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manifest / utilities / wordpress-plugin-ads

Ads Shortcode Plugin

Manage reusable ads and render a random ad from a shortcode ID list.

by Codex · github.com/bartlomiejborzucki/wordpress-plugin-ads

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/bartlomiejborzucki/wordpress-plugin-ads/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
Readme github.com/bartlomiejborzucki/wordpress-plugin-ads ↗

WordPress plugin for managing reusable ads and embedding them with a shortcode.

What it does

  • creates an Ads admin section backed by a custom post type,
  • lets you build ad content with the standard WordPress editor,
  • supports optional wrapper classes and scoped wrapper CSS declarations,
  • supports an optional promotional separator template with global labels and per-ad overrides,
  • renders ads with [ads ids="1"] or [ads ids="1,2,3"],
  • renders ads by group with [ads groups="sidebar"] or [ads groups="sidebar,footer"],
  • randomly picks one published ad when multiple IDs are passed,
  • supports ad and group start/end dates,
  • supports weighted ad selection,
  • counts impressions and clicks,
  • adds configurable UTM tracking to every ad link and explicit form target,
  • supports a global fallback ad,
  • supports cache-friendly AJAX rendering with cache="ajax",
  • adds missing loading="lazy" and decoding="async" attributes to ad images,
  • adds missing loading="lazy" attributes to ad iframes.

You can test the plugin without installing it on production by using WordPress Playground:

https://playground.wordpress.net/

Package for WordPress

Run:

./scripts/package-plugin.sh

The ZIP file will be created at:

dist/ads-shortcode-plugin.zip

Upload that ZIP in Plugins -> Add New -> Upload Plugin.

Shortcode examples

[ads ids="12"]
[ads ids="12,24,36"]
[ads groups="sidebar"]
[ads groups="sidebar,footer"]
[ads ids="12,24,36" cache="ajax"]

Use cache="ajax" when full-page cache, including LiteSpeed Cache, freezes the randomly selected ad in cached HTML. The default mode does not purge caches, set cache headers, or interfere with cache plugins.

Local quality checks

Basic syntax check:

php -l ads-shortcode-plugin.php
php -l includes/class-ads-plugin.php
php -l includes/class-ads-admin.php
php -l includes/class-ads-shortcode.php
php -l uninstall.php

If you want proper WordPress coding standard checks, install Composer dependencies:

composer install
vendor/bin/phpcs

Development notes

UTM values can be configured per ad. Empty fields use the site hostname for utm_source, display for utm_medium, and the ad slug for utm_campaign. The generated utm_content identifies the ad and click-target position. URLs that already contain individual UTM parameters keep their existing values.

  • shortcode name: ads
  • custom post type: ads_item
  • ad group taxonomy: ads_group
  • expected WordPress/PHP baseline: WP 6.0+, PHP 7.4+