Dear Elements Weavers,
As I’ve mentioned here a few times, I’m moving my WordPress travel blog 500places.com over to Elements. SkyCast and Table of Contents were the first components I built for it – each one extends Elements CMS to do something my blog needs.
The biggest extension is now coming soon, and I’m excited to introduce it: ShortCodes. The name is inspired from WordPress, where shortcodes work in a similar way. With the coming ShortCodes component, you can place almost any Elements component anywhere inside the Markdown text of a CMS entry – galleries, tables, author cards, SVG graphics, audio players – nearly everything Elements has to offer.
The idea is simple: create a regular Elements page in the ShoerCodes folder, build your block on it and give its container an ID. Then type one line in your CMS text, exactly where the block should appear:
[[ shortcode.galleries.gallery-01 ]]
“galleries” is the name of your page, “gallery-01” the ID of your container. That’s it. When the page loads, the line is replaced by the real component, right between your paragraphs. Change the block on its page, and it updates in every post that uses it.
Everything keeps working the way you built it: lightboxes open and close, audio players play, tables stay interactive. Your blocks also adapt to the space they get. Build a container on a full-width page, place it in a narrow text column, and it uses the layout you designed for that width – so the breakpoints you check once are exactly what your readers see.
ShortCodes is now ready for a beta test, and I’d love to ask for your help. It works with every component I have tested so far – help me find the ones it doesn’t.
I’m looking for up to five beta testers with some experience in Elements CMS. If you’re interested, send me a PM or leave a comment below. Payment is made in the finest currency: good karma. Exchange rates may vary. 
Happy weaving!
That’s how your Blog can look like with ShortCodes
There’s already a demo site online, so you can take a sneak peek.
Live demo: ShortCodes demo posts