• US-based, multi-platform media company • Expanding their web presence • Migrated Fusion.net to WordPress (end 2014) • Launched a big redesign (early 2015) • Want to publish great content on the web
GOALS • Simple and easy to use tool • No code • WYSIWYG • Flexible, reusable modules • Simple for developers to add new modules • Make use of existing tools
• Available in WordPress since 2.5 • WordPress uses them for galleries, audio and video • Simple code: [name attr="value"] • Converted to HTML when output SHORTCODES
• Terrible user experience • Users still have to write code • No discoverability • Poor documentation • Often don’t have previews WHY ARE SHORTCODES BAD?
SHORTCODE PREVIEWS • It is possible to get previews in the editor • Easier now than it once was • MCE Views • Simple JavaScript API to register a preview for a shortcode
• Mostly JavaScript - Backbone.js • Modules - Grunt + Browserify • Jasmine for unit testing (Grunt, TravisCI) • PHP to generate preview - output exactly as on the front end TECHNICAL INFO
• Interactives. JS apps & games • Liveblogs (WordPress VIP Liveblogs) • Social Streams. Curated grid of content from Twitter, Instagram etc • Embedding third party content. (Quiz from Playbuzz) OTHER EXAMPLES