds of thousands of plugins that are available, both free and premium. The thing with plugins though is that they really should serve a purpose. You don’t want to install plugins just because they do something cool (I won’t get into the whole slider discussion here, suffice it to say I’m not a fan). I absolutely love plugins (and web apps… I think it might be bordering on a bit of a problem), but I like traffic, leads, and sales more.

Site speed matters and plugins slow down your site.

So I’ve gotten much more selective with the plugins I use.

O.K., enough of that. Let’s dive into what a shortcode is and why I love the Shortcodes Ultimate plugin (free in the repository).

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First, let’s just get clear on what a shortcode is. Let’s start with the official definition (this is from the WordPress.org, codex):

shortcode

Pretty self-explanatory, right?

You may be more familiar with shortcodes than you think you are. Many plugins (and themes, like Genesis), come with built-in shortcodes. As an example, if you use Gravity Forms on your site when you click the little ‘Add Form’ icon above your WYSIWYG editor it inserts a shortcode for your selected form to insert it into the page.

I’ve tried a boatload of shortcode plugins, both paid and free, and am happy to say that my absolute FAVORITE shortcode plugin is the Shortcodes Utlimate, which is a FREE plugin in the WordPress Plugin repository.

Shortcodes Ultimate

I like this plugin so much I left a review in the repository (something I’m going to be doing much more of this year… easiest way to say thank you to the developers who give us awesome plugins like this… for FREE!).

Shortcodes Ultimate

So before we get into the video of Shortcodes Ultimate, here are just a handful of shortcodes built into Shortcodes Ultimate (oh, and you can add your own custom shortcodes to the plugin too! Cool, huh?):

Buttons

Dividers

Tabs

Dropcap

Accordian

Video

Audio

Here’s a screenshot of all the shortcodes that come built into the plugin (and notice how you can view/search by category):

shortcode-list[divider top=”no”]

In case you’re wondering how or why this awesome plugin is FREE, it’s because Vladimir (the brilliant developer who created this) is offering premium add-ons. Brilliant.

As a user, I love this model for plugins. As someone who has dabbled in plugin development (having them developed, not developing them myself) it causes me a bit of angst. Angst because I know what is required with plugin support, documentation and the constant flow of questions. Of course, if you’re the one who developed the plugin I would suspect that it’s easier to know off the top of your head how to handle many of those issues.

O.K., let’s go ahead and jump into the video.

 

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Kim Doyal

Hi, I'm Kim Doyal: Entrepreneur, Podcaster, ContentCreator, Optimist. Over 13 years into this online business journey, I believe that #EverythingIsContent and we can all #JustShowUP. Creator of #FtheHustle movement and Co-founder of the Content Creators Planner.

11 Comments

  1. Fred on December 27, 2014 at 6:49 pm

    Your presentation was clear, fast and informative. Thanks

    • Kim Doyal on December 29, 2014 at 10:37 pm

      You bet, thanks Fred.
      Kim

  2. Dan on April 13, 2015 at 9:08 am

    your video has a “newsletter sign up form” which interrupts the video, that’s really abnoxious, and who ever created that code should be slapped for annoying people. 🙂
    Newsletters are spam enough, but all these popups for asking people to sign up for newsletter are very intrusive, always. And this is the most intrusive version of that I have seen yet.

    Anyways, can we work to make wordpress pages less annoying and less “slap the viewer in the face?”

    • Kim Doyal on April 20, 2015 at 10:58 am

      Hi Dan,
      Thanks for the feedback. I have to change out the video player as it’s not supported anymore anyways, but I agree. It was something I was testing.
      Unfortunately as much as popups are annoying, they work. I do agree that there is a better way to test and use all these tools.
      Thanks,
      Kim

  3. Justen Perez on May 6, 2015 at 10:47 am

    Saw your video in a link from the Ultimate Shortcodes Plugin Directory Page… I had to come to your blog and thank you personally for making such a great informative video.

    I love how easy it was to follow. I loved how you showed a few examples, I also loved how you articulated your way through it. I also agree that he is a smart cookie for making such beautiful add-ons.

    Thank you for your help! Now I’m off to install the plugin and play around with my blog! Yaaaas!

    • Kim Doyal on May 6, 2015 at 2:25 pm

      Awesome Justen,
      Thanks so much! Glad the video helped. I fell in LOVE with the Shortcodes Ultimate plugin the second I found it. Thanks also for connecting on Twitter- followed you back. 🙂
      Have an awesome day,
      Kim

  4. Tracy on May 8, 2016 at 3:04 am

    hiya Kim, thanks for this found it very helpful and loved the video and being able to see some examples as I’m new to blogging and WordPress. I will definitely be installing this plugin, thanks again -Tracy

    • Kim Doyal on May 9, 2016 at 9:26 am

      Great Tracy, I’m glad it helped!
      I use this plugin on every site I work on (my sites & my client sites).
      Have a great day!
      Kim

  5. Pam on August 28, 2016 at 12:23 pm

    Hi,
    I’m new at this, and am having trouble finding how to view your video. Can you please send me the link or direct me to where it is? I don’t see it on your show-shortcode page.
    Thank you!!

    • Kim Doyal on August 28, 2016 at 8:41 pm

      Hi Pam,

      Sorry about that! I had to deactivate a video player plugin (it’s no longer being supported) and hadn’t put the YouTube video in!
      It’s embedded in the post now. 🙂
      Thanks,
      Kim

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