TED talks shortcode not working

Question

I am trying to embed a Ted talk video using the shortcode:

[ted id=myid]

But it's not working. It shows the text instead of the video. Is there any configuration I need to check to make it work?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this is going to be a problem for you.

The [ted] shortcode is specific to WordPress.com - not to a self-hosted site where you installed the software yourself from WordPress.org.

The only embeds that WordPress.org's software supports by default are listed in the Codex:

• YouTube (only public videos and playlists - "unlisted" and "private" videos will not embed)
• Vimeo
• DailyMotion
• blip.tv
• Flickr (both videos and images)
• Viddler
• Hulu
• Qik
• Revision3
• Scribd
• Photobucket
• PollDaddy
• WordPress.tv (only VideoPress-type videos for the time being)
• SmugMug (WordPress 3.0+)
• FunnyOrDie.com (WordPress 3.0+)
• Twitter (WordPress 3.4+)

There is a plugin available for embedding Ted talks, though. TEDTalks Embedder. But it only lists compatibility through WP 3.2.1, so it may not work with the current version (it may, but I can't guarantee it).

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Alternative Actual Embeds

Here's an alternative if you don't want to use a plugin. Add the following to your theme's functions.php file:

// Whitelist the TEDTalks oEmbed URL
wp_oembed_add_provider( 'http://www.ted.com/talks/*', 'http://www.ted.com/talks/oembed.json' );

function ted_shortcode( $atts ) {
    // We need to use the WP_Embed class instance
    global $wp_embed;

    // The "id" parameter is required
    if ( empty($atts['id']) )
        return '';

    // Construct the TEDTalk URL
    $url = 'http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/eng/id/' . $atts['id'];

    // Run the URL through the  handler.
    // This handler handles calling the oEmbed class
    // and more importantly will also do the caching!
    return $wp_embed->shortcode( $atts, $url );
}
add_shortcode( 'ted', 'ted_shortcode' );

Now, you can embed TEDTalks two ways:

• By using the [ted id=981] way they do on WordPress.com
• By placing the url of a TEDTalk on a line by itself in a post (i.e. http://www.ted.com/talks/ze_frank_s_web_playroom.html)

Enjoy!