WordPress and plugins like Elementor provide stylish, useful widgets that provide functionality from slide shows to accordion-style lists and much more. The problem is where and when those beautiful widgets are displayed is defined by – and limited by – your WordPress theme.
Luckily, well-constructed themes divide what’s displayed on any page of your site into logical modules. These modules are written in PHP, a general-purpose programming language originally designed for web development that’s fairly intuitive to understand, provided the theme developer includes documentation with the code context.
They’re all accessible through the Theme Editor link – but take care. Modifying these files carelessly can wreak havoc on your site. It’s always suggested to back up your site before tinkering with them, especially if you’re a novice with PHP. Once you’ve done your backup, however, exploring how your theme is constructed is helpful in understanding what’s possible.
A slide show sideshow
Let’s say you want a slide show to appear atop your blog’s home page, but not on every page of your site. By examining your theme files, you discover that index.php controls what is displayed on the home page, and where.
Now comes the easy part! Just as shortcodes enable you to place a plugin’s or widget’s functionality in WordPress pages and posts, they give you the power to add functionality to parts of the theme. Just wrap the regular WordPress shortcode call with a PHP function like this:
Now comes the easy part! Just as shortcodes enable you to place a plugin’s or widget’s functionality in WordPress pages and posts, they give you the power to add functionality to parts of the theme. Just wrap the regular WordPress shortcode call with a PHP function like this:
Be careful if your short code includes a variable definition, such as ID, that includes quotation marks. In that case, use single quotes, like this:
That’s all there is to it!
When this may be a bad idea
There are instances when placing shortcodes within your theme may not be a great idea – like when you’re planning to change themes. When you change themes, shortcodes won’t be parsed by the new theme. Instead of seeing your beautiful slide show, users will see the shortcode calling for it.
If you embed a great deal of shortcodes into your theme, replacing all of them when you change themes can be a burden. A workaround that’s new-theme friendly is to simply use HTML code where it suffices. When all is considered though, embedding a few shortcodes within your theme to improve the user experience is worth the effort.
The Shortcode Shortcut to Theme Flexibility
was written by me, Greg Norton – also known as webzenkai. I’ve got more than two decades’ experience building effective websites and powerful email campaigns that yield results. Feel free to contact me regarding this article or anything else you find on this website.