Title: Button shortcode – why and how Last modified: August 21, 2016 --- # Button shortcode – why and how * [lotfus](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lotfus/) * (@lotfus) * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/button-shortcode-why-and-how/) * Hello all, * I am quiet new to wordpress and did some programming long time ago… so things are not always straightforward for me (yet). * Basically what I want to know is how the button shortcode in posts works. When I add a shortcode button it asks me the following fields: – URL – Target – Position– Content * I looked over the web to find out how to use these fields (especially the first two), but found nothing, except things about some plug-ins that allow you to insert buttons in your posts… but it looks that wordpress out of the box already has what I need (?). * **Basically this is the feature I am looking for:** I would like the user to have a section for some posts where s/he can give his email, like to subscribe to the article, and maybe to provide a bit more information. * Something like: * “Are you interested in knowing more about the subject? Just subscribe and we will let you updated!” * BUTTON * So if you have some inputs about how to use these buttons or if you suggest another solution to fulfill my requirement I would much appreciate it. * Best, L. Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) * Thread Starter [lotfus](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lotfus/) * (@lotfus) * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/button-shortcode-why-and-how/#post-5096697) * One remark: * the first version of the site I am creating is public… users don’t have accounts or any such things. * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/button-shortcode-why-and-how/#post-5096700) * Which editor are you referring to? Text or Visual? * Thread Starter [lotfus](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lotfus/) * (@lotfus) * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/button-shortcode-why-and-how/#post-5096703) * Hello, Thanks esmi. * I am referring to the visual. * but I quickly checked, on the textual this is the button code: * [button-blue url=”#” target=”_self” position=”left”]keep me updated![/button- blue] * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/button-shortcode-why-and-how/#post-5096707) * The two editors have completely different methods of button creation. You might need to look for a a plugin if you want to hack a new button into the TinyMCE Visual Editor as that is going to be pretty complicated. * The Text Editor is a little easier. The buttons are generated by wp-includes/ js/quicktags.js. It’s relatively easy to put together a simple plugin to add new buttons. * Thread Starter [lotfus](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lotfus/) * (@lotfus) * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/button-shortcode-why-and-how/#post-5096942) * Thanks. * to be sure there is no misunderstanding: I don’t want to add any new button or functionality in what is obviously the “TinyMCE” module in the wordpress editor or the default toolbar. I don’t think I need to develop any plug-in. * I will detail a bit more: * What I want is to use the functionality that is already there. When I edit a post, I can obviously add a button within my post that the visitors of my blog can use. * This is how I did: – When you edit your post, through the visual editor, you have a button in the toolbar that has the “**+**” icon, when you hover over it, it shows “**Add Custom Shortcode**“. – When you click on it, you can select which shortcode you want to add… you have a long list, that includes “White button”,“ Green button”, …, “One third”, “Two third”, etc. – When I select the button shortcode, a form pop up with the fields I described above: **url, target, position, content.**.– Then it includes this tag within your post: **[button-red url=”#” target=”_self” position=”left”]Button text[/button-red]** * What I want, is to create such a button that will direct the user to a very small form when s/he clicks on it (a modal window would be nice). * So I would like some guidance to do so. I think first of all I need to understand the attributes of this button. “Position” and “Content” are quiet clear. * More specifically: – What does “target” stand for? – How can I use “target” and “url” to create such a button? – More generally, what are the main steps I have to do to get all this thing done? * I looked over the web and didn’t find anything on this topic. If you have any such links, I would appreciate very much. * Thanks a lot. Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) The topic ‘Button shortcode – why and how’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [shortcode](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/shortcode/) * In: [Everything else WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/miscellaneous/) * 5 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [lotfus](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lotfus/) * Last activity: [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/button-shortcode-why-and-how/#post-5096942) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics