Of all the content management systems, WordPress is one the most user-friendly. One reason for this is a navigation system that is easy to understand.
Like all content management systems, WordPress Dashboard has a default setting. In order to make your site unique, you will have to rely on other plugins, widgets, extensions, and other tools to improve its functionality.
But don’t rush in downloading all the tools at once. Otherwise, you might risk messing up the functionality of your site. To help you develop your website, here are a few tools you can use:
For developing a site:
Monster Widget
The purpose of this widget is to help users manage all default widgets in WordPress (Archives List, Calendar, Pages, and Recent Comments are just a few of them). Combining all the core widgets into one, it gets a lot easier for you to manage and sort the widgets you downloaded.
Theme Check
This plugin lets you test the theme of your site. This way, you know for sure if it is up to date or not. It also lets you know if it is compatible with WordPress standards and upgrades. The tests are conducted through an admin menu with results displayed right away.
User Switching
Let’s say that your site has several people that can log in at once. With this plugin, not only can you switch with any user, you can also log off and log in more smoothly. The catch here is not everyone can do this. Only administrators can make the switch at any time. This is especially useful for content-based sites (wherein in writers are allowed access).
Pictura
Images play an important role in web design. Naturally, for your website, you should use quality images. But with strict copyright laws, it can be tough scouring the web for good photos. This plugin helps you with your search and narrows the results according to licence. Through this, you know which pictures you can or can’t use.
WordPress Site Manager
If you have several WordPress sites, it can be hard to remember the login details of each one. This browser extension allows you to log in each one of them with ease. It is a lot like Last Pass only for WordPress. It stores the usernames and passwords of all your WordPress accounts.
All these tools come in handy when you are still developing your site. However, once it is ready, you still need help maintaining it. Any of these tools would definitely come in handy:
For maintenance:
WP Maintenance Mode
If you have a new page that is still being developed, you can let your viewers know with the help of this plugin. For any page that is still under construction, this plugin creates an advisory regarding its status. The advisory itself is in the form of a splash page.
For those of you that don’t know, a splash page is a pop-up page that appears and allows users the option to continue to the main site.
Easy Coming Soon
Similar to WP Maintenance Mode, this plugin allows you to set up an “Under Maintenance” or “Under Construction” page. Setting it up is quite easy, too. You can find a set of tabs that lets you configure the settings. Some of the things you can do with this plugin include set up Google analytics, add a background image, and add the social media buttons.
Google Analytics
Many of you might have heard of this but do not know what this is. This is actually a Google service that gives you comprehensive updates regarding your site’s performance. It is so dynamic that it could even determine which pages are not generating that much traffic. This is useful in helping your site more search engine friendly.
WP DBManager
This plugin is a database manager. It can help you optimise, repair, backup, restore, and even delete your database. If your site has a fairly large database, this is definitely useful. Another good thing about this plugin it allows you to regularly schedule optimisation and repair the database. It also notifies you and recommends the right course of action for any related problems.
Image Cleanup
Images take up a lot of space. With this tool, this can help you retain only relevant images for your site. This plugin will index unreferenced pictures. Based on this, you can decided which photos to keep and which ones to discard. This tool also notifies you of any images without any meta data.
With these tools, you are on your way to building a fully operational site. But remember, make sure that the overall function is user-friendly. After all, you do not want viewers to leave simply because they don’t know how to navigate their way around the site.
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