Shorthand

What it is

Shorthand is a code-optional publishing platform for web storytelling. Its home page calls it "beautifully simple storytelling for the web" and says it powers "the feature articles, digital magazines, proposals, internal comms, and annual reports of the world's leading brands, publications, and media companies." It's for editorial, communications and marketing teams who want visual, asset-rich pages without waiting on developers. The company is Shorthand Pty Ltd, per the copyright line. The home page opens on the problem it addresses, "Your digital storytelling is stuck in production," and promises to "Publish visual stories, publications, and reports faster" without production delays or capacity constraints.

What you build and how

The editor. The home page describes "a simple drag-and-drop editing experience" and says you can customize as much or as little as you like. The product menu breaks the platform into Sections, Editor and layout, Branding, AI Creative Companion, Collaborate, Publish and host, Integrations, Support and Security. The company's comparison article calls it a "simple no-code editor" and says teams can publish "in hours, not weeks, even without previous coding or web design experience." It adds that "a selection of pre-built free story templates" gives speed and inspiration, and that an AI Creative Companion "helps even beginner users create faster."

What people make with it. The use-case list on the home page names scrollytelling, visual storytelling, annual reports, longform feature stories, digital magazines, data storytelling, internal communications, educational resources, sports marketing, science communication, sponsored content, brand storytelling and white papers. Industries listed are media, corporate comms, higher education, government and nonprofits. The company's own article on online portfolios shows another use: Shorthand offers a free portfolio template that can be used with the platform and customized, and the article says Shorthand stories perform well on all devices. The company also describes the platform as designed for "asset-rich, high-impact storytelling" from reports and digital magazines to campaign launches. So the site-builder question has a specific answer here: you build story pages, reports and portfolios, not a store or a membership site.

Responsive behavior. The comparison article says Shorthand "is automatically responsive across all screen sizes", and that where small screens need different treatment, users can create "mobile-only" sections.

Publishing and hosting. This is where it covers the website and CMS side. The home page says "Publish to any web address, using AWS hosting, your CMS, Shorthand hosting, or direct embedding into your existing website. Or secure your stories with private and password-protected publishing." The comparison article names WordPress as the CMS people use and links to "Shorthand for WordPress" as a way to add immersive content to a WordPress site, and the site's menu lists Integrations. So a team can leave its existing site in place and use Shorthand for the stories that need more than a CMS template.

Analytics. The home page says stories come with "built-in, cookieless analytics", and that you can drop in your existing analytics tracking code, tag managers and ad pixels instead.

Collaboration and brand control. The home page says Shorthand brings "your editors, designers, and developers together in one collaborative workspace." Branding works through "a handcrafted custom theme" that carries your logos, colors, fonts and styles, so output stays on-brand across a team. The comparison article credits Shorthand with sharing, commenting and smooth workflows, and says it supports bespoke theme building and brand guardrails for rollout across teams within approved guidelines.

Code access. The home page says "Shorthand is a code-optional publishing platform" and that "All business and enterprise plans come bundled with full access to custom CSS, HTML and JavaScript to give you complete control."

The evidence from the pages

Pricing. The company's article says "Shorthand lets teams view pricing upfront and start building immediately" without speaking to sales, and the home page carries a Start publishing button alongside Contact sales. Prices sit on a separate Pricing page. The home page names Business and Enterprise plans, and Enterprise is presented as its own offering, which the company calls "the gold standard for mission-critical web content."

Security and compliance. The home page says "With ISO 27001 certification and SOC 2 compliance, Shorthand is a proven enterprise solution and a trusted partner for customers in government and regulated industries." The company's article adds that "Shorthand is SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant," with full information on a separate Security & compliance page that explains "how Shorthand protects your content and data." The company also says it helps customers "meet and exceed modern web accessibility standards."

Engagement and customers. The company claims "Our customers see up to 10x higher engagement with their Shorthand stories than content created with their CMS." That is the company's own figure. A testimonial from Nick Bennett of Honda says the draw was ease of use, and that they wanted to take locally produced content and "have it on the web within 15 minutes." The company's article quotes Anna Aksman, Director of Global Creative Operations at Tripadvisor, who says Shorthand "feels quite 'turnkey'" and praises how quickly a team gets going. The home page labels the brand logos as customers in "Loved by the world's most iconic brands."

Support and learning. The menu lists Support, Demos and training, Help docs, Releases, a Status page, Case studies, Templates, Example stories, Partners, and The Craft magazine and newsletter. The Craft newsletter arrives every other week, a Shorthand Community lets users "Connect, learn, and share," and webinars offer "Free introductions to digital storytelling from our expert team." A partner program lets an agency join it, and lets a customer find a partner to work with. A "Talk to us about publishing options" link and a Contact sales button sit on the home page.

Who it suits and who it does not

Shorthand suits a communications team, newsroom, university or agency that regularly produces visually rich stories: an annual report, a campaign launch, a digital magazine, a science feature. The people doing that work are often editors and designers, and the platform is built so they can publish without a developer, while IT can still control hosting, brand themes and security review. A regulated organization will note the ISO 27001 and SOC 2 claims. A team that keeps its main site in WordPress or another CMS can run Shorthand beside it and publish stories to a path on that site or host them with Shorthand.

It's a narrower tool than a general site builder. Its pages are about stories, reports and publications rather than online stores, member areas or app logic. Custom CSS, HTML and JavaScript are tied to Business and Enterprise plans, so a small team on a lower plan has less room to deviate from the templates. And if you only need a plain blog or a brochure page, the product's emphasis on asset-rich storytelling is more than that job calls for.