FSRI Shortcode

This tutorial features the Feast Plugin, which contains theme enhancements.

The FSRI (Feast Simple Recipe Index) shortcode is the replacement for the "Featured Posts" widget included in the theme, and is used to build the Modern Homepage.

The FSRI Block was released in July to replace the FSRI shortcode, providing an easy-to-use interface instead of text-based attributes.

We've taken all the unnecessary options in the widget and replaced them with the current best practices, and made it usable on any page - not just the homepage.

Jump to:

• Defaults
• Change the category
• Change the desktop columns
• Change number of posts
• Change the image size
• Set the default image size
• Apply rounded-image styling
• Remove the title
• Include previously displayed
• Show recently modified
• Order by comments
• Order by social shares
• Display specific posts
• Displaying pages
• Randomizing posts
• Displaying content/excerpt
• Preventing duplicate internal links
• Display recently modified posts
• Trending Posts
• Alt attribute
• Use it anywhere
• Custom homepage
• Posts
• Styling
• 💬 Comments

Defaults

By default, it will output:

• 4 posts horizontally on desktop, 2x2 on mobile
• the featured image, using the WPRM or Create square thumbnail
• the recipe title
• this will exclude any previously displayed posts by default

Here's an example of the fsri shortcode in action:

It can be modified using parameters (note: you'll need to wrap them with opening and closing square brackets.

Change the category

fsri category="category-slug1"

• specifies the category slug to output posts from that category
• see: configuring the categories to learn about category slugs
  • note: we do not recommend altering slugs for categories that already exist, because this changes the URL and can have big impacts on SEO
• default: none (eg. all recently published)

Change the desktop columns

fsri list_class="feast-desktop-grid-third"

• changes the desktop and mobile display
• default: feast-grid-half feast-grid-desktop-fourth (2-wide mobile, 4-wide desktop)
• note: if using feast-desktop-grid-third, make sure to also use limit="6" posts so that mobile is a 2-wide-by-3-high grid
• for using the FSRI shortcode in the sidebar, use list_class="feast-desktop-grid-half" to get it to half-width

Change number of posts

fsri limit="8"

• changes the number of posts being displayed
• default: 4

Note: as of version 4.0.9 we introduced the limit attribute as an alternative to the posts_per_page attribute.

Change the image size

fsri image_size="feast-portrait-3x4-360x480"

• changes the desired thumbnail size
• default: the recipe card's square thumbnail
• if using the full width homepage, 360px width thumbnails likely won't be adequate
• note: if the thumbnail size you pick is too small, text will flow awkwardly around the image
• if you haven't uploaded your featured images at 1200x1200px, they may not be able to correctly generate the large thumbnail sizes (eg. feast-portrait-3x4-720x960)

Set the default image size

As of v.4.0.3. of the Feast Plugin, you can specify a site-wide default image_size so that you don't have to override it on every shortcode.

 

You may need to run the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin if the thumbnail you've selected hasn't yet been generated.

Note: this default image_size setting is still overridden by the image_size attribute above. If thumbnails are irregular sizes, see: irregular image sizes.

Apply rounded-image styling

fsri image_class="feast-image-round"

• applies a class to the image for styling
• note: only really looks nice with square images
• default: none

Remove the title

fsri include_title="false"

• removes the title (not recommended)
• generally, both the featured image and title are required to adequately convey information about the recipe
• note: this can be ignored if displaying pages with the title embedded in the image

Include previously displayed

fsri exclude_previous="false"

• includes previously displayed posts
• we exclude previous posts by default to increase the variety of internal linking, but on large pages this can exclude entire categories if they're small enough

Show recently modified

fsri orderby="modified"

• show posts by recently modified (updated) instead of recently published
• this is a good way to get content recrawled and a short-term boost from being on the homepage

Order by comments

fsri orderby="comment_count"

• show posts by comment count (total) instead of recently published
• this is a cheap proxy for all-time "popular" content, and isn't as effective as manually building a category using Google Search Console data

Order by social shares

For Social Pug (Grow by Mediavine):

fsri orderby="meta_value_num" meta_key="dpsp_networks_shares_total"  

For Shared Counts plugin:

fsri orderby="meta_value_num" meta_key="shared_counts_total"  

• show posts by share count (total) instead of recently published
• this is a cheap proxy for all-time "popular" content, and isn't as effective as manually building a category using Google Search Console data

Display specific posts

fsri id="111,222,333,444"

If displaying more than 4 posts, you'll need to combine with this the limit attribute

Displaying pages

fsri post_type="page" id="111,222,333,444"

If displaying more than 4 posts, you'll need to combine with this the limit attribute

• you will need to specify specific page IDs
• default: the FSRI shortcode will only display posts, not pages

Randomizing posts

At this time we don't have any plans to support randomizing the posts displayed on the homepage.

Anecdotally, we've found that search engines won't rank or pass authority to content that isn't static. This is possibly because they can't reliable associate the content that users are searching for, with that page.

From a user standpoint, it would be a poor experience to click on one recipe, go back to the homepage to find another recipe you also want to see, and find that it has disappeared. You expect a reasonable level of consistency from sites you visit.

Much like sliders, if the content isn't important enough to be static on the homepage, it's not important enough to be on the homepage, period.

Displaying content/excerpt

At this time, we've decided not to support displaying content/excerpts. This is because it adds too much clutter to the page, making it difficult for readers on mobile (80% of pageviews) to find what they're looking for.

The featured image + title should convey all the information necessary for the reader to decide whether they want to click through to the recipe.

The content/excerpt is actually duplicate content and does not count towards unique content on those pages.

One thing we learned over time was that the content/excerpt that was displayed on the homepage and category pages led bloggers into a false sense of content on those pages.

The modern homepage puts the need for unique content on your homepage very in-your-face.

You should provide a 1-2 sentence explanation about why you've chosen to feature that category for your readers - sell them on why they should click through to your recipes.

Preventing duplicate internal links

By default, the shortcode will not output any posts that have been included by other instances of the shortcode (eg. previously in the post, the sidebar, the footer). This can be disabled with

fsri exclude_previous="false"

Display recently modified posts

You may want to display a few recently modified posts on the homepage, so that search engines find them quicker and re-crawl them. To do this, use:

fsri orderby="modified"

Trending Posts

We recommend using the id="1111,2222,333,444" limit="8" attribute to display specific posts for roughly 8 trending posts.

Identify your trending posts using Google Search Console data for the last 30 days.

Alt attribute

The FSRI shortcode is built with accessibility in mind, by including a blank alt tag: alt=""

This is because the image and title are wrapped in a single link, with the image acting as a purely decorative image. According to the W3C guide on decorative images:

This is the correct behavior, because having the screen reader read both the alt text AND the image title would result in a burden to non-sighted users, requiring much longer to navigate a page.

Sighted users take for granted that they can skim over 20 post listings in a couple of seconds when looking for their content. Non sighted users must navigate over each element individually.

The purpose of the FSRI shortcode is to provide links to recipes, not to provide content that is used in making those recipes. That content belongs on the actual recipe page.

When the FSRI shortcode include_title="no" attribute is used, the image alt is then filled with the post title, providing a correct alt text.

Use it anywhere

Unlike widgets, the shortcode can be used anywhere:

• homepage
• category pages
• sidebar
• recipe pages
• footer

Custom homepage

As outlined in the Modern Homepage, you can create a fully custom homepage using the FSRI shortcode, using the regular block editor.

Posts

Looking for an easy way to embed related recipes? Use the FSRI shortcode with your current category to display other recipes from that category, directly in your post!

Styling

The link text can be styled by targeting the fsri-title class. For example, to make the color dark grey and make the text bold:

.fsri-title { color: #333; font-weight: bold; }