Currently, [[shortcuts]] must have the `url` parameter, and can optionally
have the `desc` parameter.  If the `shortcut` directive instead required at
least one of `url` or `desc`, then shortcuts could just supply a description
without an URL.  Since desc can contain arbitrary wiki markup, this would
allow shortcuts with multiple links, such as the mmlist shortcut proposed on
[[simple_text_parsing_or_regex_in_template_or_shortcut]], or a comprehensive
Debian package shortcut which linked to the package page and parenthetically
to the BTS and PTS.

--[[JoshTriplett]]

It sounds like you're looking for templates, not shortcuts. --[[Joey]]

> Perhaps true (see my issues with template syntax on
> [[todo/shortcut_optional_parameters]]), but allowing a `shortcut` without an
> `url` still seems reasonable, and simple.  You could also use such shortcuts
> without markup at all, as an abbreviation mechanism:
> 
>     \[[!shortcut name=spi desc="Software in the Public Interest, Inc."]]].
>     \[[!shortcut name=sosp desc="Symposium on Operating System Principles"]]].
>     \[[!shortcut name=cacm desc="Communications of the ACM"]]].
>
> --[[JoshTriplett]]
