Powering… not the right word. I power this blog but I do use some plug-ins.

Yes, this blog is built on WordPress. I’ve been asked a few times what plug-ins I use so I’ll list them out and link to where you can get them.

Here’s what I use and what they do:

  • Akismet - Do I need to explain that one?
  • Another Wordpress Meta Plugin - Allows easy input for unique descriptions and keywords for each post, plus a governing description for the index page. Index kewords are typically the keywords from your top 5 articles less dupes, but can be customized. I don’t use the “all-in-one” seo stuff out there, lots of that adds bloat to your headers and the functions can easily be hardcoded into the theme.
  • Audio player - For quick flash embedding of an mp3. Just upload your file and insert a tag with the path to the audio file and it’s easy. It only works with posts, but I hacked it up and there’s a way to use it your sidebar or pages or other sites here.
  • cforms II - Lets you easily create complex forms, far beyond my pithy contact form. You can create several forms and customize them in many ways then add them anywhere. Comes with some template themes but the css is simple to match it to your site. This plug-in does embed a link to the author, but isn’t requires to stay, just tinker. (keep trying MS)
  • DoFollow - Cuz I like to reward comments worthy of making it out of moderation. Yeah - I’m selective with those - Sue me, MS.
  • I now use Lucia’s Link Love (LLL) - Comment posters need to earn a do-follow link back, rewarded by a preset number of comments. Helps deny juice to drive-by comment posters.
  • Google XML Sitemaps - You know why you need a sitemap if you’re reading this.
  • I Love Social Bookmarking - adds the little ‘heart’ at the end of posts, pages or both - you can select the services listed and the css is easy to allow customization. I intend to amend this to include Sphinn when i have the time.
  • NextGEN Gallery - Created image galleries. Upload your images, the plug-in scans your gallery directory for new images and creates the galleries for you - lots of options to customize it. See my Pics page for an example.
  • StripTease - Gotta play with it to see the benefit. Basically it hacks the “more” tag to aid the reader. Doesn’t seem like much ’til you try it on then off again.
  • Subscribe To Comments - Obvious. BUT - the current version doesn’t allow you to make it auto-check the box - find version 2.1.1 for the better one that allows it, or just tinker it yourself.
  • Viper’s Video Quicktags - Easily add YouTube, Google Video, QuickTime and more with a click in the tool-bar when writing a post. Some themes will “break” when embedding a video, this keeps it clean, and simple.
  • WP-PageNavi - Adds the numeric paging at the end of your index page. This lets the internals be less clicks away from home by not having to go next->next->next.
  • WP Grins - Cuz people type smilies. Yes, it’s fluffy but they do get used.

Nope, no whiz-bag “make my site rank” plug-ins - that takes work, a smart theme and intelligence. The toys added are for amusement, ease for myself and some fluff for the reader.

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