Title: Block shortcode Last modified: August 24, 2016 --- # Block shortcode * [draig](https://wordpress.org/support/users/draig/) * (@draig) * [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-shortcode/) * I read the documentation, but I still am confused why to use the Block shortcode. It says you can then use shortcodes in the visual editor… but when I tried it by replacing Div’s with Block it added br tags that Div’s in the text editor wasn’t. * Can you explain more clearly the expected benefit and use? * Thanks for a great plugin. Finding it has been a revelation after struggling so much to figure out how to make custom loops via php templates. * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-content-shortcode/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-content-shortcode/) Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) * Plugin Author [Eliot Akira](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miyarakira/) * (@miyarakira) * [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-shortcode/#post-6153580) * Hello, * The block shortcode was implemented in response to a user request. The reasoning was that when you use HTML in the text editor and then switch to Visual mode, you cannot see the HTML tags like `
` and `` — making them easy to be accidentally deleted. So, by using block shortcodes, the HTML tags are visible and “protected”. * The extra `
` tags are caused by automatic formatting of post content. You can enable and use the [raw] shortcode to prevent this. That’s a good point, I’ll include a note in the documentation for HTML blocks. * To be honest, I haven’t used this feature much except for testing that it works. Usually I put most HTML and shortcodes outside the post, and leave the visual editor for content only. * Thread Starter [draig](https://wordpress.org/support/users/draig/) * (@draig) * [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-shortcode/#post-6153616) * Thanks for the explanation. That is clearer now… I had assumed that since Block was making it visible in the Visual Editor, that it was also protecting it too… * Plugin Author [Eliot Akira](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miyarakira/) * (@miyarakira) * [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-shortcode/#post-6153619) * The automatic formatting is useful for text, but doesn’t work well with multi- line shortcodes and not easy to get around. So far, the best solution I found is to use [raw] or pull the shortcodes from outside the editor, as described in the Get Started page of the reference. * But, your comment made me think. Maybe it makes sense to strip `

` and `
` tags (usually added by auto-format) from inside the block shortcodes by default. In that case, it would be necessary to add them manually with `[p]` and `[br]`. Hmm..but that would change its default behavior and could have unexpected results with existing code.. I’ll have to think about it some more. Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) The topic ‘Block shortcode’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/custom-content-shortcode_766976.svg) * [Custom Content Shortcode](https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-content-shortcode/) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-content-shortcode/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-content-shortcode/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-content-shortcode/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/custom-content-shortcode/reviews/) * 3 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Eliot Akira](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miyarakira/) * Last activity: [11 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-shortcode/#post-6153619) * Status: not resolved