HTML Special Characters Helper vs Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements

Add an admin widget labeled “HTML Special Characters” that is present in the admin Add/Edit Post and Add/Edit Page pages. Clicking on any special character in the widget causes its character encoding to be inserted into the post body text field at the current cursor location (or at the end of the post if the cursor isn’t located in the post body field). Hovering over any of the special characters in the admin widget causes hover text to appear that shows the HTML entity encoding for the character as well as the name of the character. Note that when used in the visual editor mode the special character itself is added to the post body. Also note that the visual editor has its own special characters popup helper accessible via the advanced toolbar, which depending on your usage, may make this plugin unnecessary for you. In truth, the plugin is intended more for the non-visual (aka HTML) mode as that is the mode I (the plugin author) use. Links: Plugin Homepage | Plugin Directory Page | Author Homepage Filters The plugin exposes two filters for hooking. Typically, code making use of filters should ideally be put into a mu-plugin or site-specific plugin (which is beyond the scope of this readme to explain). c2c_html_special_characters (filter) The ‘c2c_html_special_characters’ hook allows you to remove existing characters or entire groups of characters, and/or add new characters or groups of characters. Arguments: $codes (array) : An association array in which the keys are a grouping name and the values are associative arrays themselves with the code as the key and the human-friendly descriptions as the values. Example: /** * Add a new grouping of characters (accented 'A's). * * @param array $characters Default HTML special characters. * @return array */ function more_html_special_characters( $characters ) { $characters['accented_a'] = array( 'name' => 'Accented A', 'À' => 'A grave accent', 'Á' => 'A accute accent', 'Â' => 'A circumflex', 'Ã' => 'A tilde', 'Ä' => 'A umlaut', 'Å' => 'A ring', 'Æ' => 'AE ligature', ); return $characters; // Important! } add_filter( 'c2c_html_special_characters', 'more_html_special_characters' ); c2c_html_special_characters_post_type (filter) The ‘c2c_html_special_characters_post_type’ hook allows you to specify which post_types for which the HTML Special Characters metabox should be shown. Arguments: $post_types (array) : An array of post types. By default, this value is array( 'page', 'post' ) Example: /** * Show HTML Special Characters Helper for additional post_types. * * @param array $post_types Arry of post types. * @return array */ function more_html_special_characters_post_types( $post_types ) { $post_types[] = 'products'; // Show for products unset( $post_types['page'] ); // Don't show for pages return $post_types; } add_filter( 'c2c_html_special_characters_post_types', 'more_html_special_characters_post_types' );

Building new pages with Gutenberg? Explore VovaBlocks, a focused collection of native marketing and content blocks from the creator of Shortcodes Ultimate. View VovaBlocks → About Shortcodes Ultimate Shortcodes Ultimate is a WordPress shortcode plugin for adding tabs, accordions, buttons, FAQs, sliders, carousels, lightboxes, columns, boxes and other reusable content elements without coding. It is ideal for site owners who want richer content layouts and practical UI elements without switching to a full page builder. Use Shortcodes Ultimate in the Block Editor, Classic Editor, widgets and template files. Generate shortcodes visually, preview the result before inserting it, and reuse the same elements across posts, pages and existing shortcode-based content. Trusted by hundreds of thousands of WordPress sites, Shortcodes Ultimate helps you replace multiple single-purpose UI plugins with one maintained toolkit. Explore live examples What you can build With Shortcodes Ultimate, you can quickly add common WordPress content elements such as: Accordions and FAQ sections Responsive tabs CTA buttons and download buttons Boxes, notes and callouts Columns and layout helpers Sliders and carousels Lightboxes for images and custom content Post lists and dynamic content blocks Spoilers, toggles and expandable content Media embeds and visual content blocks Instead of installing a separate plugin for every small content element, Shortcodes Ultimate gives you one maintained toolkit for everyday WordPress content tasks. Works with modern and classic WordPress workflows Shortcodes Ultimate works with the Block Editor, Classic Editor, widgets and template files. You can insert shortcodes manually, use WordPress shortcode blocks or use the built-in shortcode generator to configure elements visually. This makes the plugin useful for: Site owners who want to improve content without coding Bloggers and affiliate publishers who need reusable CTA and content blocks Agencies and freelancers maintaining multiple WordPress sites Developers who want shortcode-friendly output in templates Existing sites with older content that already uses shortcodes Why use Shortcodes Ultimate? 50+ ready-to-use WordPress shortcodes Visual shortcode generator Live preview Works with the Block Editor and Classic Editor Shortcodes can be used in posts, pages, widgets and template files Responsive elements that work with your theme Built-in Custom CSS editor Developer-friendly hooks and documentation Free version available on WordPress.org Pro version available for advanced shortcodes, extra styles and premium support Why shortcodes still matter in WordPress The WordPress Block Editor is great for visual content editing, but shortcodes are still useful when you need portable, reusable content elements that work across different parts of a WordPress site. Shortcodes are especially helpful when you want to: Reuse the same content element in many posts or pages Add dynamic content inside widgets or templates Maintain older WordPress sites that already use shortcodes Work across Classic Editor and Block Editor workflows Add content elements without switching to a full page builder Keep common UI elements available through a simple text-based syntax Shortcodes Ultimate is designed for these practical workflows. It gives you a large collection of ready-made shortcodes and a visual generator, so you do not need to write shortcode syntax manually unless you want to. Free and Pro The free version of Shortcodes Ultimate includes a large collection of useful shortcodes for everyday WordPress content tasks. Shortcodes Ultimate Pro adds advanced shortcodes, additional styles, Content Slider, Pricing Table, Testimonials, Shortcode Creator, Elementor support and premium support. Compare Free and Pro Useful links Documentation Live Examples Pro features Support