Author: Neil Lock

A Tour of Page Builder Sandwich Version 3

We’ve changed a lot things in Page Builder Sandwich version 3. If you’ve been using Page Builder Sandwich for quite some time, you’ll notice that the changes are quite drastic. There is a big difference between the version 1, version 2, and the current version. In the previous versions, everything was located in the inspector on the side. We’ve since gone through and split its components into different, more logical partitions. We have listed reasons for this upgrade in the previous blog post.

Current users may find the changes cumbersome at first. Give it a few minutes of trials, and we trust that you’ll feel right at home. We’ve carefully designed each aspect of the interface for your second nature in word processors to function in website building.

Watch The Tour of The New Interface

October 17, 2016
Shortcode Mapper Plugin Feature: The Events Calendar by Modern Tribe
Plugins of the same category, but with respective features, are developed and enhanced every day. This gave birth to the variety of WordPress-powered websites – and later on, websites catering to several functions. For instance, there is a number of plugins which enables a developer and/or user to create, schedule, invite an interested person to an event.

The Events Calendar is the events calendar you’ll need

There are a lot of available events calendar in the WordPress market. So how do you choose? There are recommendation blogs, plugin face-off blogs, and of course testimonials from different users. All of these have one thing in common: they include The Events Calendar by Modern Tribe in their list.

An example of a minimal event post of The Events Calendar

What’s with The Events Calendar, anyway?

The Events Calendar by Modern Tribe is the frontline plugin in the said category. It provides professional quality of event posts. It has a pretty simple interface, with the title at the top, date and time, the price if applicable, a featured image and or map, and additional details about the event. You can view all your events by date, keyword, and location if Pro.

You can do much more with The Events Calendars Pro and its official add-ons:
The Events Calendar PRO

Recurring events

Week view

Photo view

Location search

Map view

Venue and organizer view

Advanced widgets

Additional fields

The Events Calendar ADD-ONs

RSVP tickets

Event ticket plus via WooCommerce, Shopp, WPeCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads)

Community Events

Community Tickets

Filter Bar

Facebook Events

iCal Importer

Eventbrite Tickets
Integrating it with Page Builder Sandwich makes it even cooler

Recent posts were made to highlight the benefits of using PBS and its Shortcode Mapper. This is to make sure that you guys are taking advantage of the latest innovation that the Sandwich Team can develop plus notify the plugin developers that their creation gave birth to another awesome feature.

For the case of The Events Calendar plugin, we came up with 2 mind blowing reasons as to why the combination needs to exist:

1. Reviewed by WordPress plugin royalties

The Modern Tribe assured their customers that the product and service they offered was of quality. Creator of Easy Digital Downloads, Pippin Williamson gave his inputs about The Events Calendar. Alongside him was Mark Jaquith, one of the leading WordPress developers, who made sure that the plugin was secure.

Page Builder Sandwich was also reviewed recently by Pippin, together with the other established and rising page builders in the market. In his in-depth critique, he concluded that indeed, PBS is one of the most powerful drag-and-drop page builders. He highlighted that only Page Builder Sandwich was able to create a functioning Shortcode Mapper.

2. Shortcode options: from backend to frontend editing

By default, the plugin’s shortcode options can be accessed through the backend admin panel. Then, the same process of backend plugins takes place: go to the backend editor, input the wanted changes and then save. Only when the refresh button is clicked would the edited content be seen. All-in-all, that’s 4 steps.

But that long procedure has been turned into a real time frontend editing by Page Builder Sandwich – in just 2 steps:
1. Instead of going to the backend panel to access the shortcode options, click on the Shortcode Mapper and select on The Events Calendar. You’d be redirected to a pop-up window as seen below. Click on The Events Calendar.
  View of The Events Calendar in the Page Builder Sandwich Shortcode Mapper
2. Close look at The Events Calendar Shortcode Properties
  The Inspector on the left displays the initial properties of the shortcode. Clicking on the “Open Editor” button, the shortcode controls displayed at the backend can now be accessed on the frontend via a pop-up window.
See? The Events Calendar looks like you’re just making an event post.

There are a lot of benefits, right?

With the integration of a page builder that doesn’t lock you in and leaves shortcode mess, and the most popular events calendar, your workflow would not only smoothen but also increase in productivity. Additionally, you can look into what Modern Tribe offers: the bundle of plugins that go with The Events Calendar.

So far, The Events Calendar plugin by Modern Tribe was the only one mapped in our Shortcode Mapper. This doesn’t mean however that the mapping stops there. Just comment what plugin of Modern Tribe that you would like to see in our Shortcode Mapper.
October 12, 2016
Shortcode Mapper Plugin Feature: WP Job Manager by Automattic

A month had passed since we’ve released the newest feature of Page Builder Sandwich – the Shortcode Mapper. We’ve integrated more than 100 plugins (144 plugins to be exact) regardless of the number of shortcodes they have. It was a tedious task but we did it!

In order to let you know more about it, we’ve started featuring the plugins fully integrated with Page Builder Sandwich. First stop: WP Job Manager by Automattic.

WP Job Manager at a glance

Basically WP Job Manager serves as the plugin for you to generate money – either you have a client who needs a job board function for their website or you simply found yourself needing more people in your growing company.

What makes this plugin a very good-buy would be that your possible employees are not restricted to using their laptops. WP Job Manager has a mobile support feature that makes revenue flow. It is also easy to use with a search and filter interface. Along with it is the job and company information, which means no need to search the validity of the company. In one job search, everything is provided.

If you need jobs filled in, WP Job Manager makes accepting applications an easy thing.

Page Builder Sandwich Makes Using WP Job Manager Easier

You don’t have to squint your eyes and squeeze out info from anything to connect the page builder and the plugin. Here are 3 things why these two are compatible with each other:

Overview of how Page Builder Sandwich and WP Job Manager work together

Insert job shortcodes faster

PBS Shortcode Mapper detected 6 shortcodes used in the plugin, and we’ve integrated them all. Each shortcode has different arguments which allow you to display a job search form, or specifics of a job placement. Each shortcode’s details are available in their site’s shortcode reference. Now you won’t have to check the docs on how to tweak these shortcodes, all the shortcodes and their attributes are presented in PBS complete with descriptions.

Available shortcodes from WP Job Manager

Jobs Shortcode Attributes

It works with any theme

Using Page Builder Sandwich as your page builder editor, by default, does not destroy the theme that you’ve chosen to use. Plus to ensure total website optimization, we’ve created the PBS Shortcode Mapper. Same principle goes with the WP Job Manager! Astoundify, one of the themes developers in ThemeForest, supports the said plugin in their Listify – WordPress Directory Theme. For more themes with WP Job Manager fully integrated, look into their official list.

Manage jobs in the frontend

Lessening the effort of switching between frontend and backend plus refreshing the page to see the changes made is the thing that we are against. With PBS, you can edit the jobs you picked without checking the backend, you will also be able to edit the plugin’s settings while editing your page. Without PBS, users will have to exert more effort, and it requires too much time that could be allotted for developing other WordPress projects. This feature of WP Job Manager is the one we like the most!

Final thoughts

Being built by the same company who created WordPress.com, this plugin has already the advantage of being on the spotlight. But it also bears a lot of expectation, from WordPress developers to loyal WordPress enthusiasts. So far, it met everyone’s needs – as far as light-weight job-board functionality speaking. WordPress developers liked the plugin so much that they even made extensions to enhance the utility of the plugin.

More plugins would be featured in the coming weeks! If you have suggestions who and what we should write next, leave a comment below.

See you soon!

September 20, 2016
Pages and Plugins: Maximizing Your WordPress Experience
Some of WordPress’ features (especially the more complex ones) may take newer users some time to be familiar with. And if you are one of these newer users, WordPress’ intricate jargon might have the tendency to send you towards a spiral of intimidation, especially when getting that near-inevitable feel of information overload. Yikes.

Now, if you’re a part of this particular percentage of WordPress users, we implore you not to fret; the good news is that it is but a misconception that being a WordPress noob automatically equates to a limited WordPress experience. This brand of thinking is a common error that almost anyone makes, and we urge you not to make that very same mistake.

The truth is, you needn’t have that much of an in-depth grasp of the inner workings of software and code in order to begin building a site– or to get one to work in your desired way, for the matter. “How is that possible?” you might ask? Well, one of the ways this can be achieved is in the form of creating pages on your site, and adding in plugins.

WordPress is both complex and convenient, and through a bunch of our articles for beginners, we’ve pretty much gotten that covered. Previously, we’ve also discussed how plugins contribute to WordPress’ customizability and flexibility, and how they allow its users to make the best out of their WordPress experience. And while familiarizing yourself with the importance of plugins is pivotal to your site-building journey, the basic elements of WordPress–such as the existence of pages, can get you off to a pretty good start as well.

Pages VS Posts Defined

In the realm of WordPress, the term “page” is almost always associated with the term “post” –as in “pages and posts”– and there are times when people mistake them for interchangeable terms. Arguably, it’s easy to get confused between the two (especially if you’re still wading around the shallow end of the WordPress Beginner pool). So with that in mind, take note that while these things may seem trivial, it’s always a good idea to familiarize yourself around WordPress’ little things, especially if you’re just starting out.

An easy identifier for differentiating between posts and pages is that posts are the individual entries you create on your site (this article you’re reading right now, for instance, is a post). These entries aren’t exactly a necessity for websites, unless yours has an active blog like ours. However, what may be a crucial element of your site are setting up pages, which is what this article will be a bit more centered on.

Pages are Building Blocks

Unless you’ve never touched a computer before (which we assume is unlikely), chances are, you’ve already seen or heard of website pages before, or at least have a fair idea of what they might be. If you are unfamiliar, don’t worry; it’s also likely that you’ve already stumbled upon pages on your visits to other websites: FAQ and/or About sections, contact forms, and picture galleries. For beginners and freshly-built websites, they can be akin to building blocks, in a sense. If put together, they make up the essentials of what your site’s all about, and what it has to offer.

So it’s all well and good to be wary of these basic differences, yes. But combined with your basic plugin know-how, you’re actually in a perfect position to take advantage of your newfound knowledge on WordPress pages, even if you are a beginner. The question now though, is how.

Taking Advantage: Basic Plugins You Can Install

On a basic WordPress site, creating pages is easy, sure. You’d just have to work your way through it, read a few instructions, click a few buttons and you’re good to go. If you want anything more than that, though, you’re going to have to install a couple of plugins.
1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plugins
Getting your site out there in the open is hard enough, and the task of spreading word about your site is much harder. Believe me. That’s why a little help from SEO plugins are crucial for your site to get that boost in ranking.

Here at Sandwich, we use Yoast, which is often dubbed as today’s leading SEO plugin in the market. There are a bunch of other SEO’s to choose from though, and there are numerous sites, such as SitePoint, that compare and contrast the different SEO plugins if you want to weigh in your options.
1. Back-Up plugins
Backing up is one of the most important precautions you have to take when you set up your site; you really can never be too careful. After all, it’s better to take a few minutes (or hours, depending on your experience) to set up a good back-up plugin, than spending an eternity setting up your site all over again if your data accidentally gets wiped clean.
1. Security plugins
It’s a cruel, cruel world out there, even in the realm of the interwebz. Bad guys will want to steal your data and even hack into your site, among other things. And so it’s always a good idea to install a security plugin along with your back-up for good measure. We use VaultPress for both back-up and security.
1. Anti-Spam plugins
No one wants spam, unless it’s the food. Delicious.

Well, popular canned goods aside, there are plenty of ways unwanted spam can creep its way into your WordPress site. According to WPExplorer, while it’s possible to manually tweak WordPress to prevent spam, you can also opt for a quicker solution: installing an anti-spam plugin for your site.
1. Cache
Installing a caching plugin is a sure-fire way to speed up your site’s and server’s performance. We’ve been using WP Fastest Cache for some time now, but there are a lot of other high-rated, trusted cache plugins too – like W3 Total Cache – which you may also want to give a go.

You can learn more about caching on the WordPress Codex site.

FUN FACT: Cache is pronounced ˈkash not kashè

Additional Plugins for Your Pages

1. Contact Form Plugin

As the site owner, you are responsible for answering your audience’s queries and responding to their suggestions. So at some point, after your site-building journey, they may want – or even need – to reach you; and this is what contact forms plugins are for. While it is possible to build a contact form for your site from scratch, we have to admit there are times when doing so wouldn’t be very practical, considering that it will definitely take some time for you to do so, especially if you’re a beginner.

WPBeginner has a list of what they rate as the best contact form plugins in the market, while Site Point has a similar article of ones that are available for free.

2. Social Media Plugin

Unless you’re a website that people frequently flock to, it’s admittedly a bit challenging to get your site’s content (such as articles) going around. This is why there are times when the need for a social media plugin arises. Chances are, if your audience finds your content interesting enough, they might want to share it with their friends on social media outlets.

3. Commenting Tools / Disqus

Like we’ve mentioned, communicating with your audience is a must, especially if your site content revolves around feature articles. Getting to know your audience gives you a leverage too; you can use whatever feedback they have to better your site and/or your products.

Disqus is a very popular commenting tool, and one of the most popular ones in the market. Kikolani also has a very handy article that might help you in deciding which commenting tool will work best for your site.

There Are More Plugins Than You Think

The list of plugins available for WordPress sites doesn’t stop with this article. These are but a few that we find very helpful; the realm of WordPress plugins definitely holds more than the eight we’ve enumerated above.

That being said, we probably didn’t get to cover anything. So do you have a plugin in mind that you think should make the list? Tell us in the comments section below, and we might just take in your suggestions for one of our future articles!

Happy Site-Building!
September 2, 2016
Safety Measures in WordPress: The Importance of Backups
Imagine this: Your first WordPress website, finally up and running. You’ve never felt this accomplished in months. You give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, and so do the people who’ve helped you accomplish the fruit of your labor. You install the plugins you need, and start planning further into your website’s future. It looks bright, and everything’s going swell.

Until the unthinkable happens. And your site crashes.

You shrug to yourself. You’ve heard of this kind of thing happening, even to the best of people. Heck, you’re sure Mark Zuckerberg and David Karp have had this kind of thing happen to them before, and they’re both doing just fine now, aren’t they?

So you try to get it back up and running, Googling frantically for fixes. It doesn’t work the first try. It doesn’t work on the second either– or the third, or fourth, or the seventeenth, and even twenty-second. Your eyes widen at the realization that you’re completely and utterly doomed; your website is gone forever. You go through the web for a solution, but almost all of the how-to sites say the same thing:

You should have backed up your WordPress files from the get-go.

You should have backed up your WordPress files from the get-go.

You should have backed up your WordPress files from the get-go.

One of the website owner’s worst nightmares, at best. This exactly the kind of thing we want to avoid, so how exactly do we prevent it? Well, the answer is kind of simple: We need to install a good backup plugin.

“a very “secure” bridge” by Garrett LeSage is licensed under CC BY-SA

How and Where to Start?

The first step in backing up your WordPress site is knowing exactly what it is you need to back up. WPBeginner, in their article “Which WordPress Files Should You Backup? And the Right Way To Do It”, the following are listed as the essential files needed to be backed-up for this task:
- Core WordPress Files
- Files in the wp-content Folder (your theme, plugins, and uploads)
- WordPress configuration file
- Your WordPress Database
Backups Explained A Little Further

WordPress alone doesn’t come with its own security and backup systems for your site (you could learn how to manually set them up, though– although that will take a lot of time), so it’s up to you to find a way to lessen complications. Updating your site is always a given (just in case you want to add in anything new to it, like another plugin, or if you want to take something down), and backups are must, unless you want to lose data (you don’t). Other reasons to back your site up and tighten security include the assurance that it’s hacker-free, and that no one gets to steal any of your site’s data.

“There’s a Plugin for That, Too.”

WordPress has tons of plugins for all kinds of features, including (yep, you guessed it) several for security and backup measures. There are a ton of these plugins you can choose from too; a few of the more popular ones include BackupBuddy and UpDraftPlus. There are reviews for these plugins (and more) almost everywhere, so don’t worry – the magic of the internet has your back. Personally, we use VaultPress, for both security and backup, for the following reasons:
1. VaultPress was made by Automattic– founded by Matt Mullenweg– the same person who who founded WordPress itself. Many if not most of Automattic’s products and service are fool-proof, and it’s never a bad idea to subscribe to plugins that have already been tried and tested.
2. Unlike most backup plugins, VaultPress doesn’t require storage space. They store your stuff in their own servers so you won’t get any “you’re-eating-up-a-lot-of-the-server-space” notices from your web host.
3. Simplicity. To use it, you just need to log into your UI, and you can view all your backup details and perform operations from there.
Now, because VaultPress meets our personal standards, it works for us perfectly. However, if you’re not satisfied with VaultPress, many sites – such as WPBeginner and wpmudev — offer the usual compare-and-contrast article in case you have any more trouble deciding.

All Up to You

At the end of the day, the decision of whether or not to secure and backup your website is up to you. Some people are confident they’ll be able to face of the risks an unsecured site presents… and some people aren’t – and that’s okay. It’s better to be safe than sorry, after all.

Whichever decision you stick to, always remember to weigh in your options. After all, only you can gauge what it is you’re capable of handling.

Good luck!
August 17, 2016
5 Simple Tips To Make Your Website Look Good

In general, one thing that most people tend to overlook is today’s demand for functional design and aesthetics. While not all of us may be aware of the extent of just how much it matters, the fact remains that design is a very crucial factor towards success—any kind of success– including your website’s. Yes, your content is an important key towards reeling your audience in, but how your site looks will definitely be a determining factor as well.

Here are some basic tips on what you can do to improve your website’s design.

Add high-quality images

oars.com

whitetablecatering.com

You want to add the best quality images on your website that reflect your brand style, but if you don’t have a high-resolution camera or the money to pay a photographer, you can get free stock photos from sources like Pexels and Pixabay. Images should pertain directly to the content of your site. Including images is always better than no images at all.

Choose the right colors

Lawrence Boone Selections uses black to add a sense of luxury and value to their website

Juicebox used this zesty combination for people to get that organic and fresh that the brand represents

A website’s color scheme plays a big role in creating the proper tone and mood for your brand. Picking a nice color doesn’t necessary mean its the right one. Each color sends off a different message and response. Colors is one of the first things that site visitors notice and it can actually impact your website’s success.

Pick two to three base colors at most for your design. If you feel the need to add more color, you can utilize the tints and shades of your base colors. In color theory, a tint is the mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness while shade is the mixture of a color with white, which reduces lightness.

Additional Tip: There are great tools such as Adobe Colour CC and Coolors to make picking colors easier.

Use contrasting typefaces

There are more fonts other than Arial, Georgia and Times New Roman. Google Web Fonts offer a variety of typefaces you can use for free on your site. Just like with choosing colors you can easily over do fonts, so I suggest you do not use more than two typefaces on your website. Most well-designed websites use two typefaces only, one for the headlines and one for the body text.

Paring two typefaces can be hard even for designers. You could keep it simple by playing around with two different fonts from one typeface. If a second typeface is necessary, choose something that contrasts well against your first typeface. Normally, combining a serif font and sans-serif works well together. Another important tip is to choose typefaces that matches your company’s style. You could have the nicest looking font in the wold, but when used in the wrong context, it could still look terrible.

Keep it clean using whitespace

Whitespace is one of the easiest and most effective ways to create a visually effective website. Your website should look well organized and clutter free, directing users exactly where they need to go. Make sure elements stand out and are grouped together by using whitespace properly.

Make it mobile-friendly

People are probably going to visit your site at different times using different devices and screen sizes. While content is important, consistency across devices provides a better user-experience for anyone who visits your site. It makes it easier for users to share and link contents on your website to social media platforms on mobile. On top of that, Google prioritizes responsive websites on search results.

Additional Tip: Using Page Builder Sandwich on your website will automatically enable mobile viewing and adjust it for mobile screen size.

Conclusion

Remember: Underestimating the power of design is one of the worst mistakes you can make when building your website. You don’t have to exert too much effort when designing your website, of course, but in the meantime, simply following these tips can ensure that your site doesn’t emit any feelings of disapproval from your audience.

August 9, 2016
Where Things Get a Little Technical: How We Made Our Version of Shortcode Mapping Happen
On the previous article, we’ve discussed the basics of shortcode mapping and how you can get access to its sweet benefits. We’ve decided to split the article featuring the Page Builder Sandwich version of Shortcode Mapping, as the following write-up may get a little more technical.

Below are more in-depth descriptions of the inner workings of our shortcode mapping feature, and how we got it to work.

An Automated Process

In order to decide which plugins to include in the shortcode mapper, we built an automated script that will gather the top plugins in the WordPress plugin directory based on the following criteria:
- Within the 1,000 popular, top-rated and updated plugins,With at least 4,000 active installs,
- With at least 4,000 active installs,
- With at least 20 ratings, and;
- With at least a 3-star average rating
We run this query daily against the WordPress plugin directory. These filters ensure that we get a list of good quality plugins that a lot of people use. During the time this was written, this criteria resulted in 800 plugins. That’s a lot. Like, a lot.

Some of the most popular plugins detected for shortcode mapping.

We then run a series of automated checks on each plugin’s source code to find out whether it contains any shortcodes, and then we try and find all of those shortcodes, including all their attributes. Crunching the data, this resulted in over 2,000 shortcodes. Double woah. Detected shortcodes are then inputted into the shortcode mapping database for manual inspection.

By the end of this process, we would end up with a huge list of plugins, and what their possible shortcodes are. It’s now a matter of cleaning this data up to make sure everything’s correct.

A Manual Process

This is probably the hardest part of the whole mapping system. Plugin code comes in different forms and sizes, not all shortcodes are automatically detected by our scripts. Even though the WordPress Codex says to use the function `shortcode_atts` to filter a shortcode’s attributes, this is only a recommendation and not everyone does it. There is also no sure-fire way to check the innards of a shortcode when a plugin is installed.

To so make sure that we get all the shortcodes and their attributes right, we created a front end area dedicated to editing shortcodes and attributes and is built using AngularJS and Bootstrap.

Bootstrap & AngularJS interface for fixing up all the mapped shortcodes.

We’ll have to manually go through each and every plugin and check their shortcode documentation and make sure that all the data we have is correct.

Even though this is painstakingly tedious, there are some bright sides to having an automated process:
- According to our early stats, only around 1 in every 2 plugins have shortcodes.
- Half of the detected shortcodes have no attributes (but a portion of this may be false positives)
- By getting only good quality plugins, most likely they have shortcode documentation
When all of a plugin’s shortcodes have been checked, only then will the server start distributing the shortcode mappings of that plugin to the users.

A Rest API Call

The last piece of the puzzle is the plugin itself. The concept here is simple: find out what plugins are active, what theme the site is using and what shortcodes are available, then ask the shortcode mapping database whether it has mappings. For this we created a custom WP REST API endpoint that all clients ping to get their latest shortcode mappings.

The Future: Crowdsourcing

Manually checking each plugin requires a lot of time and effort. Once the shortcode mapping platform is stable, we plan on opening up shortcode mapping to everyone. This means that everyone can help out in adding shortcodes.

You might be thinking, “why would I help map out shortcodes? What’s in it for me?” Well, a few things come into mind on why people would want to help out:
1. If you have created a plugin, and we haven’t caught it yet because of the criteria above, (and it’s in the WordPress plugin directory) then you can add the mappings yourself. Your plugin would become fully supported by PBS!
2. Since we’ll only be dealing with those in the WordPress plugin directory in the automated process, premium plugin & theme authors won’t become included. So if you have one, then you can also your shortcode mappings for those.
3. And for the non-plugin creators, we can reward those who help. To make shortcode mapping an enticing endeavor, we can reward happy helpers with a personal license, or an upgrade to a premium license of PBS!
Sign up to Our Newsletter

The shortcode mapping functionality will be out for our customers tentatively on August 12 August 15 August 16, 2016. Not all shortcodes will be mapped by this time (our estimate is maybe 100 plugins), but mapping will be continuously done and customers will get them as soon as new ones roll out.

Sign up to our newsletter to get news on shortcode mapping, when we’ll release it, and when we open shortcode mapping to the public!
August 8, 2016
Shortcode Mapping: How PBS Will Support 800+ Plugins & 2,000+ Shortcodes
When I started getting further into software development and WordPress, I noticed that not a lot of page builders I come across with have that “page builder standard” I was looking for: fast, easy, convenient.

Page Builder Sandwich, then, was created with the goal of having a builder meet these same standards.

I wanted- and still want it– to be the best page builder out there, and the best way I could accomplish that, I figured, was to add in features in a way in which page building becomes helpful and accessible to everyone –developers and noobs alike.

I’d like to note though, that I didn’t simply create PBS with the intent of merely bombarding it with features just for the sake of it.

I want to add in features that people would want to work with; features that hopefully, would make the experience of page building feel a little bit more like magic.

These past few weeks, the PBS team has added in a map element, and a tabs element as well.

Now, it’d come off as a pretty easy and plain routine for us to stick to adding in a new element every couple of days.

But I think it’d be better if we take it to the next level; to take a bigger leap, do something more drastic, something drizzled with a little more awesomesauce.

And so we came up with an idea: “How about we start supporting 800+ plugins along with their 2000+ shortcodes?!?!”

I know what you’re thinking: “How the heck can you support that much shortcodes? Is that even possible?”

Well, the simple answer is yes. Yes it is.

And we’ve managed to achieve this feat through shortcode mapping.

What is Shortcode Mapping?

Shortcode mapping makes building shortcodes more friendly.

Put more simply, shortcode mapping is like letting Page Builder Sandwich memorize all the shortcodes available on your site: their names, descriptions, their attributes, and what each of these attributes do.

The benefits of a system like this are quite hefty:

1.) Since PBS already knows what your shortcodes are, you get to spend less time going through the documentation of each plugin you use, and check how to use their shortcodes.

2. ) In other words: Say goodbye to the grueling task of manually typing in your shortcodes!

3.) With shortcode mapping, you can also say goodbye to manually checking post type ID’s. How? PBS can give you a list of all your contact forms through a drop-down list, so instead of looking for ID’s while on admin mode, you can pick from the list we made instead.

4.) You’ll get to use dropdowns, colorpickers, image uploaders, and even number sliders when adjusting shortcode attributes.

5.) Overall faster page building time!

Shortcode mapping isn’t new though, and a bunch of page builders already have them. What makes ours different, though?

How Shortcode Mapping Works in Other Page Builders

Each person/site does their own shortcode mapping.

Other page builders have a dedicated admin page for shortcode mapping. You go inside your admin page, and then their admin page. You put in your shortcode, edit a number of text fields, then hit save. Finally, when you go to your page builder editor, the shortcode is now there in element list.

In this scenario, the burden of shortcode mapping is then left to you, the user. If you want all your shortcodes mapped completely with all the attributes (and with the pretty colorpickers and other stuff), you’ll have to make sure to input every single detail of each and every shortcode.

What’s more, all your mappings only reside on your site. So when the times comes that you need to work on another site, you’ll have to copy your mappings all over again. Additionally, if and when you install a new plugin that has shortcodes, then you’re going to have to map those too.

How Shortcode Mapping Works in Page Builder Sandwich

Shortcode mappings are shared across all users.

Unlike the norm, shortcode mapping in Page Builder Sandwich is done on a global scale. The most used and popular plugins are gathered first, and all their shortcode mappings are created and updated in a central area. These will then spread out to all users depending on what they have installed. In other words, PBS studies and reviews all the shortcodes you have, including your activated plugins. Afterwards, it gives you the mapping of basically everything you need.

This gives us a lot of sweet benefits:
1. Maximum coverage. Since we’ll be mapping out the shortcodes of the popular plugins, PBS will be able to support a majority of the shortcodes available on your site.
2. Constant and frequent additions, updates and corrections. And since it’s in a central area, changes can be made quickly, and can be disseminated to all users.
3. It basically works like magic. Let’s say you just installed a new plugin. Then you activate it, all mappings for its shortcodes will automatically get sent to you right away.
4. Gone are the days when you have to personally map shortcodes yourself. PBS will do that for you.
5. Your site remains lean and fast, and will only contain shortcode mappings that are relevant to you.
6. Plugin zip size remains small. Even though PBS supports thousands of shortcodes, the plugin file size is still small. Your site and your backups remain small too!
In case you’re interested in reading into how we made all of this possible, we actually have a second part to this article in which things might start sounding a little more technical (if that’s your drift).

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You can also opt to sign up to our mailing list, which will automatically notify you when we officially release this feature, (you can get future updates from us too, if you want). The shortcode mapping functionality will be out for our customers tentatively on August 12 August 15 2016. Not all shortcodes will be mapped by this time (our estimate is maybe 100 plugins), but mapping will be continuously done and customers will get them as soon as new ones roll out.

So sign up to our newsletter to get news on shortcode mapping, when we’ll release it, and when we open shortcode mapping to the public! Until then, we hope you enjoy this new feature of ours, and that you have fun exploring it!
August 8, 2016
What In The World Are Shortcodes, Anyway?

If you’ve noticed, one of WordPress’ rules of thumb is to always, always make things a little easier for everyone– newbies and experienced developers alike. One of the ways they get to achieve this goal is through the use of shortcodes.

The WordPress.com Support Page defines them as such:

Sounds pretty simple. Now, If you haven’t heard of shortcodes before this article, and you don’t know what they look like, they’re those archaic code-like text wrapped in square brackets.

Compared to normal code, which typically looks like this:

(Erm. What?)

Shortcodes in general look a little something like this:

(Easy-peasy.)

…and if you’re a developer (or heck, even someone who’s been around a computer at least twice), you’ll probably agree that mere the act of typing and clicking to get one measly task done can eat up lot of your time. For the same reason we have keyboard shortcuts, shortcodes exist to make things easier for all of us, so we save up time in order to do and create better things; they’re very much like shortcut keys in that they have that very same purpose.

Now let’s go back to this specific piece of shortcode, the same as above:

This specific one is called the embed shortcode and is built-in by default in WordPress. It embeds the video from the URL into your content. If you’re on WordPress right now, you can copy and paste the above shortcode in your site if you want to give it a spin.

Shortcodes aren’t the perfect solution to time-saving, though. In our previous article, we delve in deeper into why shortcodes have its own share of cons, and what the Sandwich Team’s brewing up in order to fix them.

For now though, feel free to tinker with shortcodes and see just what they can do for you.

Happy Site-Building!

August 1, 2016
5 Reasons Why Whitespace Matters

Basically, whitespace, at its most basic definition, is the space around and between all the elements of a composition that is left unmarked. It’s not just a waste of screen space, as most websites owners think. When used well, whitespaces can actually provide benefits to better promote a product. It is an important key to creating good design and it makes a website better in every way.

Although the name whitespace implies that the space is white, it doesn’t always have to be literally white. Whitespace can actually be any color—It can even have a subtle pattern or texture. It’s an area that you don’t want the eye to focus on. Alternatively, it’s called a negative space.

So, why does whitespace matter?

Image Source: News Feed

Reason #1: Improves readability

Whitespace between baselines and paragraphs actually help people comfortably read all of the content on the site. Adjusting small details of your site (like line-spacing/leading or the letter-spacing) could make a huge difference in make reading easier.

The goal is to make people want to keep reading by designing layouts that are easy on the eyes.

Image Source: HP Magic Words

Reason #2: Speeds up interaction

Let’s be honest: most of your visitors won’t have enough patience to look thoroughly when browsing through websites. When a website looks cluttered, it keeps users distracted from finding what they are looking for.

Whitespaces should help lead the viewer around the page. Less elements competing for attention plus proper use of whitespaces can prevent distractions that slows visitors down.

Image Source: Google

Reason #3: Drive attention to the right elements

Whitespace can give users visual cues on where they should be looking. When used in a correct manner, whitespaces help emphasize information and draw attention to a particular area on you website.

Remember, if everything stands out, nothing does.

Image Source: Pocket Penguins

Reason #4: First impressions matter

The look and feel of a website is the main key to good first impressions. Good first impressions often leads to longer visit duration. Too little whitespace can make your website look cheap and unreliable. Visitors won’t think the site or the brand is credible unless it looks attractive. Having a good amount of whitespace helps create the right tone for your website. Whitespace can be a way to communicate ingenuity, freshness, and sometimes, elegance.

Tip: Here’s an idea on how to make your web design simple and familiar.

Image Source: Flock Knitwear

Reason #5: Helps create breathing room and balance

A balanced design doesn’t mean symmetrical. A large design element can be balanced by a few smaller once. Adding whitespace is a great way to balance different-sized design elements on your page. Create a flow so the users eyes won’t dart all over the place. A good design should be able to guide the user from one point to another without confusing the visitor.

Conclusion

Next time you visit a website and find yourself staying a while, think about what made you stay and read. Do you think the line-spacing makes an article easier to read? Does the experience make you want to keep coming back for more? Did you have a hard time looking for the navigation?

Take note of the good application of whitespace on the website. If you think it can also work in your website, learn to apply and manage how much space you should allocate on your element until you think you’ve conveyed the right tone and readability without sacrificing the “flow” you want for your website.

The ultimate goal of any website is communication. Visual appeal goes hand in hand with the success of your website.

July 27, 2016