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).
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!