Hello, My Name is Dennis, and I'm a Plugin Junkie
I've been cruising around the WA Site, and noticed the recommendation that we stick to 5 plugins or less. I'm gonna have a problem with that. I admit it, I'm a plugin junkie. I'm not hopeless though; I haven't ever felt the need to have 100 plugins as was done in this WordPress test.
I am talking about 25 or 30 plugins though - and that's after removing the obligatory "Hello Dolly" plugin that comes with every install. I thought I'd make a quick list to see what I'm hooked on, but they're all over the place.
There's a couple plugins to make writing easier, another couple of security plugins, and three more to make the site faster (and make Google a little happier). There's a little something to let me customize the site index in the sidebar, and another two to help with advertising. I've got one for affiliate link cloaking, and a redirect plugin to prevent 404 pages. There's something in the mix for spam, for SEO, and to automatically generate internal links.
They don't seem to be slowing the sites down, but I guess I could stand to ease back a bit. If nothing else, paring down the number of plugins would reduce the time needed to keep them all up to date. But which should go?
Decisions, decisions...
Recent Comments
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Hi there, I'm just about to look at plug-ins for my site and you're the obvious person to ask!! ! want one that sorts out my side bars - delete, add etc and also one that will control NOT the same affiliate on every page in the same place. I want to be able to decide which ad I have on each page?? I know you will be able to help.
Thanks
My website: http://womentravellingafter55.com/
Hi Sally -
I've used a free plugin for WordPress called https://wordpress.org/plugins/content-aware-sidebars/ to create unique sidebars for different pages and posts. At one point I also tried a premium plugin called Custom Sidebars from WPMU Dev - but concluded it was rubbish and removed it.
If you're selling ad space to a variety of companies or ad networks (or even if you're using some of your ad space to sell your own wares), take a look at OIOPublisher Ad Manager. I think it's $47, but it saves time and helps manage your accounts and their ads.
Good luck with it!
Dennis
Hi Stephon,
I'm using a plugin called WP Edit Pro, which is a paid plugin - but there is a free version available to check out some of the features. There's a comparison chart at https://wpeditpro.com/compare/.
There's a second plugin I use called Raw HTML Pro - and again there's a free version. WordPress was driving me crazy by changing the code I'd written when I flipped back and forth between the Text and the Visual tabs. This plugin put an end to that problem - and restored what was left of my sanity :)
Dennis
Hi prestones I imagine the reason for the suggestion is the amount of time it take to access your web site. Have your question been presented in a caht session with the community?
Hi Curtlaw!
I haven't had any difficulty accessing my site (knock on wood), and haven't noticed any issues with site speed. I use www.uptimerobot.com to monitor downtime / slowtime for my sites. It's reporting 99.99% uptime for the past 30 days, with a current ping time of a little under a second. Not great, but I'm OK with it.
I was just a little taken aback by the 5 plugin recommendation. I guess I need to run a tighter ship!
Dennis
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Great post! Any tips on how to determine what a "quality" plugin is? Thanking you in advance. Olive
Hi Olive -
I typically look to see if there are any warnings from WordPress (this plugin hasn't been updated in over 2 years...), check what the plugin author's responsiveness has been on their forum, look at how many times the plugin has been downloaded, and check out other user's comments - then make my best guess!!
It's far from scientific, but it's the best I can to to protect my site from errant plugins. So far... so good :)
Dennis
Great advice. Thanks Dennis!! Olive