Entries Tagged 'Wordpress' ↓

Wordpress 2.2 Final “Getz” is now available for download. This version includes a number of new features, most notably Widgets integration and over two hundred bug fixes.

Some of the major changes in Wordpress 2.2 are :

• Widgets are now integrated into the Wordpress core. This functionality was originally available as a plugin “Widgets”.
• Protection against activating broken plugins.
• Atom feeds have been updated to use the 1.0 standard specification.
• Now you can import posts from your blog on the New Blogger (latest version).
• Improved AJAX comment management.
• Post Preview moved into a popup window

Official Announcement

Wordpress 2.2 Resolved Bugs

Download Wordpress 2.2

No this is just not other post about Wordpress Plugins I am using or others are using for that matter.

I will try to list in this post 5 essential Wordpress plugins which everybody must use on their Wordpress blogs irrespective of whether you have a low traffic or a high traffic blog.

1. Wordpress Database Backup

This is one plugin you should install and use at least once every week. It gives you an on-demand backup of your WordPress database. In simple words, it helps you back up your Wordpress blog posts, comments and all. The back up will be helpful if you ever need to restore your Wordpress blog after a crash.

Other useful features of this plugin include automatic backup of the databases and e-mailing the back-up as an attachment to the e-mail address you specify.

Download Wordpress Database Backup

2. Akismet

According to me Akismet is the boon of the Wordpress platform. Install Akismet, put in your API key and say bye bye to comment spam forever.

Akismet filters comments made on your blog by comparing them against the Akismet web service to find if they are spam comments. In short it saves you a lot of time and energy.

Download Akismet Plugin

3. Wordpress Cache

According to popular perception you need caching only when you have a high traffic blog. But this is not true. This plugin basically serves static HTML pages to users rather than dynamic PHP pages. This not only lightens the load on the server but it also helps your pages load a little faster.

Also helps your blog survive the high traffic times like during a Digg.

Download Wordpress Cache

4. Wordpress Contact Form III

Ever been on a blog and have been cursing the author because you cannot find a clue on how to contact him. Do not let your blog’s visitors that opportunity. Its time you create a contact form for your blog.

WP Contact Form III is a simple drop in form for users to contact you. It can be implemented on a page or a post. It is a modification of Ryan Duff’s project and includes an anti-spam challenge question and also allows the visitor to specify the subject of the message.

Download Wordpress Contact Form

5. Google Sitemaps Plugin

Now this may be essential to some but not so important to others. But this plugin is very important to me. This plugin creates a sitemaps.org compliant sitemap for your blog enabling search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft) to index each and every post you write.

Helps give better exposure of your blog to search engines.

Download Google Sitemaps Plugins

Are you using these plugins ? Any other plugin you think should be here in this list ?

Tell us with your comments.

I saw this coming after its huge success at Wordpress.com. The Automattic guys have released the Automattic stats plugin for self hosted Wordpress users. The plugin is an implementation of the inbuilt stats system you find at Wordpress.com blogs.

For those of you looking for a good, simple, light on server stats system you need not look any further because this is the best you can get.

Why another stats system ?

Let the developers of the plugin answer this :

There are hundreds of plugins and services which can provide statistics about your visitors. However I found that even though something like Google Analytics provides an incredible depth of information, it can be overwhelming and doesn’t really highlight what’s most interesting to me as a writer. That’s why Automattic created its own stats system, to focus on just the most popular metrics a blogger wants to track and provide them in a clear and concise interface.

Installation

Installing this plugin is damn easy and you just require a Wordpress.com API key which you are probably using in Akismet. Once it’s running it’ll begin collecting information about your pageviews, which posts and pages are the most popular, where your traffic is coming from, and what people click on when they leave. It’ll also add a link to your dashboard which allows you to see all your stats on a single page.

The Good News

Because all of the processing and collection runs on Wordpress.com servers and not yours, it doesn’t cause any additional load on your hosting account. You get your own stats system for free. No need to depend on any other 3rd party stats services anymore.

Also this means, that in case the developers add any more features to the system, then you do not need to go in for an upgrade. The changes will be available immediately.

The Downside Final Word

In order to see your blog’s stats you need to go to your Wordpress.com global dashboard. Now this hurts. Only if it was possible to fetch the stats from Wordpress.com and then display them in my dashboard.

But still a great plugin to have.

Download Automattic Stats Plugin for Wordpress

Wordpress Plugins are a great way to increase the functionality of your Wordpress blog. And the good news is that in Wordpress, there is a plugin available for almost everything thus making manual editing of template files minimal.

But using too may plugins also is not advised as it increases the load on the server. Here is a list of the different Wordpress plugins I use on this blog.

This post is continuosly updated.

1. Adsense Deluxe Plugin

AdSense-Deluxe is a WordPress plugin offering advanced options for managing the automatic insertion of Google AdSense or Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) ads to your WordPress posts.

Download Adsense Deluxe Plugin

2. Akismet

Filters comments made on your blog by comparing them against the Akismet web service to find if they are spam comments. Saves you a lot of time.

Download Akismet Plugin

3. Extended Live Archives

A highly configurable AJAX based plugin to help make your blog’s archive page more interactive to your readers. You can see the implementation of this plugin on my archives page.

Download Extended Live Archives Plugin

4. FeedBurner FeedSmith Plugin

The FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin will detect all ways to access your feed (e.g. http://www.yoursite.com/feed/ or http://www.yoursite.com/wp-rss2.php, etc.), and redirect them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. It will forward for your main posts feed, and optionally your main comments feed as well.

Download FeedBurner FeedSmith Plugin

5. Feed Styler

Feed Styler is a WordPress plugin for WordPress users who are comfortable with CSS and would like to be able to style their feeds.

Download Feed Styler

6. Google Sitemaps Plugin

This plugin creates a sitemaps.org compliant sitemap for your blog enabling search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft) to index each and every post you write.

Download Google Sitemaps Plugins

7. Related Posts Plugin

A handy little plugin which enables you to show a list of posts similar to the post your visitor is viewing. It also helps increase pageviews.

Download Related Posts Plugin

8. Text Link Ads

A plugin to insert Text Link Ads on your blog.

Text Link Ads

9. Vipers Video Tags Plugin

Allows you to embed various video types, including those hosted at YouTube and Google Video as well as videos you host yourself, into WordPress.

Download Vipers Video Tags Plugin

10. Wordpress Database Backup

On-demand backup of your WordPress database. Helps you back up your Wordpress blog.

Download Wordpress Database Backup

11. Wordpress Reports

Generates reports from Google Analytics and Feedburner data. No need to login into your Google Analytics and FeedBurner dashboard everyday to see your blog’s stats.

Download Wordpress Reports Plugin

12. Wordpress Cache

Very fast cache module. Helps your blog survive the high traffic times like during a Digg.

Download Wordpress Cache

13. Wordpress Contact Form III

WP Contact Form III is a simple drop in form for users to contact you. It can be implemented on a page or a post. The contact form also includes a spam challenge question.

Download Wordpress Contact Form

14. WWW Redirect

Redirects variations of identical domain requests to a consistent uri (i.e. http://abc.com to http://www.abc.com )

Download Wordpress Redirect

Wordpress blogs come with feeds for posts, comments and even for individual categories. But it is always a good idea to use FeedBurner feeds for your posts as it gives you a host of excellent features for free(like feed count and e-mail subscriptions for your feed). So if you want to replace your default Wordpress feed with FeedBurner feeds, the first and only thing you need to do is use the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin for Wordpress.

What FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin does ?

The FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin will detect all ways to access your feed (e.g. http://www.yoursite.com/feed/ or http://www.yoursite.com/wp-rss2.php, etc.), and redirect them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. It will forward for your main posts feed, and optionally your main comments feed as well.

This plugin was earlier being developed by Steve of OrderedList. Now Feedburner has acquired this plugin and renamed it FeedBurner FeedSmith.

If you are currently using the original “FeedBurner plugin” from Ordered List, then you do not need to upgrade as the version is same. But all future upgrades will now be available from Feedburner directly.

FeedBurner FeedSmith Plugin - Download & Installation Instructions