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It's one thing to have a WordPress site but its way better to have a WordPress site with plugins. Plugins add functionality, engage readers, improve site performance, gives feedback and protects your site. There are so many plugins available out there that it can be overwhelming to decide which ones to install. I have a small list of five plugins I think is essential for any WordPress site.

Jetpack by WordPress.com

Jetpack is a plugin with a lot of bang! The plugin installs a dashboard with views for several tools. It allows you to see page view stats on your WordPress site. There are also tools to set up subscription lists, so that readers will be notified of new posts. There are sharing tools that add social icons to the bottom of posts. If you are looking for an image gallery, Jetpack comes with a Carousel tool that is great for displaying gallery images.

There is a feature that allows a WordPress website owner to display mathematical symbols easily within posts. Spelling and Grammar are also an added feature of this plugin. When writing posts, incorrect spelled words are underlined. Customizing the CSS can now be done without affecting the Theme.

Social Media Widget

The Social Media Widget adds social button links in a sidebar widget. You can add as many as you like. There are social buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, Gaming accounts, Music accounts, RSS feeds, custom links and more. This is a free plugin with icons coming in different sizes, styles and animations. Just adding this plugin, brightens up any WordPress site, with the clean graphic icons used as social badges.

All in One SEO Pack

This plugin is great with making sure your site posts and pages are SEO friendly. When writing a post you have the ability to include SEO Meta data for the Title, Description and Keywords. You can include SEO information for the entire site, such as site title, keywords and description. This is a free plugin by Michael Torbert of Semper Fi Web Design, but there is also a paid version of the plugin.

Akismet

This plugin is a time saver when it comes to spam. This plugin filters out spam from comments on your WordPress posts. Before using this plugin, I would have to manually respond to hundreds of spam comments. After installing Akismet and acquiring an API key, I stopped reading spam comments. I can empty my spam queue and be fairly comfortable that what I am deleting are legitimate spam comments.

WPtouch

This plugins does a great job of converting your WordPress site into a mobile miniature version. You can view it on an iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Palm. This plugin gives your site an added avenue for traffic. There are so many mobile users with cell phone capable of viewing webpages, that it makes sense to have your site viewable on a mobile platform.

Having a WordPress site and a flashy theme aren't the only things that make a site great, its the plugins you include. The plugins take the site to a new level by adding functionality, feedback, performance and protection. You now know of five plugins that should be in your site. There are a lot of plugins out there, but consider these to have in your WordPress website.

If you want to learn about installing a WordPress plugin, read the post on Adding a new WordPress Plugin.

Wadadli Technology LLC was starting in 2007. The company's focus is on Information Systems and Internetworking Technologies consulting. WadadliTech has a unique approach to working with clients on projects such as developing a content managed website to a wide-area network environment. Our primary market is the small business clients located in Maryland, however we do have clients in New York as well as over seas. If you are looking for network consultants in Maryland, try WadadliTech.

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WordPress is a CMS used on many websites. It was originally thought of as blogging software but over the years the capabilities have increased to such an extent that WordPress can be used for many other types of website too. It continues to evolve too and it was recently announced WordPress plans to streamline its software in response to competition from other formats such as Tumblr. It is favoured by publishers and many developers because its easy to use and relative straightforward to customise. Compared to other options like Dreamweaver and Drupal, design and coding is fairly easy in WP. Advanced design options are possible without advanced technical know-how.

Themes are used as the 'skin' for the CMS. That's the bit the user sees and uses. There are many 1,000s of themes, many free and also lots of paid themes. A framework and child theme can be used instead of a theme on its own also. A framework goes on top of the WordPress software and the 'child' theme works directly with the framework and is lightweight with most of the coding in the actual framework.

The number of themes and frameworks is huge and I find a good shortcut is to look at what the experts are doing. A quick look reveals many use frameworks, the Genesis Framework and Thesis in particular and few use themes on their own.

There are advantages and disadvantages to using a WordPress framework. Here are some worth thinking about:

Ads:

Easy design options: Non developers can get by more easily with just knowing a few bits of CSS and HTML, which may not be possible with a theme on its own.

Extended customisation: If you require easier customisation of individual pages and posts a framework can offer more compared with a theme on its own. That is the whole point of a framework really.

Disads:

Lock in: Frameworks only work with specific 'child' themes. Once you have invested in a framework it can make financial sense to purchase further themes with the same framework rather than from elsewhere. Once you are used to using a particular framework it may be a pain switching too as you would have to learn a whole bunch of new stuff. The developers of frameworks know this and its a big advantage for them as they can make multiple sales to each customer potentially.

Limiting Technical Knowledge: If you are a developer and focus on framework you might be limiting yourself. You might be more likely to take shortcuts in terms of coding which reduces your understanding.

Compatibility: Using a framework adds another element into your WordPress site. You are dependent on the framework being kept up to standard the whole time you have the website.

Conclusion

As a non developer I have been able to customise a number of WordPress websites using a framework. I had not previously been able to do that to my satisfaction using a theme on its own.

The big bloggers I follow mainly seem to use Genesis though there are notable exceptions. For me frameworks have been the way to go so far, though if I learn how to make websites from scratch I may go a different way.

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