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Plug-ins for Wordpress.org
Part of “Going self-hosted with Wordpress : A Wolfie Guide” [PDF]
In previous installments of the Guide, I’ve talked about how to transfer your existing Wordpress.com blog to a self-hosted Wordpress.org installation, including uploading a theme, and about the blogroll and widgets. Those two posts, hopefully, got you started and your blog looks pretty much how you want it to.
But looking at your Dashboard you’ll see that there are some things that are missing because they don’t come as standard with the Wordpress.org software. So this post is going to look at plug-ins that you can use to add extra functionality and improve your Wordpress.org experience.
What is a plug-in and where do I find them?
At its simplest explanation, a plug-in is a file or group of files that - when uploaded to your Wordpress installation - give it instructions for carrying out extra tasks. Plug-ins exist for all sorts of functions, some really useful, some less so, and they can be installed with ease.
You can find them everywhere on the Net, but one of the places to start is at the Wordpress plug-ins directory.
How do I install plug-ins?
Sorry, but you’re going to have to FTP again, like you did to upload your theme. But you’re OK with that now arent’t you? As I said before, if you can’t handle a bit of FTP action then you’re probably better off sticking with Wordpress.com.
Most plug-ins are supplied in compressed files, so the first thing to do is uncompress them, using your favourite utility (or the built-in ability of your operating system). Then you’ll either be presented with a folder, or just a couple of files. Whichever you get, there should be a file that gives installation instructions, but in general you just need to upload the folder or the files into the wp-content/plug-ins folder on your server. You should make a note, though, of any special instructions for your plug-in; most are very simple, but some can be complicated; if you don’t think you can manage it, don’t install the plug-in.
Once you’ve uploaded a plug-in, it will need to be activated. This is done from the Dashboard > Plug-ins screen. Just click the “Activate” button next to the plug-in that you’ve just uploaded. If there are no special instructions you need to carry out for the plug-in, then that’s it!
Which plug-ins do I need?
Well, I suppose you don’t really need any of them, but there are some that you might want. Particularly if you’re coming from Wordpress.com. These are the ones that I’ve tried out so far and found useful (I’ve tried a bunch of others that I haven’t found useful, but I’ll leave those out). It should be noted that there are many, many plug-ins out there and you’ll probably find others that do the same job as the ones listed here; this list is not a recommendation of these plug-ins over any others, it’s just a list of ones that I’ve found useful and use on The New Wolfs Howl. If you find any that do the same job but better, let me know.
Wordpress.com Stats
You’ll have noticed that your Dashboard doesn’t have a link for Blog Stats; this is the plug-in that will restore that functionality for you. This isn’t an ideal plug-in because it requires a Wordpress.com API key (a string of letters and numbers that you’ll find on your Wordpress.com Dashboard at Users > Your Profile). The reason this isn’t ideal is because it creates unnecessary confusion between .com and .org blogs, as well as meaning that you won’t be able to get rid of your .com account.
Once you’ve activated the plug-in, you’ll get a message telling you that you need to enter an API key. Enter it at Dashboard > Plug-ins > Wordpress.com Stats. After that, the Stats function just like they do on Wordpress.com
Defensio Anti-Spam
Your Wordpress.com account comes with Akismet Anti-Spam, and your .org installation also includes it - although it is not activated. If you want to use that, then you’ll need your API Key again. But, Akisment comes in a for a lot of stick, being accused of creating many false positives (blocking comments that are not spam) and also being criticised by people who are not fans of those that run it.
An excellent alternative, which gives you more control over the functionality, is Defensio. This also requires an API Key, but you have to sign up for a (free) account with Defensio. If you don’t want yet another online account, stick with Akismet but if you want good quality spam filtering, this is the one to go with.
Contact Form 7
On Wordpress.com, if you want to add a contact form to a page or post, you just enter one line of code. This plug-in allows you to do just the same thing with a .org installation, but with flexibility over the way the form looks, how many different forms you can have, etc.
Wordpress Admin Bar
One of the biggest things that’s missing from a .org installation is the blue admin bar at the top of the screen, that allows you to get to your Dashboard, your Stats, etc. This plug-in will give you back the blue admin bar, but with greatly increased funcitonality. When viewing your blog (it will only be shown when viewing your own blog, not on every .org blog), it will give you dropdown menus for every item on your Dashboard menu. It is probably the most useful plug-in I have so far found.
Subscribe to Comments
This is great piece of extra functionality that is sorely missing from Wordpress.com. What it does is add a “Subscribe” option to the comments form on each post, which allows your commenters to stay updated by email of when anyone else makes a comment.
Brian’s Threaded Comments
This one isn’t available from Wordpress.org, you’ll need to download it from the developer. You’ll have seen on many blogs that specific comments can be replied to and the reply will be indented, or linked in some way to the comment it is in response to. This is called ‘threading’ and it’s what this plug-in does for you. Some people love threaded comments, some hate them, but at least now you have a choice.
Absolute Comments
One thing that really bugs me about comments on Wordpress.com is that if I want to reply to them I either have to edit the comment and aaadd my reply to it, or go to the post concerned and add my comment there. I don’t like the first option because I prefer not to mess about with comments at all and the second option is a drag. Which is where this plug-in comes in, as it allows you to reply to comments directly from the Dashboard - and also allows you to thread them or not.
Popularity Contest
One of the widgets that you’ll notice is missing is Top Posts. I’m not sure why this isn’t included as it’s one of the most useful, but there you go. This plug-in will takes over the role, but also gives you much more information about what’s popular as well as allowing you to alter the ‘weighting’ for each element (permalink views, archive views, etc).
Be aware, though, that this plug-in doesn’t automatically display any of these results on your blog. You can put them wherever you like, but you will need to enter some code yourself. The easiest way is add a widget to your sidebar; if you want to do that, though, you’ll need the next plug-in as well.
Daiko’s Text Widget
You’re familiar, I’m sure, with sidebar text widgets. They can be useful for displaying all sorts of things like links, pictures, and so on. But they are limited; you can’t, for instance, enter PHP code (the code that your Wordpress.org installation is built on) in them. But with Daiko’s you can. That way, following the instructions from Popularity Contest, you can add a widget to display your Top Posts.
So there you go. Some information about plug-ins and how to use them, as well as ones that I’d recommend. Happy plugging.
Comments
4 Responses to “Plug-ins for Wordpress.org”
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I think this was an excellent post in what’s going to prove to be a great series.
The instructions are so well written that I could follow them without any hesitation. You may well ask: Why is that important?
My answer is that I’m new to self hosting and feeling my way through the dark. From what I’ve seen many bloggers making the transition from a free hosted blogging platform to self hosting have very few “geeky” skills and there is a dearth of information when it comes to making this transition. So IMHO your posts in this series are filling a void that has previously existed.
I’m interested in becoming a paid blogger but I have put that notion on the back burner until I feel that I have all the self hosting skills required to operate independently. So, please keep those posts in this series coming because you have at least one teachable fan *lol* :D.
@timethief:
Certainly I’d put myself in the “geeky” category, so its perhaps been a bit easier for me but there’s still quite a lot that isn’t obvious. What I’m trying to do is chronicle what works for me in the hope that it may help someone else - glad to hear that I’m on the right track.
Timethief and Wolfie, nice post and nice comment. If Timethief is not a Geeky person, then there is hope for us. I have self-hosted since min-May 2008. I started blogging in March and it is a good experience. We learn and even though I know quite a bit of what is contained in your post, I must say it has been reinforced. I am still seeking information on how to redirect my wordpress dot com blog to my self-hosted blog. Any ideas?
@Mcneris: For Bloggers:
To the best of my knowledge, you can’t do that; you just have to start again from scratch.