PDA

View Full Version : Wordpress plug in thread



the goat
08-25-2008, 06:41 PM
I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread where we share useful plug ins that we use. Here are some of my favorites:

1. All in one SEO: Custom titles and descriptions of each post and search engine friendly URL's - WordPress › All in One SEO Pack WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/)

2. Dropdown archives: Nice to keep your archives section from being too long - Dropdown Archives Widget for WordPress | Posts | Reid Beels (http://reidbeels.com/posts/2006/10/dropdown-archives-widget/)

3. Subscribe2: Will email all members when you make a new post - Subscribe2 Plugin (http://subscribe2.wordpress.com/)

4. WP forecast: Nice for local blogs, will show up to the minute weather - WordPress › wp-forecast WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-forecast/)

5. Daiko's video widget: Displays random videos from youtube, google etc. in your sidebar - http://www.daikos.net/widgets/daikos-video-widget/

6. Contact7: A simple plugin for making any kind of form for your readers to submit to you - WordPress › Contact Form 7 WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/)

Any other widget junkies out there?

orion_joel
08-26-2008, 01:49 AM
I have two wordpress blogs, but currently do not use any plugins on either, some of these sound interesting so i may have to look into if they are going to be a benefit to me or not.

The video widget sounds good, although i have been looking at the adsense youtube, thing they have available have been thinking about it for a good way to maybe add a little revenue to my site. Unsure how good the potential is for this though.

the goat
08-26-2008, 06:04 AM
I've got to add this one that Van Gogh suggested:

Automatic Upgrade: Makes upgrading to new versions of WP a breeze - WordPress › Wordpress Automatic upgrade WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-automatic-upgrade/)

KristineS
08-26-2008, 08:20 AM
I love Automatic Upgrade. Vangogh makes the technical stuff on my blogs work, and he installed that for me. It's great, because I can do upgrades myself and don't have to worry about blowing up the blog.

I suspect he probably installed it to save himself some time, but I'm o.k. with that. It works for me too.

vangogh
08-28-2008, 01:56 AM
I collect plugins. I have a folder on my computer with about 75 zip files. I like testing them out. Too many to list, but here are a few I have installed.

AdSense Deluxe (http://www.acmetech.com/blog/adsense-deluxe/) - I don't use AdSense on my blog anymore, but it's still on old posts and this plugin made it very easy to add the ad blocks within posts.

Brian's Threaded Comments (http://meidell.dk/archives/2004/09/04/nested-comments/) - If you see comment areas where people can reply to each other's comments, it's probably because of this plugin.

Photo Dropper (http://www.photodropper.com/wordpress-plugin/) - One of my new favorites. If you visit my blog and notice all the images it's because of this plugin. You can search Flickr for Creative Commons Licensed images and then embed them in posts with a single click. It makes adding images to posts incredibly easy.

Robots Meta (http://yoast.com/wordpress/meta-robots-wordpress-plugin/) - Lets you add meta robots tags to post for when you don't want one to be indexed or have the links followed. All of Joost's plugins are worth looking at. He writes some really good plugins including...

Sociable (http://yoast.com/wordpress/sociable/) - which adds many of the social media icons at the bottom of posts to make it easy for others to submit your content.

Those are a few of the ones I use. I also use some of the others mentioned above.

I'm getting to the point where I'm learning to write my own plugins so maybe before too long I'll be able to list a few of my own in this thread.

KristineS
08-28-2008, 10:10 AM
I have to look at Photo Dropper. That sounds like a good one. Sociable sounds good too.

vangogh
08-28-2008, 12:25 PM
If you want to use images in posts, Photo Dropper is great. That's pretty much where all the images on my posts lately have been coming from.

If you notice the little icons at the bottom of my posts that's Sociable. The drop down is a different plugin, but the icons are Sociable. You can display a lot more icons than I did, but I only wanted to display a few.

Harold Mansfield
08-29-2008, 02:05 PM
These are 2 of my favorites for comments:

Sezwho (http://www.sezwho.com) and Intense Debate (http://www.intensedebate.com). They create profiles for you and your commenters, and list their activity around the blogoshpere, even if they do not have a registered profile with the platform.
IF you register your profile, you can tie in all of your social networking I.D.'s like Twitter, My Space, Face Book, etc.

vangogh
08-29-2008, 09:39 PM
Both look interesting eborg. Obviously then need to reach a certain critical mass in order to be truly useful, but I think they both have a lot of potential for getting there.

the goat
09-03-2008, 04:26 PM
Here's a couple more that I use sometimes:

Favicon Manager: Easy way to change the sites favicon in the browser address bar (no code changing) - http://www.digitalramble.com/favicon-manager-wordpress-plugin/

Max Blog Press: Easy way to put rotating banners around your site - Max Banner Ads (http://www.maxblogpress.com/plugins/mba/)

the goat
09-04-2008, 02:34 AM
Here's a couple that I find very useful with affiliate sites that have a lot of categories and links:

My Category Order: Manually change the order of your categories in the sidebar - WordPress › My Category Order WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/my-category-order/)

My Link Order: Manually change the order of your links in the sidebar - WordPress › My Link Order WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/my-link-order/)

the goat
09-13-2008, 04:05 PM
Sometimes I have sub-pages that I don't want in the main nav bar, this plug in allows you to choose whether or not a page is displayed there:

Exclude Pages: WordPress › Exclude Pages WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exclude-pages/installation/)

vangogh
09-14-2008, 01:14 PM
Actually that last one isn't really necessary. It's a very simple code fix to exclude pages from your navigation.

Pages are being displayed with the template tag wp_list_pages() (http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_pages). There are a variety of parameters that can be added to the tag. For example to exclude certain pages you could write

wp_list_pages('exclude=12,14')

to exclude pages with IDs 12 and 14. You can also specify which pages to include instead of exclude with include=.

Harold Mansfield
11-30-2008, 12:34 PM
Thought I would revive this one.
I use a plug in called WWSGD (http://richardkmiller.com/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do) (What Would Seth Godon Do ?).

I displays a little message at the beginning or end of each post inviting readers to subscribe to your RSS feed.
You can set it up so readers see it a determined number of times, (using cookies) then changes to a "welcome back" message, or what ever you wish.

It's one f my favorites because you can change the message to fit the personality of your blog.

vangogh
12-01-2008, 03:05 PM
I know a lot of people use the WWSGD plugin and it's highly recommended by many. I've downloaded it, but never installed it. Since it's based on cookies and I clear my cookies a lot I always see the "If you're new here..." message on sites I visit daily. After awhile the message gets on my nerves, which keeps me from installing it on my site.

That's my own bias though, and it's one plugin I probably should install. I know it's a good one that has been shown to get people to subscribe.

KristineS
12-01-2008, 03:30 PM
I should probably think about adding this plug in to my blogs as well. I'm really bad about encouraging people to subscribe to my feeds, so I really ought to automate the process.

Harold Mansfield
12-01-2008, 08:57 PM
I know a lot of people use the WWSGD plugin and it's highly recommended by many. I've downloaded it, but never installed it. Since it's based on cookies and I clear my cookies a lot I always see the "If you're new here..." message on sites I visit daily. After awhile the message gets on my nerves, which keeps me from installing it on my site......

That's because you think like a webmaster, and not like a reader. The average "surfer" doesn't do that unless prompted by tech support when they have a problem.

I try to see my sites the way "regular" people see them, which is hard, we all have a tendency to design for the approval of webmasters (although peer reviews are extremely helpful) , instead of for the average person that spends an hour a day online, and has no idea what a cookie is.

Believe me , I do the same thing. I always have to remember to make it as simple as possible, and direct the reader where you want them to go. For the most part, the majority are a blank slate.

vangogh
12-02-2008, 06:09 PM
Oh I know. My issue isn't really one that should keep you from using the plugin. I know it's a good one to use and I've heard a lot of people say it's led to more subscribers.

Seeing things as a regular reader would see them is the right way to look at your site. I do have a number of webmasters reading my blog and so some are probably clearing cookies too, but you're right that most people aren't going to be doing that.

It's a plugin I've meant to install on more than one occasion and probably should install in the near future.

Harold Mansfield
12-02-2008, 11:43 PM
It has led to a few more subscribers. Good/Bad thing about Word Press...there are soooo many plug ins that do so many things, you really have to narrow it down to what is most important to your blog.

It's real easy to have 20-30 plug ins running before you know it.

seolman
12-03-2008, 02:40 PM
I love working with AJAX so I immediately added the Admin Management Xtended (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/admin-management-xtended/) and it really speeds up Admin of posts and pages for me. Super slick interface.

edit - onlys works on WP 2.5 and later...

But I see some cool ideas in these posts I'm gonna check out. :)

vangogh
12-03-2008, 03:45 PM
eborg - I know what you mean about plugins. Sometimes I want to install all of them, but I know I need to scale back to not bloat the system.

Dave - I think WordPress 2.7 is going to ajaxify the admin side more so you may find a lot of what the Admin Management Xtended plugin does ends up being built in. 2.7 is going to completely change the admin interface. I've seen some reviews and a video or two about it and it looks really nice, though it will be a big change from what's there now.

I thought it was supposed to be out already, but I guess it's taking longer to finish than first thought. Looks like release candidate 1 for version 2.7 became available a couple of days ago so maybe it'll be ready before the end of the month.

seolman
12-03-2008, 03:57 PM
I just upgraded to 2.6.?? so I guess we're close to the new Ajaxified version. When done right - Ajax makes mundane and time consuming tasks so much faster. I hope that's what WP plans on doing in their upgrade. We use Ajax a lot in our Admin panels for custom web sites and it makes the training/adaptation phase so much faster for most users.

vangogh
12-03-2008, 08:16 PM
Here's a video walk through of WP 2.7 (http://www.centernetworks.com/wordpress-27-demo) by Matt Mullenweg from a presentation a few months ago. In the video he walks through some of what's changing in version 2.7. You'll have to watch a few minutes of him talking to the audience before he gets into showing the WordPress admin demonstration, but it will give you a good feel for what's coming.

seolman
12-03-2008, 10:26 PM
Here's a video walk through of WP 2.7 (http://www.centernetworks.com/wordpress-27-demo) by Matt Mullenweg from a presentation a few months ago. In the video he walks through some of what's changing in version 2.7. You'll have to watch a few minutes of him talking to the audience before he gets into showing the WordPress admin demonstration, but it will give you a good feel for what's coming.

Awesome looking. I will be upgrading.

vangogh
12-03-2008, 11:13 PM
Yeah, I thought it looked pretty good too. I guess 2.7 was originally supposed to debut a few weeks ago, but it's not quite there yet. Hopefully this will be the last interface change for the admin side for awhile. Seems lately every other release completely changes things on the admin side.

Marcomguy
01-10-2009, 06:58 PM
They're already talking about 2.8...

vangogh
01-10-2009, 11:43 PM
I saw they were asking for feature requests. No reason to stop looking ahead.

orion_joel
01-11-2009, 12:02 AM
Pretty much all open source scripts do this, i think. They will work on one version get it released, may do one or two incremental updates to fix up minor issues, then be full on working towards the next big version.

seolman
01-11-2009, 12:06 AM
I upgraded to 2.7 a couple weeks ago (guess) and it seems pretty nice. Has some cool features. It is more ajaxified and speeds up some of the day to day tasks but hopefully they'll get even better with 2.8 - get some cool drag & drop features in there.

If anyone's had a chance to play with some of the YUI pieces available from the Yahoo open source libraries you'll know what I'm talking about. There's some cool little AJAX widgets out there you can use to make life a lot easier for the end user.

vangogh
01-11-2009, 12:38 AM
2.7 has drag and drop. I know you can reorganize how your dashboard looks by dragging and dropping the various sections. 2.7 seems mostly about better organization. I do find it easier and quicker to get things done with it.

seolman
01-11-2009, 01:31 PM
Yeah - it has some basics. I'm talking about a LOT more. I'm still digging for plug ins to re-arrange sidebar links the way I want etc. These should be easy fixes with an AJAX system so I'm hopeful 2.8 will add that flexibility.

vangogh
01-11-2009, 03:28 PM
Oh, gotcha. You like what's there, but wish they'd gone farther. Maybe 2.8.

the goat
02-24-2009, 12:47 PM
Wanted to add these plugins I just started using:

wordpress twitterbot - Automatically tweets when you add a new post http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-twitterbot/

Wp-Directory - Add and manage a directory, members can upload their own listing WP-Directory Wordpress Plugin | Links Back SEO (http://www.linksback.org/wordpress/wordpress-plugins/wpdirectory-wordpress-plugin/)

vangogh
02-24-2009, 12:52 PM
Thanks. The twitterbot link didn't seem to work, though. I did a quick search, but didn't see the plugin.

the goat
02-24-2009, 12:54 PM
Sorry about that, it's fixed now.

vangogh
02-24-2009, 01:00 PM
Thanks. I needed to add a Twitter update plugin too

rezzy
02-24-2009, 05:34 PM
Thanks. I needed to add a Twitter update plugin too

Ive started using one but found another that allows me to use link monitoring. Now I can have an idea if twitter people actually go to my blog. I am going to start analyzing all the links I send out, to gather whats being followed and what isn't.

I use: Wp to Twitter (http://www.joedolson.com/articles/wp-to-twitter/)

It allows good level of customization and submits urls to the tracking site.

vangogh
02-24-2009, 07:47 PM
Bryan, Joe Dolsen is a good developer. I don't know him well, but we've crossed paths and have some mutual friends. I'm sure anything he develops and releases is worth using.

Here's another Twitter related plugin from another good developer. TweetBacks (http://yoast.com/wordpress/tweetbacks/) is by Joost de Valk and is kind of the opposite of the last two plugins. Instead of pushing your blog to Twitter, it pulls Twitter back into your blog.

the goat
02-25-2009, 12:47 PM
Google sitemaps - automatically builds a sitemap and updates it every time you post, also sends info to all search engines that use them WordPress › Google XML Sitemaps WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/)

rezzy
02-25-2009, 03:42 PM
Bryan, Joe Dolsen is a good developer. I don't know him well, but we've crossed paths and have some mutual friends. I'm sure anything he develops and releases is worth using.

Im not sure how to take your statement. I switched my blog from the previous to this one because it was feature rich and allowed features I was looking for.

Are we agreeing or is this mis-communication?

vangogh
02-25-2009, 04:17 PM
I was just saying I think Joe is a good developer and I'm sure his plugin is a good one. Joost is a good developer too. I would trust any plugin either one created. Sometimes you don't know how well a plugin will work since you don't really know much about the developer behind it. I mostly wanted to compliment two people who's work I respect and wanted to let anyone reading know they can be confident in both.

I use a few of Joost's plugins and I'm using an image gallery Joe developed on a client site.

I'm not familiar with the specific plugin your using, but I'm sure it's built well.

vangogh
03-11-2009, 04:26 PM
Found another plugin (hope it's not a repeat of one already mentioned), Admin Dropdown Menu (http://planetozh.com/blog/my-projects/wordpress-admin-menu-drop-down-css/) that changes the menu in WordPress from vertical along the left side to a horizontal menu with dropdowns along the top.

I haven't installed it so I can't offer an opinion, but I thought some of you might find the horizontal menu easier to work with.

vangogh
05-13-2009, 04:22 PM
Here's an ebay store plugin (http://geeklad.com/free-ebay-store) I thought some might find useful. Looks pretty easy to use.


[ebay campaignid="5336304844" keywords="canon rebel xsi" rows="3" columns="1"]

Simple code to add a table of products.

seolman
05-14-2009, 07:36 PM
That's an interesting little plug-in. Steve, you are just full of surprises! :D

vangogh
05-15-2009, 10:44 AM
I'm subscribed to a number of blogs that list WordPress plugins routinely. I was actually thinking eborg and goat might like that last one so I wanted to link to it here.

lav
11-08-2009, 10:29 PM
I used this for a friends site WP125 plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp125/)Allows you to place your own ads or sponsors in the sidebar easily and you can give them a date to expire as well as track how many hits each ad has.

Harold Mansfield
11-09-2009, 09:54 AM
I'm subscribed to a number of blogs that list WordPress plugins routinely. I was actually thinking eborg and goat might like that last one so I wanted to link to it here.

Besides BANS, (http://www.buildanichestore.com/) I actually use TWP Auctions (http://www.thewebsiteprofessionals.com/twp-auctions/) quite a bit. It's also very easy to implement.

Business Attorney
03-20-2010, 05:00 PM
I am getting ready to create a site based on WordPress, so I revisited this thread and then did a little extra digging through Google searches. One of the plugins mentioned in the first post in this thread was the All in One SEO Pack plugin. I read about a newer SEO plugin that several writers have mentioned: HeadSpace 2: WordPress SEO Made Simple (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/headspace2/).

Has anyone on this forum tried Headspace 2 and, if so, can anyone tell me why I would choose it over the tried-and-true All in One SEO Pack?

Harold Mansfield
03-20-2010, 05:07 PM
I am getting ready to create a site based on WordPress, so I revisited this thread and then did a little extra digging through Google searches. One of the plugins mentioned in the first post in this thread was the All in One SEO Pack plugin. I read about a newer SEO plugin that several writers have mentioned: HeadSpace 2: WordPress SEO Made Simple (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/headspace2/).

Has anyone on this forum tried Headspace 2 and, if so, can anyone tell me why I would choose it over the tried-and-true All in One SEO Pack?

I have never tried that one specifically, but I have tried other SEO plug ins and I have never found one to be easier to use the All In One SEO.

Every so often someone comes out with a new one, but most times inevitably they end up unsupported or with bugs.

All In One, so far, has been the most reliable for me and it would take a really fabulous plug in from a reputable programmer with history to make me change.

Also, if you look at that plug in, it hasn't been updated since Sept of '09, up to WP 2.8.1, and we are on 2.9.2 and going into 3.0. Most times it will still work, but it makes me wonder why the author hasn't made any changes and if he is around to upgrade the plug in to be compatible with WP 3.0.

vangogh
03-20-2010, 07:33 PM
David I haven't used it extensively, but I did get to see it in action and have heard generally good things about it.

The thing about Headspace that separates it from other themes is that it lets you work on the design more than others. You can draw out boxes in the theme control panel that becomes the layout of the site. You can drag and drop new parts of the layout and then drag the corners around to make the new parts bigger or smaller, taller or shorter, etc.

I'm not sure what it specifically does for SEO, but the truth is many of the themes that claim seo wonders with WordPress are just marketing. WordPress is quite search friendly out of the box, especially after a few tweaks that are easy to make. There are lots of plugins that will help, but with most of them as with the themes all they do is make it easier for you to do seo.

For example the all in one seo plugin lets you write different page titles than page headings and lets you add unique meta descriptions to posts. You still have to write all of those things.

I haven't seen any theme that does anything that you can't also find a plugin to do. Most just use similar code that the plugin uses and add it to the theme so you don't have to install a separate plugin.

Business Attorney
03-20-2010, 09:06 PM
Thanks Harold and Steve/vangogh. I think I'll stick with All in One.

vangogh
03-21-2010, 11:44 PM
Glad we could help. If I hear more about Headspace I'll let you know. It does sound like a very good theme and there are reasons to purchase it. I don't know that seo would be one of them though.

Harold Mansfield
03-22-2010, 12:16 PM
Also, remember that Wordpress is having a big update coming up and quite a few of the functions that we use plug ins for, will be included as default functions.
Here is an article about some of the upcoming changes.

What's Coming in WordPress 3.0 (Features) (http://www.wpbeginner.com/news/whats-coming-in-wordpress-3-0-features/)..and I'm sure VG has quite a few more bookmarked.

Right now it's hard to wait, I know, I have 2 sites in limbo because I don't want to hack them up to get them to do what I want, only to have it standard in a couple of weeks.
But, the more I learn about what's coming for WP in general, the more I am sure it will be worth the wait.

vangogh
03-23-2010, 11:19 AM
I have that same post bookmarked as well as two others. Here are those other two:

10 Features to Look Forward to in WordPress 3.0 (http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/wordpress/10-features-to-look-forward-to-in-wordpress-3-0/)

How to Enable Multisite in WordPress 3.0 (http://wordpresstheming.com/2010/03/wordpress-3-0-enable-network/)

The second post above is more specific to setting up multiple blogs with one WordPress install as the title suggests.

Business Attorney
03-23-2010, 07:46 PM
I have another question now that you are talking about WordPress 3.0.

With that release, if I have three entirely different WP-based websites with their own domains and own designs, will I be able to run them all off one installation of WordPress?

Does that also mean that all plugins (or at least all plugins that are updated to be WP 3 compatible) will only have to be installed once as well?

Harold Mansfield
03-23-2010, 08:20 PM
I have another question now that you are talking about WordPress 3.0.

With that release, if I have three entirely different WP-based websites with their own domains and own designs, will I be able to run them all off one installation of WordPress?
Yes, you will be able to run multiple WP sites from one install, however,
I'm not sure I'd take already existing WP websites and try to run them under one, new installation of WP 3.0. that would mean moving them...I'd probably leave them as is and just upgrade to the latest version of Worpdress, and run future blogs off of a single install.

However, if you did want to run multiple wp sites with different domains ( meaning not being subdomains of the main site) under one installation of Wordpress MU, or 3.0, you would most likely need a Domain Mapping Plug In:
WordPress › WordPress MU Domain Mapping WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/).

I'm not sure, but I don't think domain mapping is an included feature of the future new version.



Does that also mean that all plugins (or at least all plugins that are updated to be WP 3 compatible) will only have to be installed once as well?
Yes. You would activate them site wide, meaning across all of the domains or child blogs.

vangogh
03-23-2010, 11:48 PM
Pretty much what Harold said. Yes, you would be able to run them all under one install, but it would require moving two of the sites.

However that might not be so difficult. You could probably have everything set up under the one site in an hour or two if you know how. I can give you some details or point you to some tutorials if you decide you want to.

There will be advantages such as only having to upgrade one site in the future. You'll be able to share resources so when you want to add a plugin you only have to install it in one place, etc. There would be a couple of clicks on the backend to allow sites to share resources, but it's quicker and easier than multiple installs.

Also if your sites happen to be under different hosting accounts you won't need to pay for more than one, assuming the account can handle all three sites.

After 3.0 is out I'll likely run any WordPress sites I set up for myself under the same WordPress install, which would include moving one, though that one doesn't have much at the moment.

Harold Mansfield
04-27-2010, 03:52 PM
Got another one, not sure if I shared this before.
Wordpress Post Columns
WordPress › WP Post Columns WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-post-columns/)
by Sam Burdge:
WP Post Columns Plugin 2 | Sam Burdge (http://www.samburdge.co.uk/wordpress/wp-post-columns-plugin-2) ( example tags for use on his site)

I actually had this plug in a while ago, used it once and forgot about it, but I still had it in a folder for future use because it really does rock.

It's an older plug in, meaning that it hasn't been updated in a while but it still works just fine.

What it does is allow you to set your Pages and Posts up in columns...which completely rocks ! You basically just put in the brackets and fill in the content.
You can adjust the sizing with a little HTML knowledge but it will by default follow the dimensions of the area as long as you use "%'s" instead of actual measurements.
It is a little temperamental at first, but it only takes minutes to get the hang of it, most issues are just due to proper spacing of the [/column] brackets from the next bracket column..

Here is an example of it in use on one of my pages using multiples of 3 columns, 2 columns and no columns on the same page:
Premium Features | iPundit (http://ipundit.org/features/premium-features/)
And using multiple 4 columns:
http://ipundit.org/features/ (http://ipundit.org/features/) (yes, it works best without sidebars)

It's a pretty cool plug in and a very nice way of breaking up large amounts of content so that it is readable.

vangogh
04-28-2010, 12:21 PM
Looks pretty cool. I think multi-columns is one of those things I would probably just code directly into the theme and not use a plugin, but that's me and I do work with themes a lot. I can see how for non-developers this would be a great plugin.

Harold Mansfield
04-29-2010, 10:41 AM
Looks pretty cool. I think multi-columns is one of those things I would probably just code directly into the theme and not use a plugin, but that's me and I do work with themes a lot. I can see how for non-developers this would be a great plugin.

Curious, if you were to code it in, would you just offer different page and post templates of would it be fixed just on the front page.
Just wondering how you would do it so that it was an option..or do you mean you would code in the template tags?

vangogh
04-29-2010, 07:07 PM
You can create multiple columns with css so my initial thought would be to structure the html so it could be turned into multiple columns with css. It would depend on the site whether or not the multi-columns were on one page or a section or the whole site.

The how would depend. The reason I would code it into the theme is this is really presentation stuff and I would think it would ultimately be less code and quicker page loading to design the theme this way instead of using a plugin.

Plugins are great, especially for non-developers, but some plugins are unnecessary. I've seen multi-file plugins to add something that could be done in a line or two of php directly in the theme. That's not a knock on the plugin. Just that if you know how to work with WordPress sometimes it's easier and preferred not to use a plugin.

Harold Mansfield
04-30-2010, 04:22 PM
You can create multiple columns with css so my initial thought would be to structure the html so it could be turned into multiple columns with css. It would depend on the site whether or not the multi-columns were on one page or a section or the whole site.

The how would depend. The reason I would code it into the theme is this is really presentation stuff and I would think it would ultimately be less code and quicker page loading to design the theme this way instead of using a plugin....

Well I agree with you on 90% of that. If you can do it by code, it's always much better, however, how do you apply that to a client that doesn't know CSS yet still wants the option on certain pages or posts and not others ?

Isn't it better to have the function coded in and called by tags than to code each individual place that you want columns?

I meant there's always going to be things that I do with my own sites, that a client couldn't do with theirs without help, or some things that I will do that I wouldn't even suggest to anyone that can't troubleshoot issues...but


Plugins are great, especially for non-developers, but some plugins are unnecessary. I've seen multi-file plugins to add something that could be done in a line or two of php directly in the theme. That's not a knock on the plugin. Just that if you know how to work with WordPress sometimes it's easier and preferred not to use a plugin.

...in the nature of this thread "Wordpress Plug ins", don't we have to think in terms of average users and not programmers ? Or else we would call this thread "Wordpress Developer Tricks".

vangogh
04-30-2010, 06:36 PM
Absolutely. I agree with everything you're saying. I was just pointing out what I would do being a developer and then I was responding your posts after. I think plugins like this make a lot of sense for clients and any non-developer.

My bad if I was coming across like this wasn't a good plugin. I didn't mean to imply that at all.

Harold Mansfield
04-30-2010, 07:37 PM
I just get a little conscious at times that we start to loose people.

I do think that it would be great if it were already included in themes so that the end user could just apply the tags to create their columns at will.

I mean the execution is pretty simple:


Column 1 content goes here.


Column 2 content goes here.


Column 3 content goes here.
[end_columns]


Wouldn't that be easy to make standard?

vangogh
05-03-2010, 11:21 AM
Good point. It can be easy for us to lose those who don't develop in WordPress daily. It should be something relatively easy to add to themes, but there probably hasn't been huge demand for it yet. At the moment the closest we come is all the magazine style themes, but even those don't really do multiple columns on a single post or page.