{"id":12318,"date":"2018-03-19T14:09:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T12:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=12318"},"modified":"2022-03-19T14:14:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-19T14:14:00","slug":"what-are-shortcodes-in-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/what-are-shortcodes-in-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Shortcodes in WordPress? Explained for Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve been using WordPress for a little bit, you might’ve come across the term “shortcode.” While shortcodes are an exceptionally helpful feature in WordPress, the name isn’t very self-explanatory (at least at first).<\/em> That might have you wondering … what are shortcodes in WordPress?<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, a shortcode<\/a> is a small piece of code, indicated by brackets like [this]<\/code>, that performs a dedicated function on your site. You can place it just about anywhere you’d like, and it will add a specific feature to your page, post, or other content. For example, you can use shortcodes to display galleries, videos, or even playlists.<\/p>\n

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If you’re still wondering about the answer to the question “What are shortcodes in WordPress?” don’t worry. This post will explain the basics, show you some examples, and offer a few plugins you can use to expand your shortcode choices. Let’s take a look!<\/div><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t \t\tAn introduction to #WordPress shortcodes and how to use them<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
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What are shortcodes in WordPress?<\/h2>\n

Since WordPress is an open-source platform, you can customize it in any way you’d like. This includes adding entirely new code to your site. But if you aren’t a developer, adding code by yourself isn’t really feasible. That’s where shortcodes come in<\/strong>. You can use shortcodes<\/a> to achieve the same effects, without needing to know anything about the underlying code.<\/p>\n

So, what are shortcodes? They are truncated bits of code that look something like this:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Most shortcodes make it very obvious what they do. For instance, the above code adds an audio file to your site. To use it, you’d paste it into a post or page, and would immediately be able to see it on the front end. Behind the scenes, the shortcode is telling WordPress to execute a longer section of code within one of your site’s files \u2013 but that process requires no further input from you.<\/p>\n

At this point, you may be wondering more than just “What are shortcodes?” You may also be interested to know where these shortcodes come from, and how to find them.<\/p>\n

There are several plugins that are built into WordPress by default, which we’ll discuss shortly. But beyond that, many plugins also add their own shortcode(s), which you may need in order to make them work.<\/p>\n

For example, our Intergeo Google Maps plugin<\/a> includes shortcodes you can use to place your map wherever you’d like on your site. You can even add dozens of new shortcodes via dedicated plugins (again, more on this later).<\/p>\n

How do you use shortcodes on your WordPress website?<\/h2>\n

Now that you can answer the question \u201cWhat are shortcodes?\u201d, it’s time to discuss how to actually use them. To start, let’s take a quick look at the shortcodes that are incorporated into the platform by default<\/a>:<\/p>\n