The amount of plugins available for the Word-Press platform is staggering; there is just no way to try them all, or even to keep up with all the changes that go on. That being said, naturally some plugins stand above the rest, not necessarily because they are the best at what they do, although they certainly are competing for that title, but because they have reached the users, been thoroughly tested, and fill a need.
This chapter is dedicated to just a smattering of the marvelous plugins that are available. Even though the plugins covered here may seem like a lot, they represent only a drop in the ocean compared to what’s actually out there. Along with using the information in this chapter you’ll have to look around, and keep up with updates as well, to make sure you’ve got the best there is. Or rather, to make sure that you’ve got what you need. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Oh, and before you get to it, sometimes you’ll get warnings when trying out a plugin, being told that the plugin has only been tested up to this or that version of WordPress, and you have a newer one. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything at all, other than that the plugin hasn’t been tested with your particular version and/or the plugin author hasn’t updated the plugin files. So don’t be put offjust because a plugin isn’t tested with your version yet; set up a test weblog and give it a go for yourself. Most plugins will work across versions, after all.
Finally, do keep in mind that plugins are always changing, just as WordPress is. That means that what is working great today may not in the future. Most often that is not the case, but you never know; so please keep this in mind when playing with these plugins.
It’s all about the content; you want people to find it, get hooked, and then spend an afternoon enjoying your sites. Wikipedia does it with links, and so can you. It’s just a matter of making them interesting enough, and making it easy to dig into the archives. These plugins will help visitors get caught up in your content.
WP Greet Box (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-greet-box/): Whenever you get a new visitor from a social bookmarking site, it may be a good idea to introduce yourself, or rather your site, to this person. That’s what WP Greet Box does: it checks the referring URL and then outputs a message to the visitor. It can be something like, “Hi, welcome, please subscribe!” or something more tailored, like, “Welcome Digg visitor. Did you know I wrote a book on Digg? Get it here!” Very useful.
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yet-anotherrelated- posts-plugin/): The “Yet Another” part of this plugin’s name is not only a flirt with code lovers out there, the amount of related posts plugins is staggering, and that makes it hard to find the gold nuggets in amongst the rubbish. In my opinion, this is a strong contender for the throne of related posts plugins, because it offers so many options and serves relevant links as well. In part this is thanks to the relevance threshold limits you can set, which means that a site with a lot of content can be harsher on what is deemed as related content, for example. Other features include related posts in RSS feeds, support for Pages, caching, and also a template system that could really do with being easier to use, but still offers nice customization options if you want to take things a step further.
Popularity Contest (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/popularity-contest/): Do you know what is popular on your site? If not, this plugin is the solution, and even if you do it is a great way to promote the stuffvisitors obviously like to others by outputting popular post lists using the plugin’s widgets. Settings on how to weigh different things can make the plugin work even better. Showing the most popular content on a site, especially if it is weighing in the time element (so that too old and outdated stuffdoesn’t suddenly pop up), is a great way to lead visitors through the site.
WP-PostRatings (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-postratings/): WP-PostRatings is an excellent plugin for rating posts. There are several different grade images included, and you can choose where you want to output it by using the [ratings] shortcode, or by adding the plugin’s template tags to your theme. It also lets you get the highest and lowest rated posts, sorting by time or overall, as well as category and so on. It is, in short, a pretty versatile ratings plugin all in all.
GD Star Rating (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gd-star-rating/): Another ratings plugin is GD Star Rating, which stands out with its support for several kinds of rating per post (stars and thumbs up/down for example), as well as ratings for comments. It also features one of the flashier settings pages I’ve seen and a bunch of advanced settings. Well worth a look if you need ratings functionality.
PollDaddy (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/polldaddy/): It should come as no surprise that the PollDaddy plugin fully integrates the hosted poll and service manager into WordPress, with the option of creating polls without having to leave the admin interface. Automattic owns Poll- Daddy, which is why it’s so integrated, and that’s at least one reason to consider this service as well since it has the backing infrastructure needed. If you want to get rid of all the PollDaddy links in your polls, however, you’ll have to buy a pro account, so if that’s an issue you may want to consider one of the native poll plugins instead.
WP-Polls (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-polls/): WP-Polls is a flexible poll plugin with archive support. You can either add it to your theme templates or use the widget to get the poll where you want it. It may take a while to set it up to fit your design, but it is a good alternative to the hosted PollDaddy solution.
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05132010
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