Do You Use Wordpress Plugins? Dont Bite the Hand that Feeds You!

If you have a Wordpress blog, there is a 99% chance that you use wordpress plugins. If you develop your own sites, you already know what they are, and you probably are familiar with at least a handful. If someone does your web development for you, you still enjoy the benefits of plugins that do everything from managing comment spam to generating forms pages.

What are Wordpress plugins? In simple terms, they are chunks of code that are uploaded to your web server. There are hundreds of them, and they are free! They add an incredible amount of functionality and make life easier for professional web developers and amateurs alike. They are fabulous contributions made by programmers who devote time and energy to making Wordpress better and better.

Recently, I ran into a post on a Wordpress training site that was a bit disconcerting. The author was grousing about the plugins. Here is a direct quote:

Truthfully I would rather deal with the marketer that has a vested interest in supporting and improving their plugin than with the person that creates a great plugin and has no reason other than kindness or ego to support it.

I couldn’t disagree with this statement more. I use dozens of plugins in my sites. I have no trouble with them. If Wordpress comes up with an update, I just wait a couple of weeks before I install the update. By that time, the plugins are updated, and I have never had an issue with any of them. They save me huge programming tasks, time, and costs. They also open up possibilities to things I never would have thought about.

Since when is kindness a bad thing? There are plenty of folks who will take your money for inferior products and poor customer service. Ego? The plug-in developers who I have spoken to don’t seem very egotistical.

So what if you do have problems with the plugins? They were FREE! You can always hire your own programmer to make plugins for you, if you prefer. You could also pay them to keep them updated.

A Big Thank You

Thanks to all of the Wordpress plugin developers who have made my life easier. Some of them take donations for their work, but I know that the receipts are scant. Sometimes I donate, and sometimes, I have to admit, I don’t.

Here are a few plugins that I use. This is not the entire list, but these seem to stand out in my mind:

Askimet – If I did not have this one, I would be drowning in comment spam. This program really knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Subscribe to Comments – Would I want to develop this one on my own? Are you nuts? If this plugin were not available, many of us would not be following up on comments we have left on other sites.

Wordpress Database Backup – This little gem was built by Austin Matzko. I can also tell you from experience that if you ever have severe problems with a website, he is the guy to call. His fees are reasonable too. Undoubtedly, this plugin will save me from future disasters. Who remembers to backup anything? I am lucky if I can remember to change my oil in my car.

Dagon Design Sitemap Generator- This one makes beautiful sitemaps that are visitor-friendly. They update automatically, too. What more do you want?

Smart Update Pinger – I can go back into a published post and change it without having it automatically re-publish. I won’t get spanked for ping-spamming.

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