Title: Your statement about Shortcode cruft … ?
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# Your statement about Shortcode cruft … ?

 *  Resolved [pcvip](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pcvip/)
 * (@pcvip)
 * [13 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-statement-about-shortcode-cruft/)
 * Hi, Stephen.
 * So I’ve just installed ‘graceful’, and in wanting to use it cleanly (this is 
   a hot button for me). I note this statement in your readme:
 * > Using JavaScript instead of PHP also ensures that duplicate content doesn’t
   > show up in your feeds. It is named for the fact that it degrades gracefully
   > in browsers that can’t handle the JavaScript, _as well as not leaving behind
   > visible cruft (such as shortcodes) if the plugin is later deactivated._
 * That’s what I want to hear, so, hooray!. BUT: since the way your plug-in is used
   is by manually inserting extra code in each post that requires it, <SPAN>-based
   though it may be, aren’t I adding a different kind of one-day-potentially-leftover
   code?
 * Am I missing something? Will the code live in a transient state that WordPress
   will magically know to remove if your plug-in is ever deactivated?
 * ???
 * Thanks,
    Jeff Yablon [http://answerguy.com](http://answerguy.com)
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/graceful-pull-quotes/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/graceful-pull-quotes/)

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Stephen Rider](https://wordpress.org/support/users/strider72/)
 * (@strider72)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-statement-about-shortcode-cruft/#post-3830968)
 * If you ever uninstall it, the spans will not go away automatically, but so long
   as there isn’t any CSS to style them, they are completely invisible in terms 
   of HTML rendering — as opposed to a [shortcode] that would appear within the 
   text wherever you had placed it.
 * I can see what you’re asking philosophically, but from a practical viewpoint,
   there has to be SOME way to mark the text you want the plugin to “pull”. HTML
   spans seemed to be the cleanest method.
 * So… it leaves behind some cruft, but nothing visible.
 *  Thread Starter [pcvip](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pcvip/)
 * (@pcvip)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-statement-about-shortcode-cruft/#post-3830969)
 * Appreciate the reply. And you’re right on all counts; my point IS mostly philosophical
   because the non-purpose-no-appearance nature of a SPAN surely is superior to [
   shortcode] in the way you describe.
 * And if you’ve visited answerguy.com you see we’ve been using your plugin so …
   well, as you said, it really was mostly a philosophical issue.
 * THAT SAID: while your plugin leaves behind so little, and literally exactly the
   same thing for each instance of its use (ZIP down to almost nothing!), other 
   items, like the pollution of the wp_options table perpetrated by so many plugins
   and themes, is an example of a similar but way worse problem: “I left behind 
   invisible stuff [and] it swelled the bejesus out of your database”.
 * Nice job NOT doing that. And again, thank you for the reply!
 *  Plugin Author [Stephen Rider](https://wordpress.org/support/users/strider72/)
 * (@strider72)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-statement-about-shortcode-cruft/#post-3830971)
 * > other items, like the pollution of the wp_options table perpetrated by so many
   > plugins and themes, is an example of a similar but way worse problem: “I left
   > behind invisible stuff [and] it swelled the bejesus out of your database”.
   > Nice job NOT doing that.
 * Heh. I’m all over that! [Consolidate Options with Arrays in your WordPress Plugins](http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia/2008/07/consolidate-options-with-arrays/)
 *  Plugin Author [Stephen Rider](https://wordpress.org/support/users/strider72/)
 * (@strider72)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-statement-about-shortcode-cruft/#post-3830972)
 * Marking this “resolved”

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Your statement about Shortcode cruft … ?’ is closed to new replies.

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 * [Graceful Pull-Quotes](https://wordpress.org/plugins/graceful-pull-quotes/)
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 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Stephen Rider](https://wordpress.org/support/users/strider72/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/your-statement-about-shortcode-cruft/#post-3830972)
 * Status: resolved