WordPress Shortcuts – The Fun Way

Posted on 12. May, 2010 by Shawn Ramsey in Articles

Keep your hands away from that mouse and start taking advantage of some WordPress keyboard shortcuts.

I’m a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts and use them all of the time in most of the applications that I work in. If you aren’t currently taking advantage of shortcuts in your favorite programs, both online and off, it is never too late to get started. Begin using them now and in very little time they will become burned into your memory. In this collection we will turn our attention to nine useful WordPress shortcuts delivered to you via Mr. Stickman.

Note: All of these shortcuts work in the HTML editor and may not work in the visual editor.

Insert Link

Links are one of the main building blocks of the web. We use them to point others into the direction of other useful or really cool websites. To bring up the insert link option in WordPress, simply hit the Alt + Shift + A keys.

Insert Image

Huge blocks of text can become really boring. With just about everyone connected to the web at a high speed, there is no excuse not to break up those blocks of text with lots of shiny images. Use the Alt + Shift + M key to stop those article scanners in their tracks.

Italics

The most common use for italics is to draw attention to a specific part of text for showing emphasis or contrast. It is important not to abuse your italics though. Overuse of the character change will make them lose their overall intentions. Hit the keys Alt + Shift + I to open and then close italics.

Bold

When you need to emphasize certain text, using bold may be the option you’re after. The stronger typeface helps to make text stand out from the crowd and can be used to highlight certain keywords for easy visual scanning. As with any use of emphasis, everything in moderation. Alt + Shift + B is the magic password for getting the bold look.

Unordered List

When you need to display a list of items that are not in any particular order, the unordered list is what you’re after. In comparison to the numbered, ordered list, unordered lists use bullets and are another great way to help break up large blocks of text. The combination to the unordered list option is Alt + Shift + U.

Blockquote

Blockquotes are cool and I honestly do not use them enough on this site. The fact that you can completely customize them to whatever style you wish is what personally makes them so appealing. Open and close blockquotes by keying in Alt + Shift + Q.

Undo

My most used keyboard shortcut by far is undo. This magical shortcut works in a lot of different applications. If you look at my keyboard keys, the Ctrl + Z buttons are rather worn down in comparison to their neighbors. You can use this shortcut several times in a row to go back in time and correct your mistakes.

Redo

Did you use that last shortcut one too many times? Luckily there is a fix for those of you who get a little trigger happy with the undo button. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Y to redo the undo’s. I promise it will not be put back in place with pieces of tape.

Publish

Once you’ve finally typed out your masterpiece and all of the bells and whistles are in place, there is a shortcut for sending your articles into the wild. You can keep your hands off of the mouse and hit the key combination Alt + Shift + P to publish that awesome article that you just poured your heart into.

Wrapping things up

Hopefully I’ve introduced at least one new keyboard shortcut for you to use in WordPress. As mentioned before these work in the HTML editor and may not all work in the visual editor. If you aren’t currently using the HTML editor, I invite you to give it a solid try. It will help you become more familiar with how the CSS  and HTML all ties together on your site.

If you’ve enjoyed this roundup or want to add your own shortcuts, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below. Also, if you’ve dished out the million dollars to own Photoshop, you may be interested in my other keyboard shortcut post  Photoshop Shortcuts – The Fun Way. Thanks!

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Tags: tips, wordpress