Idea: HTML for shortcodes

Friday, October 10, 2025

I have a lot of experience with Hugo and I like the concept of static site generators in general. I am not really a fan of the shortcode syntax, though. I’d love to see a version of shortcodes that uses HTML instead.

E.g.:

# Example post

Here's my post. It was built at <shortcode-buildtime format="iso-8601"></shortcode-buildtime>.

<shortcode-quotefig
  cite="https://ask.metafilter.com/55153/Whats-the-middle-ground-between-FU-and-Welcome#830421"
  caption="<a href='https://ask.metafilter.com/55153/Whats-the-middle-ground-between-FU-and-Welcome#tangerine'>tangerine on MetaFilter</a>"
>
  This is a classic case of Ask Culture meets Guess Culture....
</shortcode-quotefig>

The shortcode engine I’m thinking of might convert that to this HTML

<h1>Example post</h1>

<p>Here's my post. It was built at <time datetime="2025-10-10T00:05:04-12:00">2025-10-10T00:05:04-12:00</time>.</p>

<figure class="quotefig">
  <blockquote cite="https://ask.metafilter.com/55153/Whats-the-middle-ground-between-FU-and-Welcome#830421">
    <p>This is a classic case of Ask Culture meets Guess Culture....</p>
  </blockquote>
  <figcaption>
    <a href='https://ask.metafilter.com/55153/Whats-the-middle-ground-between-FU-and-Welcome#tangerine'>tangerine on MetaFilter</a>
  </figcaption>
</figure>

HTML already has all the things shortcodes have to have: a name, optional attributes, and an optional body. They also automatically work great in any editor, and mix well in Markdown. And if you’re using an SSG, you’ll already know at least a little HTML.

It would be kind of like web components implemented as static preprocessor macros. Or, to be spicy, you could call it “Unreactive Server Components”.