5 More Essential WordPress Plugins

June 9, 2011, 11:00 am

We are big fans of WordPress here at ProfHacker: it’s a easy-to-use, flexible, and very powerful content management system that can be used for everything from maintaining a personal blog to handcrafting your own LMS to running your university’s Web site. WordPress plugins–small snippets of code that one can “plug in” to WordPress in order to add to, extend, or customize its core functions–are one of the ways to take advantage of the software’s flexibility.

Last summer, Ethan listed 5 WordPress plugins he can’t live without. Ever since then I’ve been meaning to create and share my own list. And so, without further ado, here is my list:

WordPress Automatic upgrade: “WordPress automatic upgrade allows a user to automatically upgrade the WordPress installation to the latest one.” This takes most (all?) of the drudgework out of upgrading.
Duplicator: “The Duplicator plugin is designed to give WordPress Administrators the ability to migrate a site from one location to another location in 3 easy steps: create, download, install. The plugin also serves as a simple backup utility.” And this one reduces the drudgework involved in moving, or copying, or backing up your site.
Accessibility Access Keys: “Lets a WordPress administrator create and maintain site-wide access keys for easy navigation. Created by ProfHacker’s own Cory Bohon. (Read the post he wrote about his plugin.)
WPTouch: “WPtouch automatically transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application-style theme, complete with ajax loading articles and effects, when viewed from iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Palm Pre, Samsung touch and BlackBerry Storm/Torch mobile devices.” Don’t let the name fool you: this plugin makes your site mobile-friendly for a variety of devices, not just iOS-based ones.
Onswipe: Gives your site an tablet-friendly layout when viewed on an iPad. Configurations for non-iOS tablets are reportedly forthcoming. (Read the post I read about this plugin.)