Plugin Power!

For Wordpress bloggers, Plugins are essential in that they extend the functionality of a blog, whether it’s adding more user interactivity, or helping to fight SPAM, or to display related posts, etc… plugins have become a way of life for Wordpress bloggers, and they are easy to install.

I’m No Expert, But…

Here are some essential Wordpress plugins that I really like and find very useful. Some I’ve used now for at least a couple of years, while others I’ve just recently started using. I am by no means an expert with plugins, but being the coder that I am I have modified some of them to suite my needs. And I just want to share some really good ones I use, so that you can try them if you’ve never used them before.

My List of Essential Plugins

1. Wordpress Database Backup

   This is a very essential tool for backing up your Wordpress blog to your computer. It backs up your tables and data (the core ones) into an archived file, and you have the option to backup the core data only or add more or all of the remaining tables. Backing up your data is important just in case your blog gets corrupted. This plugin makes backups so easy.

2. SRG Clean Archives

   This plugin creates an archives listing that is super clean and very user-friendly. You can expand a certain month to view all the entries in that month. You can also expand all. This can be used on a dedicated archives page, or have it displayed on your sidebar. You’ll need the Exec-PHP plugin if you wish to create a page to display your archives.

3. Tiger Style Administration

   If you are somewhat tired of the old familiar Admin area of your Wordpress blog, then you should add this plugin to your collection. It creates a very stylish, improved layout of your Admin area. I really like this one!

4. CapCC

   I just recently added this one. And because of all the SPAMMERS out there this really helps. And you have the option to use it with Comments, or with Registration, or both. You get a lot of options to configure the Captcha image, letters and numbers, etc. Highly recommended!

5. Dan’s New Avatar Thingy

   This plugin allows your registered users/commenters to upload an avatar to their accounts, which can then be displayed next to their comments. You can (if you know what you’re doing) edit the actual plugin code to adjust the avatar size.

6. Exec-PHP

   Simply put, this plugin allows you to insert your own PHP code into Wordpress Pages. This is useful when inserting code like that from the SRG Clean Archives plugin into static Wordpress Pages.

7. Related Posts

   Hmm… this plugin is no longer supported. But you may still find this one by doing a search. What’s good about this plugin is that it will find similar or related posts to the current post the visitor is reading.

8. Simple Recent Comments

   Another useful plugin that displays the most recent Comments posted in your blog. Simple but effective.

9. Top Posts By Category

   Here’s a nice plugin that will display either the top posts by number of visits, or the top posts by number of comments. And you have the option not to display the posts by category.

10. WP iTunes

    I really love this plugin, as it will display the current tune you are listening to on iTunes, posting it to your blog so that people will see what you are listening to at that moment. But here’s the deal with this one. It’s a bit complicated to set up, and you need an additional program called iTunesBlogger that grabs the song information from iTunes along with the cover art (via Amazon.com) and works with the plugin to post the info to your blog.

    Also, you will need to get an Amazon Developer’s Token ID (key) to utilize the Amazon Web Services API in order to grab the cover art. But once you get it going it’s a joy to have on your blog. If the cover art can’t be found or retrieved, then the essential textual information will be displayed instead.

    This is a great plugin if you have the time and patience to get it going.

And there you have it. 10 essential Wordpress plugins that I use on this blog. If you have a Wordpress plugin you’d like to share please let me know. I’m always on the lookout for more WP Plugins.

Okay, I hope the title of this post got your attention.

I mentioned in a previous post, Cold and Flu Season, that I’ve noticed people around me getting hit by the flu bug.

Recently a fellow musician and gifted trumpeter, Nathan Mills, was hit pretty hard with the flu bug. He’s the one who had to leave a recent gig at Le Papagayo after the 1st set because he had gotten sick.

In a recent email he related how he had a high fever at the gig and just had to go home and rest because he was too weak. That night he woke up around 2am, went to the bathroom, became disoriented… and the next thing he remembers was hearing a loud BANG and waking up sprawled in the bath tub with his legs hanging out. Apparently he had hit his head against the wall and passed out, delirious! Fortunately, the shower curtain broke his fall… somewhat. And when he came to he was soaked in sweat!

Needless to say, Nathan said this was the weirdest flu bug that’s ever hit him.

Take care, Nate, and get plenty of rest!

Anyway, this flu bug is definitely making its rounds. I’m just trying to be careful and stay healthy because I don’t wanna get sick. *knocks on wood*

Flickr Related Tag Browser
Type a search word or phrase and this handy search tool gives you all the photos on the Flickr site containing the related tags.

A Low Impact Woodland Home
Think, Lord of the Rings, and the cute Hobbit Homes and you’ve got a cool home. At least that’s what this “custom built” home reminds me of.

Hacking: It’s All About Beginning
A way cool website that’s a informative introduction to the Hacking World… lots of UNIX and LINUX commands, questionable tips and tricks, Hacker 101, Hacker 202, broken links… hmm…

The World’s Healthiest Foods
Whole Foods brings us the 129 healthiest foods in the world, with an explanation of the Criteria used to determine why these are the healthiest foods to eat.

Breathing Earth
This cyber presentation displays the carbon dioxide emission levels of every country in the world… in real-time. The United States and China appear to be at the top of the list for the most emissions.

AntiLimit
Excellent and creative photo imagery by Eric M Gustafson!

And Today’s Featured YouTube Video:

A Bad Day at the Office!

I think one of the hardest things a blogger can do is go back through one’s archives and assess what has been written. I’ve seriously been doing this here and there for the past several days. For the most part, I’m happy with what I had written. But at the same time, there have been a few posts…. *whew* glad I finally deleted that one, “how embarrassing!”

Re-working Those Entries

The good thing is that I’ve been taking the time to re-edit what I thought were good articles on a topic, re-worked them a bit, added a photo or two, and given it a new and improved title. Also, I am connecting blog posts to other posts that are similar or have a connection, so that readers will find other writings that relate to the current one they’re reading.

Search Engine Optimization?

I think that from an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) point-of-view, “refreshing” older entries is a good way for the big search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo and MSN) to re-index your web site and its various web pages. And thus making older entries available once again to your visitors.

Aside from the potential benefits of getting your pages re-indexed, it’s just a good idea to re-work older entries, re-read them and re-edit…

Just Keep Writing, and Re-writing…

It’s also good to see how your writing has changed over the weeks, months and years. As someone who’s been essentially blogging since May of 1998, I’ve seen my writing go through several distinct changes. And I think I’m now trying to write more for the general public at hand, than to write for a few readers. Sure, I always write for myself, and if I wish to write some personal things for myself I would just write in a private journal. But, I assume that, in essence, most people write online to an audience or readership, whether they are fellow bloggers and online diarists, or to the general public. Writing is a process and the more one writes the more one improves and has the ability to come up with more things to write about.

And with all that in mind, I’ll now leave you for the time being, to review more older entries and reassessing them.

I’ve started an eBook of Poetry and Prose by yours truly. And I hope to finish and publishing it online sometime next month in February 2008. This will be my first eBook ever, and why I never thought about publishing my own eBook years ago is totally beyond me.

Well, now that I’m beginning to see just how easy it is to create an eBook and making it available online, I’m sort of jumping on the bandwagon, so to speak. But, I’ve always wanted to publish a book of my own poetry… just never allowed myself the time and effort to do it. And, I’ve never thought of myself as a great poet. But, I love to write, and I love writing poetry and prose… and creating an eBook sounds highly possible and a logical next step for someone who loves to write, so why not do it?
Read more

I was originally tagged by Pat on an older post titled Music Meme.

This is a new variation on the old Music Meme I participated-in a while back. Are you up for this, folks?

Here are the rules if you wish to participate:

And that’s it.

. . . .

Here’s my Song Meme:

5. List down five songs you’ve been playing on your car stereo or iPod recently.

4. Name four songs you like to listen to while you’re surfing the Web.

3. All-time favorite songs? Name three of them.

2. Name two songs that have lifted your spirits when you were down.

1. What is your current all-time favorite song right now?

Okay, and I’m done! It’s your turn…