via Flickr

I am always open to more lists of WordPress Plugins:

Lunarpages Blog: Ten WordPress Plugins Worth Considering

The one I picked up from this list was WP Super Cache.  My blog definitely needs a speed boost.

The next one I probably need to come back to is the Mobile Press.  The only problem is that the link was broken.  I’ll have to come back and research that later.

So, let me add a few of my own:

Ad Injection: Previously, I had tried to implement the ads manually into my theme.  I found that they were slowing the site down.  This plugin makes implementing ads correctly easier, and it gives you more options as well.

Edit Flow: While it is just me blogging, I still use this plugin to try to organize my posts.  I have created a “Stub” status that I use when I find a topic that I want to write about.  Then, I created a “Needs Research” status to indicate that I still have work to do before finishing the article.  I also created a “Pending Review” status to remind myself to review the article one more time before publishing.

Jetpack: If you don’t already have this installed, WordPress should start to bug you about it.  For me, it just means better looking stats.  I need to delve into setting up some of the other features in it.

Yet Another Related Post Plugin: I need to spend more time on theming the related section, but this plugin seems to make the “related” section at the bottom pretty easy.

Today, I came across a suggestion on Google AdSense to add the Google +1 Widget to my posts on my website.  Here’s what the notification looked like:

If you want a short description on what the +1 button does, you can watch this short video from the +1 Website:

So, here’s how I made it work in my theme (I am using Garland Revisited). First, I added the javascript link at the bottom of my header.php file.  Here’s the code I added:

<!-- begin Google +1 button -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>
<!-- end Google +1 button -->

So, here’s what the bottom of my header.php looks like (wp-content/themes/garland-revisited/header.php):

</ul>
</div> <!-- /header -->
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<div id="center"><div id="squeeze"><div class="right-corner"><div class="left-corner">
<!-- begin Google Adsense -->
....(Adsense code removed)
<!-- end Google Adsense -->
<!-- begin Google +1 button -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>
<!-- end Google +1 button -->
<!-- begin content -->
<div class="node">

Next, I added the button to the home page. This is the line of code that i added to index.php:

<div style='float:right'><g:plusone href="<?php echo get_permalink() ?>"></g:plusone></div>

Update: I added the href=”<?php echo get_permalink() ?>” code for the index.php.  Without that, the user would be indicating a plus one for the home page rather than the article that the button is next to.

So, here’s what the top of my index.php looks like (wp-content/themes/garland-revisited/index.php):

<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php is_tag(); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div <?php post_class(); ?>>
<div style='float:right'><g:plusone></g:plusone></div>
<h2><a href="<?php echo get_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<span class="submitted"><?php the_time(get_option('date_format')) ?> &#8212; <?php the_author() ?> <?php edit_post_link(__('Edit'), ' | ', ''); ?></span>
<div class="content">
<?php if (  (function_exists('has_post_thumbnail')) && (has_post_thumbnail())  ) {
	the_post_thumbnail(array( 75,75 ), array( 'class' => 'alignleft' ));
}
?>

Now, that only affects the home page. If you go into one of the posts, you won’t see the button. To fix that, we need to add it to single.php. And, here’s what the top of my single.php looks like (wp-content/themes/garland-revisited/single.php):

<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div <?php post_class(); ?>>
<div style='float:right'><g:plusone></g:plusone></div>
<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<span class="submitted"><?php the_time(get_option('date_format')) ?> &#8212; <?php the_author() ?> <?php edit_post_link(__('Edit'), ' | ', ''); ?></span>
<div class="content">

Resources

• Google: +1 Your Website
• Thesis Theme User’s Guide: How to Add Google +1 (plus one) Share Button to WordPress and Thesis

After moving my blog, one of the problems is SPAM.  And, it seems like it is getting worse.  I get all kinds of spam comments, some advertising various things like iPhones and worse, but the most annoying are these unreadable ones.  These are like random letters or like someone just slid their hand across the keyboard.

Akismet

On WordPress.com, they offer Akismet as a spam filter.  It seemed to do a decent job, and now that I see what happens without it, I realize that I took it for granted.  What I didn’t realize was that it was a service.  The plugin came preinstalled on my new website, but to activate it, I had to sign up for an account on the Akismet site.

I have been reluctant to sign up because I am not sure that I want yet another service.  The cost would probably be minimal if not free, but my profits are minimal if not none.

GASP

A little search for an Akismet alternative turned up iBlogZone’s article about GASP.  GASP stands for Growmap Anti Spambot, and you can read more about it on the WordPress Plugin Site.

I like this option because it isn’t a service.  From what I can tell, it adds a few features to the form that will trick spambots.  First, it looks like it adds a checkbox via Javascript.  Because spambots don’t care about running Javascript, they will not be able to check the box and therefore not be able to comment.  Also, it adds a hidden field that a human would not be able to populate.  The spambot will not realize it is hidden, and that is a dead giveaway.

So, we’ll see how this option goes.

Solve Media

Another option that looked very interesting was Solve Media.  This idea is pretty cool.  They take a problem and end up making money off of it!

I read about it at iBlogZone’s article.  The idea is that you put a Captcha on your comment form.  In order to comment, you have to type the letters from the image, and they are designed so that a spambot could not decipher them.  The cool part about this implementation is that they incorporate an advertisement into it so that you earn money at the same time.

I think I am going to hold off on this option for now.  It is another service after all, and I don’t have enough legitimate comments at this point.