[theme-reviewers] Fwd: Theme Lab - Shortcode

Sun Jul 14 00:54:00 UTC 2013

Thanks for passing that along, Daniel.

And this list is certainly intended to discuss such things. Especially as
it directly relates to Guidelines/review philosophy, I wouldn't consider it
"junk".

On Sat, Jul 13, 2013 at 8:42 PM, Daniel <danielx386 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> I know that you don't like people passing on junk but I just got this in
> my inbox and I feel that it hit the nail on the head about including
> shortcodes in themes.
>
> Enjoy :)
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Theme Lab <leland at themelab.com>
> Date: Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 10:18 AM
> Subject: Theme Lab
> To:
>
>
> **
>    Theme Lab <http://www.themelab.com>   [image: Link to Theme Lab]
> <http://www.themelab.com>
> ------------------------------
>
> Shortcodes Should Never Be Included With Themes. Period.<http://www.themelab.com/2013/07/13/put-shortcodes-in-a-plugin/>
>
> Posted: 13 Jul 2013 12:28 PM PDT
>
> ThemeForest recently<http://notes.envato.com/news/announcement-wordpress-theme-submission-requirements/>updated their WordPress
> theme submission requirements<http://support.envato.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/472/85/wordpress-theme-submission-requirements>to be more stringent and more inline with WordPress theme development best
> practices.
>
> The guidelines require the use several of WordPress’ core features,
> standard theme hooks, and disallow PHP functions (like base64 and fopen)
> that really *shouldn’t have ever had any place in a WordPress theme* to
> begin with.
>
> Basically, pretty much WordPress.org’s Theme Review policy<http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Review>,
> give or take a few things.
>
> Overall, it’s a step in the right direction and moves to *promote best
> practices on one of the most popular WordPress theme marketplaces* on the
> net. There’s just one problem…
> Admissible Shortcodes
>
> One thing that particularly caught my eye, however, was how *certain
> “admissible” shortcode functionality was allowed* (i.e. by directly
> including them through the theme’s functions.php file). The ones listed
> as “admissible” included the following:
>
>    - buttons
>    - pricing tables
>    - image containers
>    - dropcaps
>    - lists
>
> Inadmissible shortcodes include: maps, accordions and toggles, boxed
> contents, column, contact forms, charts.
> The Problem with Shortcodes in Themes
>
> I can’t really put it better than Justin Tadlock already has<http://justintadlock.com/archives/2011/05/02/dealing-with-shortcode-madness>.
> One of the most noticeable issues, is that when a user changes themes, the
> *shortcodes will no longer be parsed*.
>
> Let’s say “Super Awesome” theme had a shortcode feature that would output
> a big green button with a link when you typed out something like [button
> url="http://example.com"]Big Green Button[/button].
>
> Big Green Button <#13fdaa15eff5a0dc_13fda8ae8947dbb9_>
>
> When you switch to another theme (let’s face it, people get bored of
> themes easily), there’s no more big green button. Instead, *you see the
> unparsed shortcode in the post* as if it were any other piece of content,
> like this:
>
> [button url="http://example.com"]Big Green Button[/button]
>
> It looks ugly, confusing, and out-of-place, and it’s a *pain for the user
> to go back and remove/replace* all of them.
> The Other Problem with Shortcodes in Themes
>
> Something that Tadlock went over in his “Dealing with shortcode madness”
> article is, a lot of shortcodes are so simple and HTML-like, it might even
> be best to instruct users to write out a little (*gasp*) *real HTML code*.
>
> The same [button url="http://example.com"]Button Text[/button] shortcode
> in my example above could be *easily rewritten* as something like:
>
> <a href="http://example.com" class="button">Button text here</a>
>
> While there may not be CSS code styling the .button selector in a new
> theme, at least a normal link will show up. *Which is a big improvement*over an unparsed
> [button] shortcode showing up in a post’s content.
>
> Plus, I believe every WordPress user *should have at least some basic
> understanding of HTML code*. By teaching them, even in little bits (like
> how to construct a link), will help. If they can understand a shortcode, it
> won’t take much more to get them to understand basic HTML.
> But The Users Don’t Care!
>
> A common argument I see defending all sorts of bad practices when it comes
> to theme development is that the users simply *don’t care*. I mean, maybe
> they never want to update their theme, in which case, this *shortcode
> issue would be a moot point*.
>
> The problem is, some users *inevitably will want to switch themes* some
> day. Some users will want to install a plugin that might conflict with some
> other poorly-thought-out code in a theme.
>
> Then, they probably will care, and probably will wonder if the theme they
> bought with 100s of built-in shortcodes and other *superfluous features
> was really worth it*.
> The Right Way to Include Shortcodes
>
> Put it in a plugin. A really simple plugin. It doesn’t need a separate
> options panel. *Just literally copy and paste* whatever you were going to
> include via your theme’s functions.php file, and put it in a plugin<https://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_a_Plugin>instead.
>
> It could even be bundled with something like TGM Plugin Activation<http://tgmpluginactivation.com/>to make it required on theme activation. Or not. A
> *theme is still a theme without shortcodes*.
>
> This way, if the user changes themes, the *shortcodes will still work*,
> because that functionality is handled by the plugin that is still active.
>
> Maybe the plugin could also enqueue styles<http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_enqueue_style>for the shortcodes as well. This way, the big green buttons you included
> with the [button] shortcode will still be big green buttons, regardless of
> the theme used.
> Why Did ThemeForest Allow “Admissible” Shortcodes?
>
> It’s hard to say what exactly the reasoning behind this decision was. Japh
> Thomson, a WordPress evangelist at Envato (ThemeForest’s parent company)
> had this to say about it in a comment on WPMU.org<http://wpmu.org/themeforest-developer-guidelines/#comment-143884>
> :
>
> Complex shortcode functionality really should reside in a plugin, not a
> theme. It also just makes sense when you consider most of our authors have
> multiple themes.
>
> Obviously, he gets it. So it’s a *mystery to me why there would be any
> “admissible” shortcodes* at all. And yes, I realize he used the word
> “complex” in the quote above, and the admissible shortcodes do tend to be
> pretty simple ones (dropcaps, lists, etc.).
>
> Simple as a shortcode may be, the *problems I outlined above will still
> exist*. ThemeForest has shown to be responsive to community feedback, so
> it’s possible this rule is amended in the future.
> Conclusion
>
> I realize this post *seems a bit nit-picky*, and these new guidelines are
> definitely a huge step in the right direction. But there’s really no reason
> any shortcode should be allowed in a theme, simple or not.
>
>  Can you think of a situation when a publicly released theme absolutely
> needs to include shortcode functionality via its own functions.php?
>
> — Theme Lab (@themelab) July 9, 2013<https://twitter.com/themelab/statuses/354662109273001984>
>
>  *Spoiler alert:* Didn’t get any responses to that tweet with a real
> example of a shortcode absolutely needing to be included in a
> publicly-released theme.
>
> That’s because it’s *just not user-friendly* for a user to go back and
> replace hundreds of button shortcodes after they switched to a theme that
> doesn’t have the exact same shortcode support.
>
> Related posts:
>
>    1. Why WordPress Widgets Vanish When Migrating to New URL<http://www.themelab.com/2013/07/06/why-wordpress-widgets-disappear/>
>    2. Want More Retweets? Use the Official Tweet Button<http://www.themelab.com/2010/08/16/use-the-official-tweet-button/>
>    3. Dear Theme Devs, Stop Pasting Random Snippets of Code in
>    functions.php<http://www.themelab.com/2011/01/21/theme-devs-random-snippets/>
>
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