• A shortcode is something that you type into a page, post or elsewhere on your website.
• When the page is displayed the shortcode magically produces the stuff you want it to produce.
• You don’t have to type zillions of lines of code.
• It should produce quality HTML, styling and, if required jQuery.
• Shortcodes save you time.

A shortcode is a simple hook that enables you to call a PHP function by adding something such as [shortcode] to a post or a page