dan-q / yaml-blogroll-shortcode-demo

Basic [blogroll] shortcode demonstration for Kev Quirk.

Sample Blogroll Shortcode (from YML) for WordPress

Description

On 16 December 2022, Kev Quirk wrote:

One of the things I really miss from my days using Jekyll, is the use of data files. Can this be done in WordPress?

Based on his blogpost, I threw together this very basic skeleton plugin that uses a shortcode to loop through a blogroll (stored in YAML format, in the plugin directory, though honestly it could go anywhere). If you wanted a "generic" YAML-to-content tool for WordPress you might have to work a little harder. Or somebody might've already done it. But I just wanted to put something basic together in 20 minutes to show that it could be done, and perhaps provide a jumping-off point for others.

See the original blog post for an understanding of what's being achieved here.

Installation

1. Put everything into the wp-content/plugins/danq-blogroll folder.
2. In that folder, run composer install to install dependencies (there's only one dependency, the Symphony YAML parser: if you can install the PECL YAML parser you can probably use that instead, but my approach will work even if you don't have root on your server).
3. Create blogroll.yml in that directory; you can copy blogroll.yml.example if you like.
4. Activate the plugin in the usual way.

Usage

Put the shortcode [blogroll] anywhere you like on your site: in page content, in a paragraph block in a widget area, wherever. I've opted for a shortcode for speed, simplicity, and backwards-compatibility, but you could reimplement as a Gutenberg block if that's your preferred poison.

Next steps

If you want to expand this into something generic, perhaps you're looking for a shortcode that looks something like this - a template inside a shortcode that specifies the data file:

<ul>
  [yaml_looper file="blogroll.yml"]
    <li>
      <a target="_blank" href="{{link}}">{{name}}</a>
      (<a href="{{rss}}">RSS feed</a>)
    </li>
  [/yaml_looper]
</ul>

Implementation is left as an exercise for the reader.