Vism.ag & Creative Maps Blog

Well, a friend had a server, let me use it and I finally agreed to convert my Blogger blog over to WordPress now that I had a little more time I said to myself i could make sure I get it to work and not effect permalinks etc. This notion that I had penetrated the very depths of the web with my writings ;o) would lose the links they'd established, it would be too hard, I didn't get the wordpress.org and the wordpress.com distinction.    Why didn't I politely ask to borrow some server space from my friend sooner?   If you have access to server space and the privileges of manually editing files, uploading, write access/permissions (although this I have found necessary for only a few plugins)   If you have the time one day to install all these plugins (extremely simple btw, download the zip files of the plugin, login-to-wordpress-online-admin-interface. then plugins-add new-upload-choose the zip folder-submit) EASY   Well, firstly huge thanks to Rahul Bansal, there may be better explanations for converting blogger to wordpress, but his blog post and plugin below made it so easy and straightforward.    START with Rahul.    Blogger To WordPress Redirection If you have imported your blog from blogger (blogspot.com) then you might be redirecting visitors from your old blogspot blog to your new wordpress blogs HOMEPAGE. While this approach ensures you get all the traffic redirected from your old blog to new blog, a visitor may feel lost! What if a person is referred to your old blog via search engine or other link listings?   So this plugin just takes care of this part. It checks for which post people were looking on old blog and then redirect them to same post but on new blog! All this is so transparent that a visitor will never get confused!   DO NOT forget to read Installation section. Its simple but slightly different.   If you stuck somewhere you can visit plugin homepage to leave comment or buzz me! I found his tutorial very easy and clear to use on how to convert over to wordpress from blogger and this plugin was perfect to clear up my concerns over already established links to blogger posts.    http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/blogger-to-wordpress-redirection/    You will need to install a theme, there are loads. It took me a while to find a theme (Vector Flower 1.0 by EZwpthemes) that I felt safe enough to restyle graphically and keep the same image names and not have to tweak code much.    Then, these 30 plugins compatible to wordpress 2.7 (be careful with plugins for compatibility to your platform version, one isn't below - super edit) should truly convince you it was the right decision to switch.   

1. Link Harvest 

Link Harvest will go through all of your posts and pages and compile a list of all external links. Then it will create a LIVE (automatic) updating linkroll for you, based on your actual linking activity. The Daddy ;o)   http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/link-harvest/    I use this PHP Code Widget to display the php code to see the list:  

1. PHP Code Widget

  The normal Text widget allows you to insert arbitrary Text and/or HTML code. This allows that too, but also parses any inserted PHP code and executes it. This makes it easier to migrate to a widget-based theme.   All PHP code must be enclosed in the standard tags for it to be recognized. I'm sure with a little inline CSS I could glam it up.    http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/php-code-widget/  

1. Broken Link Checker

  This plugin will monitor your blog looking for broken links and let you know if any are found. Displays a nice strikethrough to warn visually of broken links.    Features

• Monitors links in your posts, pages, the blogroll, and custom fields (optional).
• Detects links that don't work and missing images.
• Notifies you on the Dashboard if any are found.
• Also detects redirected links.
• Makes broken links display differently in posts (optional).
• Link checking intervals can be configured.
• New/modified posts are checked ASAP.
• You view broken links, redirects, and a complete list of links used on your site, in the Tools -> Broken Links tab.
• Each link can be edited or unlinked directly via the plugin's page, without manually editing each post.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/broken-link-checker/   

1. Scissors

This plugin adds cropping, resizing, and rotating functionality to WordPress' image upload and management dialogs. Scissors also allows automatic resizing of images when they are uploaded and supports automatic and manual watermarking of images. Additionally, images that are resized in the post editor are automatically resampled to the requested size using bilinear filtering when a post is saved, which improves the perceived image quality while reducing the amount of data transferred at the same time.   When the first version of Scissors was published in October 2008 it was available only in English and German. Since then translations into new languages have been contributed by the following kind individuals. Thank you for your time and initiative.   http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/scissors/  

1. WP Super Edit

WP Super Edit is designed to get control of the WordPress wysiwyg visual editor and add some functionality with more buttons and customized TinyMCE plugins. WP Super edit acts as framework for TinyMCE visual editor plugins and buttons allowing administrators (or users) to arrange buttons and add TinyMCE plugins to the visual editor.   Your feedback is always welcome!  

• Requires WordPress Version: 2.8 or higher
• Compatible up to: 2.8.1

Features  

• Drag and Drop interface for arranging the WordPress visual editor buttons.
• Access to built-in WordPress visual editor buttons and functions.
• Customized TinyMCE plugins to add additional buttons and features like tables, layers (div tag), advanced XHTML properties, advanced image and link properties, WordPress emoticons, style attributes, css classes for themes, search / replace, and more.
• Options for allowing users to configure visual editor settings; One editor setting for all users, role based editor settings, and individual user editor settings. Only WordPress administrators can activate or deactivate TinyMCE wysiwyg visual editor plugins. In single or role based modes, only administrators can arrange editor buttons.
• Easy to install and remove. WP Super Edit uses separate database tables for its settings. Currently only the Super Emoticon / Icon Plugin will leave short tags in your posts or pages.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-edit/  

1. Amazon Widgets Shortcodes

Easy management of Amazon Links & Widgets on your blog. Preserve your post consistency, use copy/paste Amazon code or build your links with an easy to use interface Available Amazon Widgets

• Carrousel Widget
• Deals Widget
• MP3
• My Favorites Widget
• Product Preview
• Product Links
• Slideshow Widget
• Product Cloud Widget
• Wishlist Widget

  http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/amazon-widgets-shortcodes/   

1. WP Super Cache

This plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts. The static html files will be served to the vast majority of your users, but because a user's details are displayed in the comment form after they leave a comment those requests are handled by PHP. Static files are served to:

1. Users who are not logged in.
2. Users who have not left a comment on your blog.
3. Or users who have not viewed a password protected post.

99% of your visitors will be served static html files. Those users who don't see the static files will still benefit because they will see regular WP-Cache cached files and your server won't be as busy as before. This plugin will help your server cope with a front page appearance on digg.com or other social networking site. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/   

1. Hot Linked Cache Images

Makes it quicker to download as they're being accessed off of your own server and not someone else's, and if another websites server removed, renamed, relocated images you loose the link. Cache'ing doesnt.  use this one: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/hot-linked-image-cacher/  couldn't get this one to work: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cache-images/  

1. smushit - optimise Images file size

this is an additional plugin I spotted, very clever. http://dialect.ca/code/wp-smushit// reduces and optimises images with lossless qualities for quicker download. free, easy to install  

1. Category Cloud Widget

The Category Cloud Widget is a widget that displays your categories as a tag cloud in your sidebar. If like me you finally converted from blogger to wordpress, you will notice your tags have been converted to categories, well I like a tag cloud, small, easy to give an impression of the blogs content. So I found a category cloud generator.  http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/widget-category-cloud/  

1. WordPress Plugin SensitiveTagCloud 1.4.1 

  This wordpress plugin provides a configurable tagcloud that shows tags depending of the current context only. For example the tagcloud shows only tags that really occur in the current category, or within the current date-, author-, tag- archive or even only the tags that occur in the search results. It is also possible to restrict the links of the tag cloud to the current viewing tag archive or category: If you click on the tag “test1? within the tag cloud of the tag archive of “test2? the target page will only contain posts that have both tags, like a drill down navigation. It is possible to exclude the tag of the tag-archive itself from the tagcloud. Not quite got to work for categories. http://www.rene-ade.de/inhalte/wordpress-plugin-sensitivetagcloud.html   

1. DropCap First Character

The plugin is called dropcap_first and is available for download if you so desire.

 

What it does is it makes the first character of the post BIG in a magazine style. I got the idea (and most of the CSS code) to do this from an article called Magazine Style CSS Drop Caps and then it was just a matter of writing the relevant PHP code to do what I wanted. Just make sure that text is the first characters in your post and not code. Adds some nice style to your posts, breaks up that dense text a little.  Current Version Download: dropcap_first plugin http://www.rc.au.net/blog/2006/07/27/dropcap-first-character-wordpress-plugin/   

1. wp-utf8-excerpt

Show shortened posts on your splash page to your blog, with a 'Read more of this post...' link at the bottom. Lets users browse through your content a little quicker rather than seeing all of one post until they can see the next. This is the only one I have seen that will include html and images. Needs a little manual coding of: Open wp-content/themes/<YOUR THEME NAME>/index.php  

Main features of the plugin:

1. It supports multibyte language (such as Chinese). It will not produce gibberish as some other excerpt plugins do.
2. The html tags in the original posts, i.e., the font styles, colors, hyperlinks, pictures and such are preserved in the excerpt.
3. For better readability, it displays 300 characters for each post on the homepage and 150 characters for each post on archive pages.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-utf8-excerpt/  

1. Smart Ping Updater

“Ping spam” is when you keep pinging your RSS feed, even when you haven’t posted anything new. It’s not good and can get you banned from places like Technorati. Unfortunately, WordPress is set to automatically ping even if you edit your post. This plugin takes care of that and only pings when you have a new post. It automatically imports your current ping list. http://www.usefulsnippets.com/category/wordpress?q=usefulstuff/wordpress-plugins.html   

1. FD Feedburner Plugin

Redirects the main feed and optionally the comments feed to Feedburner.com. It does this seamlessly without the need to modify templates, setup new hidden feeds, modify .htaccess files, or asking users to migrate to a new feed. All existing feeds simply become Feedburner feeds seamlessly and transparently for all users. Just tell the plugin what your Feedburner feed URL is and you're done.  If you used blogger, you no doubt integrated your feed with Feedburner, seeing as Google bought it and integrated it, as it adds some wonderful functionality to your feed with the 'Add to Del-ici-ous... Digg... Email.... Technorati' etc, but also its AUTOMATIC pinging to different news services, and sites to tell them you have new content. It also splices in flickr, del-ici-ous or furl, it adds Google Adsense to your posts and so much more. So you will more than likely want to keep this and so it lets you redirect your wordpress feed to your own unique wordpress feed, therefore keeping the AUTOMATED updates and subscribers are none the wiser it is coming from a different blogging platform.  Just need to go into feedburner configuration under appearance to set the feeds and redirects (took me a while to find it, prob should have read installation. ;o) http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedburner-plugin/   

1. Google Analytics for Word Press

The Google Analytics for WordPress plugin automatically tracks and segments all outbound links from within posts, comment author links, links within comments, blogroll links and downloads. It also allows you to track AdSense clicks, add extra search engines, track image search queries and it will even work together with Urchin.

• Requires WordPress Version: 2.7 or higher
• Compatible up to: 2.9

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/   

1. Google XML Sitemaps

This plugin will create a Google sitemaps compliant XML-Sitemap of your WordPress blog. It supports all of the WordPress generated pages as well as custom ones. Everytime you edit or create a post, your sitemap is updated and all major search engines that support the sitemap protocol, like ASK.com, Google, MSN-Bing Search and Yahoo, are AUTOMATICALLY notified about the update. Related Links:

• Plugin Homepage

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/  

1. Optimal Title

Anyone serious about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should consider installing this plugin. It changes your <title> tag from “Mike Haydon | How To Be NoFollow Free” to “How To Be NoFollow Free | Mike Haydon”, which tells the search engine that your keywords are more important than the name of your blog (which it almost always is). download here: http://elasticdog.com/2004/09/optimal-title/  But implement the changes creator states here: http://elasticdog.com/2008/02/optimal-title-functionality-now-in-wordpress-core/   

1. PostRank

This plugin adds the PostRank Top Posts Widget & Analytics to your blog. PostRank measures the engagement with each story by analyzing the types and frequency of social media interactions. The more interesting or relevant the story is, the more active your readers will be in sharing it. By measuring the engagement with each story the PostRank Top Posts widget features your best new and archived content, providing another channel to gain readership, increase page views and clicks, RSS subscriptions and ad revenues. The widget automatically presents a list of your articles that have the highest PostRanks scores overall, or for a specific topic, as specified by the user. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-postrank/  

1. Top 10

WordPress doesn’t count page views by default. Top 10 will count the number of page views on your single posts on a daily as well as overall basis. You can then display the page view count on individual posts and pages as well as display a list of most popular posts based on page views.   Includes a sidebar widget to display the popular posts. And, all settings can be configured from within your WordPress Admin area itself! You can choose to disable tracking of author visits on their own posts. http://ajaydsouza.com/wordpress/plugins/top-10/   

1. Link within - show related posts with thumbnails. 

  Show Related Stories with a Thumbnail Under Each Post!  

1. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to the current entry, introducing the reader to other relevant content on your site. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/   

1. WordPress Mobile Edition

WordPress Mobile Edition is a plugin that shows an interface designed for a mobile device when visitors come to your site on a mobile device. Mobile browsers are automatically detected, the list of mobile browsers can be customized on the settings page. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-edition/   

1. SMS Text Message

Allows a reader to submit their phone number through a sidebar widget. The blog owner then can periodically send alerts, updates, etc via SMS to everyone at once. Features -includes built-in widget -easy, simple administrative management interface -support for all the major wireless carriers http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sms-text-message/   

1. WP-Print

All the information (general, changelog, installation, upgrade, usage) you need about this plugin can be found here: WP-Print Readme. It is the exact same readme.html is included in the zip package.   Pleaase note however, you need to do a little manual coding. Look for the readme.html in the download zip. It says:

• Open wp-content/themes/<YOUR THEME NAME>/index.phpYou may place it in single.php, post.php, page.php or theloop.php also.
• Find:

  <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

• Add Anywhere Below It:

  <?php if(function_exists('wp_print')) { print_link(); } ?>

Also make a folder in your wp-content/themes/wp-print You Need To Re-Generate The Permalink (WP-Admin -> Settings -> Permalinks -> Save Changes) Requires WordPress Version: 2.7 or higher http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-print/  

1. Share This

The ShareThis WordPress plugin provides a simple way for users to add your post to many social bookmarking sites, or to send a link to your post via email, AIM, Facebook, Twitter and more.   To check out the ShareThis plugin for WordPress, visit: http://sharethis.com/wordpress You can customize the ShareThis widget on your site as well as register for a dashboard that will track share events and provide reporting. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/share-this/   

1. Tweet Suite

Adds a “Tweet This” button to each post, and tracks who has Tweeted about your article and adds them to the comments…very cool! http://danzarrella.com/beyond-tweetbacks-introducing-tweetsuite.html#   

1. WP Ajax Edit Comments (for WP 2.5+)

Isn’t it annoying when you write a comment, hit the button and then realize you’ve made a mistake or want to say something extra. Using this plugin allows your readers to edit their comments for a short time after they’ve posted them. Cool, right? http://ajaydsouza.com/wordpress/plugins/wp-ajax-edit-comments/   

1. Comment Luv

This creates the option box you see below the comment box. If checked, it goes to the the website your reader put in the comment box, looks for the latest post, if available, and inserts a link to it. Try it for yourself. For best effect, use the “dofollow” plugin. http://comluv.com/download/commentluv-wordpress/ use this also:

1. Do Follow

Simply put, this removes the “nofollow” attribute from comments on your blog. Nofollow will still work in your posts and widgets. While this may be an invitation for more spam, Akismet will catch most of it (just moderate the rest), and your readers will generally be more keen on commenting on your blog. http://www.semiologic.com/software/dofollow/  

1. NoSpamNX

Most Antispam Plugins focus on user interaction, e.g. captcha or Math calculations to defend you against automated comment spambots. Some use JavaScript and/or Sessions, check each comment against common spam phrases or modify your comment template. NoSpamNX intend to handle automated comment-spam without these measures. It does not require JavaScript, Cookies or Sessions. It does not change your comment template in any way, given you full compatibility with other WordPress- or Browser Plugins.   NoSpamNX automaticly adds additional formfields to your comment form, invisible to the users. If a spambot fills these fields blindly (which 99.9% of all spambots do), the comment will not be saved. You can decide if you want to block these spambots, mark them as spam or put them in moderation queue. Furthermore, you can put common spam-phrases on a blacklist.   The user must no longer fill out any additional fields in the comment form, and you can focus on blogging and your readers comments!

• Requires WordPress Version: 2.7 or higher
• Compatible up to: 2.8.4

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nospamnx/    

1. Found many of them from these lists, so i'm sure you'll spot number 30. I'm sure I'll find more, the 29 others are good start to get your wordpress on its way effectively.

http://www.thethinkingstick.com/wordpress-27-theme-and-plugins http://www.mikehaydon.com/wordpress/36-great-wordpress-plugins-compatible-with-wordpress-271 http://franklinbishop.net/excerpt-plugins-for-wordpress/ http://www.skyje.com/2009/09/wordpress-plugin/   Please share your favourite plugins in comments.   please note, not all the text is my own, many are description from the pages the plugins are listed. I just commented at the end, probably should have used my quotes and more subheadings of reviews. But when I was searching for plugins I was quickly skimming text to check its function and ajudicated its usabillity.