---
title: "Shortcodes"
date: 2020-08-11
draft: false
description: "All the shortcodes available in Blowfish."
slug: "shortcodes"
tags: ["shortcodes", "mermaid", "icon", "lead", "docs"]
series: ["Documentation"]
series_order: 8
---
In addition to all the [default Hugo shortcodes](https://gohugo.io/content-management/shortcodes/), Blowfish adds a few extras for additional functionality.
## Alert
`alert` outputs its contents as a stylised message box within your article. It's useful for drawing attention to important information that you don't want the reader to miss.
| Parameter | Description |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `icon` | **Optional.** the icon to display on the left side.
**Default:** `exclaimation triangle icon` (Check out the [icon shortcode](#icon) for more details on using icons.) |
| `iconColor` | **Optional.** the color for the icon in basic CSS style.
Can be either hex values (`#FFFFFF`) or color names (`white`)
By default chosen based on the current color theme . |
| `cardColor` | **Optional.** the color for the card background in basic CSS style.
Can be either hex values (`#FFFFFF`) or color names (`white`)
By default chosen based on the current color theme . |
| `textColor` | **Optional.** the color for the text in basic CSS style.
Can be either hex values (`#FFFFFF`) or color names (`white`)
By default chosen based on the current color theme . |
The input is written in Markdown so you can format it however you please.
**Example 1:** No params
```md
{{}}
**Warning!** This action is destructive!
{{}}
```
{{< alert >}}
**Warning!** This action is destructive!
{{< /alert >}}
**Example 2:** Unnamed param
```md
{{}}
Don't forget to [follow me](https://twitter.com/nunocoracao) on Twitter.
{{}}
```
{{< alert "twitter" >}}
Don't forget to [follow me](https://twitter.com/nunocoracao) on Twitter.
{{< /alert >}}
**Example 3:** Named params
```md
{{}}
This is an error!
{{}}
```
{{< alert icon="fire" cardColor="#e63946" iconColor="#1d3557" textColor="#f1faee" >}}
This is an error!
{{< /alert >}}
## Article
`Article` will embed a single article into a markdown file. The `link` to the file should be the `.RelPermalink` of the file to be embedded. Note that the shortcode will not display anything if it's referencing it's parent. *Note: if you are running your website in a subfolder like Blowfish (i.e. /blowfish/) please include that path in the link.*
| Parameter | Description |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| `link` | **Required.** the `.RelPermalink` to the target article. |
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< article link="/it/docs/welcome/" >}}
## Badge
`badge` outputs a styled badge component which is useful for displaying metadata.
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
New article!
{{}}
```
{{< badge >}}
New article!
{{< /badge >}}
## Button
`button` outputs a styled button component which can be used to highlight a primary action. It has two optional variables `href` and `target` which can be used to specify the URL and target of the link.
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
Call to action
{{}}
```
{{< button href="#button" target="_self" >}}
Call to action
{{< /button >}}
## Carousel
`carousel` is used to showcase multiple images in an interactive and visually appealing way. This allows a user to slide through multiple images while only taking up the vertical space of a single one. All images are displayed using the full width of the parent component and using one of the predefined aspect ratios of `16:9`, `21:9` or `32:9`.
| Parameter | Description |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `images` | **Required.** A regex string to match image names or URLs. |
| `aspectRatio` | **Optional.** The aspect ratio for the carousel. Either `16-9`, `21-9` or `32-9`. It is set to `16-9` by default. |
| `interval` | **Optional.** The interval for the auto-scrooling, specified in milliseconds. Defaults to `2000` (2s) |
**Example 1:** 16:9 aspect ratio and verbose list of images
```md
{{}}
```
{{< carousel images="{https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/12/11/12/02/mountains-1899264_960_720.jpg,gallery/03.jpg,gallery/01.jpg,gallery/02.jpg,gallery/04.jpg}" >}}
**Example 2:** 21:9 aspect ratio and regex-ed list of images
```md
{{}}
```
{{< carousel images="gallery/*" aspectRatio="21-9" interval="2500" >}}
## Chart
`chart` uses the Chart.js library to embed charts into articles using simple structured data. It supports a number of [different chart styles](https://www.chartjs.org/docs/latest/samples/) and everything can be configured from within the shortcode. Simply provide the chart parameters between the shortcode tags and Chart.js will do the rest.
Refer to the [official Chart.js docs](https://www.chartjs.org/docs/latest/general/) for details on syntax and supported chart types.
**Example:**
```js
{{}}
type: 'bar',
data: {
labels: ['Tomato', 'Blueberry', 'Banana', 'Lime', 'Orange'],
datasets: [{
label: '# of votes',
data: [12, 19, 3, 5, 3],
}]
}
{{}}
```
{{< chart >}}
type: 'bar',
data: {
labels: ['Tomato', 'Blueberry', 'Banana', 'Lime', 'Orange'],
datasets: [{
label: '# of votes',
data: [12, 19, 3, 5, 3],
}]
}
{{< /chart >}}
You can see some additional Chart.js examples on the [charts samples]({{< ref "charts" >}}) page.
## Figure
Blowfish includes a `figure` shortcode for adding images to content. The shortcode replaces the base Hugo functionality in order to provide additional performance benefits.
When a provided image is a page resource, it will be optimised using Hugo Pipes and scaled in order to provide images appropriate to different device resolutions. If a static asset or URL to an external image is provided, it will be included as-is without any image processing by Hugo.
The `figure` shortcode accepts six parameters:
| Parameter | Description |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `src` | **Required.** The local path/filename or URL of the image. When providing a path and filename, the theme will attempt to locate the image using the following lookup order: Firstly, as a [page resource](https://gohugo.io/content-management/page-resources/) bundled with the page; then an asset in the `assets/` directory; then finally, a static image in the `static/` directory. |
| `alt` | [Alternative text description](https://moz.com/learn/seo/alt-text) for the image. |
| `caption` | Markdown for the image caption, which will be displayed below the image. |
| `class` | Additional CSS classes to apply to the image. |
| `href` | URL that the image should be linked to. |
| `target` | The target attribute for the `href` URL. |
| `nozoom` | `nozoom=true` disables the image "zoom" functionality. This is most useful in combination with a `href` link. |
| `default` | Special parameter to revert to default Hugo `figure` behaviour. Simply provide `default=true` and then use normal [Hugo shortcode syntax](https://gohugo.io/content-management/shortcodes/#figure). |
Blowfish also supports automatic conversion of images included using standard Markdown syntax. Simply use the following format and the theme will handle the rest:
```md
```
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< figure src="abstract.jpg" alt="Abstract purple artwork" caption="Photo by [Jr Korpa](https://unsplash.com/@jrkorpa) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/)" >}}
## Gallery
`gallery` allows you to showcase multiple images at once, in a responsive manner with more varied and interesting layouts.
In order to add images to the gallery, use `img` tags for each image and add `class="grid-wXX"` in order for the gallery to be able to identify the column width for each image. The widths available by default start at 10% and go all the way to 100% in 5% increments. For example, to set the width to 65%, set the class to `grid-w65`. Additionally, widths for 33% and 66% are also available in order to build galleries with 3 cols. You can also leverage tailwind's responsive indicators to have a reponsive grid.
**Example 1: normal gallery**
```md
{{}}
{{}}
```
{{< gallery >}}
{{< /gallery >}}
**Example 2: responsive gallery**
```md
{{}}
{{}}
```
{{< gallery >}}
{{< /gallery >}}
## GitHub Card
`github` allows you to quickly link a github repository, all while showing and updating in realtime stats about it, such as the number of stars and forks it has.
| Parameter | Description |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| `repo` | [String] github repo in the format of `username/repo` |
**Example 1:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< github repo="nunocoracao/blowfish" >}}
## GitLab Card
`gitlab` allows you to quickly link a GitLab Project (GitLab's jargon for repo).
It displays realtime stats about it, such as the number of stars and forks it has.
Unlike `github` it can't display the main programming language of a project.
Finally, custom GitLab instance URL can be provided, as long as the `api/v4/projects/` endpoint is available, making this shortcode compatible with most self-hosted / enterprise deployments.
| Parameter | Description |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `projectID` | [String] gitlab numeric ProjectID |
| `baseURL` | [String] optional gitlab instance URL, default is `https://gitlab.com/` |
**Example 1:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< gitlab projectID="278964" >}}
## Icon
`icon` outputs an SVG icon and takes the icon name as its only parameter. The icon is scaled to match the current text size.
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
```
**Output:** {{< icon "github" >}}
Icons are populated using Hugo pipelines which makes them very flexible. Blowfish includes a number of built-in icons for social, links and other purposes. Check the [icon samples]({{< ref "samples/icons" >}}) page for a full list of supported icons.
Custom icons can be added by providing your own icon assets in the `assets/icons/` directory of your project. The icon can then be referenced in the shortcode by using the SVG filename without the `.svg` extension.
Icons can also be used in partials by calling the [icon partial]({{< ref "partials#icon" >}}).
## KaTeX
The `katex` shortcode can be used to add mathematical expressions to article content using the KaTeX package. Refer to the online reference of [supported TeX functions](https://katex.org/docs/supported.html) for the available syntax.
To include mathematical expressions in an article, simply place the shortcode anywhere with the content. It only needs to be included once per article and KaTeX will automatically render any markup on that page. Both inline and block notation are supported.
Inline notation can be generated by wrapping the expression in `\\(` and `\\)` delimiters. Alternatively, block notation can be generated using `$$` delimiters.
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
\\(f(a,b,c) = (a^2+b^2+c^2)^3\\)
```
{{< katex >}}
\\(f(a,b,c) = (a^2+b^2+c^2)^3\\)
Check out the [mathematical notation samples]({{< ref "mathematical-notation" >}}) page for more examples.
## Keyword
The `keyword` component can be used to visually highlight certain important words or phrases, e.g. professional skills etc. The `keywordList` shortcode can be used to group together multiple `keyword` items. Each item can have the following properties.
| Parameter | Description |
| --------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `icon` | Optional icon to be used in the keyword |
The input is written in Markdown so you can format it however you please.
**Example1 :**
```md
{{}} Super skill {{}}
```
{{< keyword >}} *Standalone* skill {{< /keyword >}}
**Example2 :**
```md
{{}}
{{}} Lorem ipsum dolor. {{}}
{{}} **Important** skill {{}}
{{}}
{{}} *Standalone* skill {{}}
```
{{< keywordList >}}
{{< keyword icon="github" >}} Lorem ipsum dolor {{< /keyword >}}
{{< keyword icon="code" >}} **Important** skill {{< /keyword >}}
{{< /keywordList >}}
{{< keyword >}} *Standalone* skill {{< /keyword >}}
## Lead
`lead` is used to bring emphasis to the start of an article. It can be used to style an introduction, or to call out an important piece of information. Simply wrap any Markdown content in the `lead` shortcode.
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
{{}}
```
{{< lead >}}
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
{{< /lead >}}
## List
`List` will display a list of recent articles. This shortcode requires a limit value to constraint the list. Additionally, it supports a `where` and a `value` in order to filter articles by their parameters. Note that this shortcode will not display its parent page but it will count for the limit value.
| Parameter | Description |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `limit` | **Required.** the number of recent articles to display. |
| `title` | Optional title for the list, default is `Recent` |
| `cardView` | Optional card view enabled for the list, default is `false` |
| `where` | The variable to be used for the query of articles e.g. `Type` |
| `value` | The value that will need to match the parameter defined in `where` for the query of articles e.g. for `where` == `Type` a valid value could be `sample` |
{{< alert >}}
The `where` and `value` values are used in the following query `where .Site.RegularPages $where $value` in the code of the shortcode. Check [Hugo docs](https://gohugo.io/variables/page/) to learn more about which parameters are available to use.
{{}}
**Example #1:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< list limit=2 >}}
**Example #2:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< list title="Samples" cardView=true limit=6 where="Type" value="sample">}}
## LTR/RTL
`ltr` and `rtl` allows you to mix your contents. Many RTL language users want to include parts of the content in LTR. Using this shortcode will let you do so, and by leveraging `%` as the outer-most dilemeter in the shortcode [Hugo shortcodes](https://gohugo.io/content-management/shortcodes/#shortcodes-with-markdown), any markdown inside will be rendered normally.
**Example:**
```md
- This is an markdown list.
- Its per default a LTR direction
{{%/* rtl */%}}
- هذه القائمة باللغة العربية
- من اليمين الى اليسار
{{%/* /rtl */%}}
```
- This is an markdown list.
- Its per default a LTR direction
{{% rtl %}}
- هذه القائمة باللغة العربية
- من اليمين الى اليسار
{{% /rtl %}}
## Markdown Importer
This shortcode allows you to import markdown files from external sources. This is useful for including content from other repositories or websites without having to copy and paste the content.
| Parameter | Description |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| `url` | **Required** URL to an externally hosted markdown file. |
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< mdimporter url="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nunocoracao/nunocoracao/master/README.md" >}}
## Mermaid
`mermaid` allows you to draw detailed diagrams and visualisations using text. It uses Mermaid under the hood and supports a wide variety of diagrams, charts and other output formats.
Simply write your Mermaid syntax within the `mermaid` shortcode and let the plugin do the rest.
Refer to the [official Mermaid docs](https://mermaid-js.github.io/) for details on syntax and supported diagram types.
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
graph LR;
A[Lemons]-->B[Lemonade];
B-->C[Profit]
{{}}
```
{{< mermaid >}}
graph LR;
A[Lemons]-->B[Lemonade];
B-->C[Profit]
{{< /mermaid >}}
You can see some additional Mermaid examples on the [diagrams and flowcharts samples]({{< ref "diagrams-flowcharts" >}}) page.
## Swatches
`swatches` outputs a set of up to three different colors to showcase color elements like a color palette. This shortcode takes the `HEX` codes of each color and creates the visual elements for each.
**Example**
```md
{{}}
```
**Output**
{{< swatches "#64748b" "#3b82f6" "#06b6d4" >}}
## Timeline
The `timeline` creates a visual timeline that can be used in different use-cases, e.g. professional experience, a project's achievements, etc. The `timeline` shortcode relies on the `timelineItem` sub-shortcode to define each item within the main timeline. Each item can have the following properties.
| Parameter | Description |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| `icon` | the icon to be used in the timeline visuals. |
| `header` | header for each entry |
| `badge` | text to place within the top right badge |
| `subheader` | entry's subheader |
**Example:**
```md
{{}}
{{}}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus non magna ex. Donec sollicitudin ut lorem quis lobortis. Nam ac ipsum libero. Sed a ex eget ipsum tincidunt venenatis quis sed nisl. Pellentesque sed urna vel odio consequat tincidunt id ut purus. Nam sollicitudin est sed dui interdum rhoncus.
{{}}
{{}}
With html code
{{}}
{{}}
With other shortcodes
{{}}
{{}}
{{}}
{{}}
```
{{< timeline >}}
{{< timelineItem icon="github" header="header" badge="badge test" subheader="subheader" >}}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus non magna ex. Donec sollicitudin ut lorem quis lobortis. Nam ac ipsum libero. Sed a ex eget ipsum tincidunt venenatis quis sed nisl. Pellentesque sed urna vel odio consequat tincidunt id ut purus. Nam sollicitudin est sed dui interdum rhoncus.
{{}}
{{< timelineItem icon="code" header="Another Awesome Header" badge="date - present" subheader="Awesome Subheader">}}
With html code
{{}}
{{< timelineItem icon="star" header="Shortcodes" badge="AWESOME" >}}
With other shortcodes
{{< gallery >}}
{{< /gallery >}}
{{}}
{{}}
## TypeIt
[TypeIt](https://www.typeitjs.com) is the most versatile JavaScript tool for creating typewriter effects on the planet. With a straightforward configuration, it allows you to type single or multiple strings that break lines, delete & replace each other, and it even handles strings that contain complex HTML.
Blowfish implements a sub-set of TypeIt features using a `shortcode`. Write your text within the `typeit` shortcode and use the following parameters to configure the behavior you want.
| Parameter | Description |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `tag` | [String] `html` tag that will be used to render the strings. |
| `classList` | [String] List of `css` classes to apply to the `html` element. |
| `initialString` | [String] Initial string that will appear written and will be replaced. |
| `speed` | [number] Typing speed, measured in milliseconds between each step. |
| `lifeLike` | [boolean] Makes the typing pace irregular, as if a real person is doing it. |
| `startDelay` | [number] The amount of time before the plugin begins typing after being initialized. |
| `breakLines` | [boolean] Whether multiple strings are printed on top of each other (true), or if they're deleted and replaced by each other (false). |
| `waitUntilVisible` | [boolean] Determines if the instance will begin when loaded or only when the target element becomes visible in the viewport. The default is `true` |
| `loop` | [boolean] Whether your strings will continuously loop after completing |
**Example 1:**
```md
{{}}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
{{}}
```
{{< typeit >}}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
{{< /typeit >}}
**Example 2:**
```md
{{}}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
{{}}
```
{{< typeit
tag=h1
lifeLike=true
>}}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
{{< /typeit >}}
**Example 3:**
```md
{{}}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
{{}}
```
{{< typeit
tag=h3
speed=50
breakLines=false
loop=true
>}}
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Gone with the Wind (1939)
"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." The Godfather (1972)
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." The Wizard of Oz (1939)
{{< /typeit >}}
## Youtube Lite
A shortcut to embed youtube videos using the [lite-youtube-embed](https://github.com/paulirish/lite-youtube-embed) library. This library is a lightweight alternative to the standard youtube embeds, and it's designed to be faster and more efficient.
| Parameter | Description |
| --------- | ----------------------------------- |
| `id` | [String] Youtube video id to embed. |
| `label` | [String] Label for the video |
**Example 1:**
```md
{{}}
```
{{< youtubeLite id="SgXhGb-7QbU" label="Blowfish-tools demo" >}}