6 #WordPress plugins not to leave home without
WordPress development is ever evolving and everyone has a method to their own madness it seems. One of the things I’m currently investigating is the use of frameworks like Genesis and their necessity. I am still not convinced that this added level of complexity to WordPress is altogether a worthwhile venture. If you are using a well coded theme and you know the right plugins to use to maximize the value of the WordPress platform, then I say stick with it. Use the tools that you’ve become comfortable with as long as those tools allow you to take advantage of all current and necessary standards on the web.
Here are 6 plugins that I will always install to a WordPress site.
1Need to execute PHP in your sidebar? The standard WordPress text widget won’t do it. So, here you go. And it works great.
2I’m always looking for ways to trim the fat to ensure that my sites are running as smooth and as fast as possible. It’s very easy to allow WordPress to get bloated which affects page-load time and can unnecessarily increase the size of your database. This tool allows you to limit the number of page and post revisions kept by WordPress. What’s really nice is that you can also adjust this setting on a per page/post basis if needed. I usually default post revisions to “2″ and I keep no page revisions.
3For many themes, you have to create categories and tags used for assigning posts as banners, sliders and other custom design elements of the site. But you don’t necessarily want those categories and tags being listed in the default sidebar category lists and tag cloud widgets. Additionally, you may not want that data available in the RSS feed. Simply Exclude gives you an easy platform to manage these features.
4In my opinion, this is the absolute best plugin out there for SEO on WordPress. It has great features to manage your site-wide options but also has very powerful flexibility to manage SEO for individual pages and posts. After a Google search on this topic, you’ll find that most WordPress developers agree.
5A must have. It boggles the mind how many websites and blogs are out there that don’t have a plan to ensure that their database is backed up. For server savvy people, you probably do this server-side directly with MYSQL. But for the standard WordPress user, this plugin is easy to use and a great option to provide peace of mind that your site is backed up as often as you like. This plugin will automatically email you a copy of your MYSQL backup.
6I’ve had a couple of small issues with this plugin, especially when integrating mobile themes. But for the most part, it’s flawless. SuperCache can dramatically increase your page-load times and give the end user a much more pleasant experience on your site. And of course, you can disable caching on your end so that you can see your changes immediately.
These are just some of my favs. I’d love to hear what you are using on your own WordPress installations.
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