scriptygoddess

In honor of "Thank a WordPress Plugin Developer" (yes, I know I'm a little late. hush!) I wanted to recognize some plugins and their developers that have made my job so much easier. (FYI – Most of these plugins are particularly helpful when using WordPress as a CMS). I know these kinds of lists have done over and over again – my purpose here in creating my own "top 10" is to save the links so I always have the ones I use the most in a handy list as well as express my personal thanks)

1) Google XML Sitemaps by Arne Brachold
Easily generate google friendly XML sitemaps.

2) The Attached Image by Paul Robinson
I recently found this plugin and I'm kicking myself for not finding it (or realizing what it could do for me) sooner. This is perfect for when I have a layout that has an image associated with a post or page, and I need to "call it out" and have it show up somewhere outside of where the content is going. (An added thanks to Paul who added a few extra features I requested in his comments section. How cool is that!)

3) Raw HTML by Janis Elsts
This has come in handy on more than one occasion. Requires viewing the page in "HTML" view only. (Last I used it, if you viewed the page in the visual editor – it would screw everything up). But still – very helpful for when you really need to have wordpress allow HTML in a post/page (and not try to "format" it for you.

4) PageMash by JoelStarnes
This is a new one I found this week in my search for a plugin to help me tame the too-many-pages WordPress CMS project. I must have done a million searches looking for page management plugins. WHY didn't that one ever come up?!? (Google – you fail me AGAIN! Let me put on my surprised face…) Anyway, this creates its own admin page to do it's magic. My one comment/complaint would be I wish it could have done the same cool stuff – but on the same page-listing admin page. But even so, I'm still thankful for this plugin. It's really going to help me out a lot.

5) All In One SEO Pack by Semper Fi Web Design
This plugin is pretty much a no-brainer. It gives you all sorts of control for each page and post for adding keywords and descriptions and customizing the title, etc. The screenshot below is the box that will appear on your edit post or edit page view.

6) Search Everything by Dan Cameron
This plugin has been a huge help when I've wanted to tweak what gets searched using the WordPress search function. You can exclude categories, certain posts or pages. It's very nice!

7) WP-PostRatings by Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan
This plugin is more for the typical blog site, but still I've used it a few times and it rocks.

8 ) Subscribe 2 by MattyRob, Skippy, RavanH
Can be used for typical blog sites – or if you use your "posts" for "press releases" in a CMS site – this is a great way to notify people of new releases.

9) Members Only by Andrew Hamilton
This is an excellent plugin for when you need to have your blog restricted to registered users only.

10) Sitemap Generator by Dagon Design
I had been using this plugin on a number of sites pre-2.7. I absolutely loved it, which is why I've included it here in this list. However, It seemed to work initially after the 2.7 upgrade – but would then randomly have problems and I'd have to remove it. So I've included it in this list anyway because of how awesome it was, and I'm hoping hoping hoping that they update it for 2.7.

I've specifically left Akismet out of the list because, if you're going to allow comments on your blog, then using Akismet is just a given. (It also COMES with the WordPress download) So including it in a list like this is sort of a cop out. But I'm mentioning it here because it is so awesome and the developers have my complete gratitude!!