WordPress Plugins and Themes - What's Your Favorite?
What are your favorite WordPress plugins and what do you use them for? How about your favorite Themes and why? LET'S SHARE!
I am using Arras theme for one of my customers, I use FancyBox for WordPress/Fast Secure Contact Form/Regenerate Thumbnails/Simple Tags/Plugins. I will take Justin's advice embed couple more plugins .
http://www.arrastheme.com/
here is the site I am working on:http://www.fairlaneantiques.com/blog/
Nice site. I'm going to bookmark it. Have you done other sites? FYI- I noticed that one of the titles was Oriental Treatures...: )
I've been told Thesis is pretty amazing. Anyone here use it?
hi looking for a timesheet plug in for wp, anyone got a suggestion?
Brilliant 3 days, actually evenings where I am. Learned lots..thank you so much.
I've been using the free theme Oulipo by Mignolo for two years with some modifications I made to the CSS so the photos were bigger:
I really need to update the version of WP along with the theme version, but I've been a bit scared to try that. I made an attempt before and lost all of my modifications so I quickly backstepped to my original. Now I think I can try again with the things I learned during this webinar. Thanks, Justin!
I use the ShootQ plugin with Contact7 forms to feed my leads into ShootQ.
Found this one today and is so amazing to me: Image Photoroll Creator for Photographers it allows you to put in alt text really easily and quickly for all images in a gallery at the same time. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/image-photoroll-creator-for-photogra...
For themes, I muddled around with free stuff for eons. After a while I realized doing the free stuff was wasting much of my precious time. So finally I switched over to pro photo blog 3 (I haven't upgraded to version 4 yet, not sure if I will, but now it is ALL HTML 5 ready, so no need for flash). My SEO improved DRAMATICALLY. like within seconds of a post being up you can find it in google. It made things quicker and much easier. it has an auto back up feature to send me the database entries and has reminders for full back ups. Usually you can find coupon codes for pro photo blog that make it cheaper, sometimes even $100 cheaper. I believe I used a code like that when I first started out. Just do a google search for it.
here's what they had to say when I asked them about the new mobile site on version 4:
Check out this overview video here on mobile site, I think it may help
answer your questions:
http://www.prophotoblogs.com/support/mobile-site-overview/
Basically, the option allows you to create a different mobile specific
site that can be viewed on iPhone, etc. However, you don't create a
different page per se for a mobile device, your blog just renders in a
different way (per your customization settings) on that device type.
As for iPad, we actually need to change that wording because enabling
mobile sites doesn't show the mobile version on iPad (only on phones),
however, by default ProPhoto 4 does display slideshow galleries
different on iPad than on a computer. (This is because of the whole
touch screen functionality, we've tried to make viewing galleries on
iPad more touch/user-friendly than the options on desktop.) I think if
you go to any of the demo examples on our blog and view in iPad and view
the slideshow gallery, you can see this.
Shhh. believe it or not toforious has some pretty neat WP themes.
If you are code friendly, you area able to get the theme for free :)
http://bit.ly/sUGt3R
http://bit.ly/sjUNsv
To the code friendly wp theme free scroll down just above the comments section.
I rather pay for my plugins. I think you get better quality and security.
- Backup Buddy (Site & Database Backup as promoted by Justin)
- Gravity Forms (Contact Form & Subscribe Form)
- Easy Blogging (Back end transformation to make blogging easier for clients)
-Domain Mapping (for multisite to keep things simple)
-Event Espresso for event registrations
-Shopp for ecommerce
Here are some great Free Plugins too. But please also make donations to these wonderful people producing plugins. :)
- Fast Secure Contact Form
- Better WP security
- WP firewall 2
- connections (to make directories and lists)
- simple twitter widget
- Blubrry Powerpress (for podcasting)
- Yet another related Post (keeps people clicking)
Just playing around with sommerce theme and Jigoshop plugin for ecommerce.
Plugins:
Wordpress SEO by Yoast
Fast Secure Contact Form by Mike Challis
No Right Click Images Plugin by Keith Graham
Widget Logic by Alan Trewartha
Share and Follow by Andy Killen
WordPress Database Backup by Austin Matzko
FYI, found an editor for PC that seems somewhat similar to CODA -- it is called UltraEdit. I just downloaded it and only played around for a bit last night so cannot totally recommend it. But it does allow you to edit 'on the fly' as Justin has been doing with CODA.
Here's a link to the creativeLIVE Facebook post with MORE favorite WordPress themes from y'all! Thanks for sharing! http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=325835914108897&id=1144...
I missed Justin's top 5 plugins during the live broadcast and the rewatch! Did anyone write down his top 5? Thanks!!
Photo plugins
1.NextGen Gallery
2. Flickr Photo Album
3. SEO Friendly Images
4. vSlider Multi Image Slider for WordPress
5. Lightbox Gallery
After having purchased and tried over 20 themes, mostly from themeforest but also from Graph Paper Press, I finally found one that really worked for me and my photography site. The original theme is Pexeto's Dandelion Theme available on ThemeForest. The same theme that I heavily modified for my own site is completely different and can be seen here.
For the sliders I use JJ NextGen JQuery Slider plugin with NextGen Gallery.
During my 1st year using WordPress I only used free plugins. I was not willing to pay for something that I thought I could get for free. About 6 months ago I was introduced into Premium Themes and Premium Plugins. When I realized how much easier they made my use of WordPress I signed up. Not all at once though. I signed up for one a month for about 6 months. Now I am hooked. I realize the value of paid themes and plugins. I have been building websites for clients and the cost of the plugins now seems very low for the value. Below are my favorites.
For Themes I absolutely love StudioPress Themes by Genesis Their support forum is exceptional. SEO is built in to the themes which are high quality.
For Plugins I could not be without
DisplayBuddy Plugin's Especially Backup Buddy and Billboard. In less than 10 minutes you can move a WP Website to a new domain or subdomain. How can it get any better than this? Buy the developer's package and get everything. You will probably end up using every plugin they have. Get 25% off your 1st purchase with the code: US25
For those of you interested in checking out the courses @ WebDesign.com, Sign up for the FREE live webinars that are happening for the next 12 days WebDesign.com
Another plugin (free!) I love is
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ozh-admin-drop-down-menu/
This puts the navigation for the Dashboard horizontally across the top of the screen instead of vertically along the side. Check it out.
I just started using Gravity Forms Previously I was using the free form generators in WP, however once a friend show me the power of Gravity Forms I was sold. I bought the single use for my website and then a client wanted a more complicated form. It was an easy decision to upgrade to the Developer License as the client is paying me much more for a Premium Form.
I've briefly tested Instant WordPress, it's much easier to install than WAMP, anyone else tried it?
From their home page:
"Instant WordPress is a complete standalone, portable WordPress development environment. It turns any Windows machine into a WordPress development server. It will even run from a USB key."
I use StudioPress www.studiopress.com
Just saw this in my news feed. Completely relevant for anyone trying to use WordPress for client galleries. http://photographywebmarketing.com/business/wordpress-gallery-proofing-s...
My site runs on one of their themes. I love them because they're very clean and extremely customisable :)
Which plugin would help me put a link to the comments ? On my homepage you don't see the comments link on the posts :( http://www.maiataieb.com/blog
Hey,
You sure? I can see it here - http://d.pr/6jsz. Normally you shouldn't need a plugin for this kind of function. If no comments, it probably says "No Comments" there and you could look into just changing the wording within the Theme or localization plugin (normally for translations)
Any suggestions for Plugins that would allow me to setup client password protected galleries?
I would like to issue each client a specific password so they could access their own event photos via the website, I have yet to still find a way to do such a thing. I have been trialling out Wordpress in my local computer using mamp and would like to put a Wordpress site live, however this is one feature I would really need to find out how to do before considering it.
Thanks in advance for Any feedback,
Chris
How about saving the post with Visibility: Public, Password protected. Each client can have a different post and a different password. Stacey
Hey Chris,
With WordPess, you can publish a post with a password - http://d.pr/eQ5L
So really you may just need a Theme that has custom post types for a portfolio or photography galleries and then assign a password to the galley. Share it with the client only.
This could get more difficult if you want it to have other features of proofing or purchasing though.
I use thesis. completely customizable to my needs and great SEO incorporation.
plugins i love - askimet, feed statistics, get social, google XML sitemaps, ozh' better feed, subscribe to comments, wordpress database backup, yet another related posts plugin
Anyone know a good calendar plug in for setting up future events?
I've been looking into the plugin called Editorial Calendar - haven't tried it out just yet but my friends have told me they love it - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/editorial-calendar/
Haven't used it or anything in a long time but it's one that is used often - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-calendar
Depending on your overall needs, WooThemes has a theme called Disarise with built in calendar - http://bit.ly/tp0deP
I really like the Theme Test Drive plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/theme-test-drive/) - you can install a second theme and tinker with it while the site remains live with the existing theme.
Oh cool! I definitely need to check that one out. I'm not happy with my current theme, but don't want to monkey with my site while it's live. :)
I can't figure out how to get it to work. Hoping to find another like it that has more explanation on how to use it.
Have you enabled the test theme? Once the plugin is installed, when you click on the Theme Test Drive in the Appearance block (left hand sidebar of your dashboard) you'll see the option to enable the theme you're testing.
To see the theme you're working on:
"Additionally you may add "?theme=xxx" to your blog url, where xxx is the theme name you want to test."
Good luck!
Currently I'm using the Atahualpa 3.6.4 theme
Plugins (including Justin's recommendations)
Akismet
All in One SEO Pack
Bit.ly Service
Blog Protector
FeedBurner FeedSmith
Google+ Plugin
Google Analyticator
Maintenance Mode
MobilePress
Print Friendly and PDF
Regenerate Thumbnails
SexyBookmarks (by Shareaholic)
Simple Video Embedder
Social Media Widget
Spam Free Wordpress
The new one from WooThemes called WooCommerce - http://bit.ly/pAKH1g [has it been mentioned on the class yet?]
Can't believe no one has said Akismet...
Also use Secure WordPress and SexyBookmarks but I try to keep the number used small to reduce conflicts and security risks.
That's because it was the first one Justin mentioned, and said several times throughout the class.
My writeup on JetPack when it was released http://www.web-designschool.com/plugin-wordpress-jetpack-wordpressorg/
Some of my faves...
dashboard-post-it
dbc-backup
event-calendar
google-analyticator
gravityforms
gravityformsmailchimp
gravityformspaypal
jf3-maintenance-mode
lightview
login-lockdown
nextgen-gallery
page-links-to
pagely-multiedit
query-posts
quotes-collection
search-unleashed
tipsy-social-icons
twitter-tools
widget-context
widgets-reloaded
wordpress-seo
wp-e-commerce
wp-jquery-lightbox
wp-pagenavi
wp-post-columns
My top ten and JetPack came out after and I use that http://www.socialmedia-school.com/top-free-wordpress-plugins/