Expanding WPBakery Page Builder with your set of WordPress shortcodes
While using WordPress shortcodes for website building and management many users struggled to combine different plugins and shortcodes in order to enhance the possibilities of their website. Different shortcodes required different input tools or mechanisms and in a typical site-building process users were required to switch between different interfaces to achieve their goals. The same issues were addressed to WPBakery Page Builder, as 3rd party shortcode developers needed to adapt their shortcodes to get recognized by WPBakery Page Builder. Obviously, such an approach was not user-friendly as not all developers adjusted their shortcodes.
Taking this into account we came to the conclusion that we must have a mechanism that allows end users to manage shortcode recognition in WPBakery Page Builder in order to introduce easy custom shortcode usage through our native Element panel interface. In version 4.1.0 of the WPBakery Page Builder WordPress plugin, we have introduced new functionality – a shortcode mapper called ‘My Shortcodes’ which can be accessed under Settings – WPBakery Page Builder. This functional block allows you to add any type of shortcodes to the native WPBakery Page Builder element menu and use it according to your needs and goals.
The approach of adding custom shortcodes is really simple – all you have to do is choose ‘Add shortcode’, copy and paste the existing shortcode into the displayed input field, and press the ‘Parse’ button. Do not be afraid to put sample content or parameter values within a shortcode as we will track the shortcode name, parameters, and sample content. After parsing the shortcode you will be able to adjust shortcode mapping by adding, removing, or changing shortcode parameters or general information.
That’s it! At this point, you should be able to choose your WordPress shortcode from the element menu of WPBakery Page Builder. In such a way, you can easily expand the possibilities of WPBakery Page Builder and remove all boundaries between different shortcodes and our WordPress plugin.
In order to see an example of the shortcode mapper, please visit our knowledge base or watch the video on how to use it at our Video Academy.