Short codes are bracketed text in the web page/HTML code that refer to “long code” somewhere in a plugin. The idea is to make it simple to add a feature to a web page without cluttering up the HTML, which can make it difficult to manage. It also means that the “long code” lives in one place, as opposed to being repeated multiple times throughout the site. In this way it reminds me of a relational database where information, such as someone’s address, is unique. The address lives in just one place in the database and is referred to by its unique ID. This means that if I change the address, I would only need to change it once, no matter how many times it was referenced elsewhere. Similarly, any short code that references “long code” would be updated whenever the main code is updated.
As I experience them, short codes just make it easy to add cool things to my website. Some short codes that come with the PowerPress plug-in are below.
Short Code for a Player for a Specific Episode
Under the WEBSITE tab of the PowerPress settings you’ll find short codes that you can use on your website. For example the following code adds a player for a specific podcast episode.
[powerpress url=”http://media.blubrry.com/quoted/content.blubrry.com/quoted/DR001867_WhereAreWe_004.mp3″]
The URL points to a media file that is on my media host, in this case Blubrry. Here’s how that code would appear on the website:
Short codes can have different attributes that can be customized. In this example, it takes a URL address. By reading the documentation for a short code, you can find out how you can customize it.
Short Code for Subscribe Buttons
The following short code adds subscribe buttons to a web page.
[powerpress_subscribe]
An audio montage of on-the-spot answers to one good question.
These buttons can be customized to match your website theme. See more information at Blubrry.