I’m not a plugin fanatic. Some WP enthusiasts use as many plugins as they can for almost every function under the sun. I prefer to use the bare minimum, as for me all themes, plugins and scripts are users of resources but more importantly can be a potential security risk or break a script. I’m very careful when I choose a plugin. I only use WordPress plugins that have been tested by WordPress. I check the reviews, the support forum and also Google the plugin to see what the general feedback is and make sure that they are always regularly updated.
WordPress provides the option for one to have the script, themes and plugins updated automatically and where possible I always set this up for automatic updates. That way one can ensure that one’s script is always up to date. An easy way to do this is by loading a plugin such as the Easy Updates Manager. The beauty of this manager is that sometimes a plugin may create a problem for the site and with the Easy Updates Manager one has the ability to turn the automatic updates off as well as on. It’s an ideal tool for managing all of the WordPress, themes and plugins updates.
When I load WordPress one of the first things I do is to delete the two plugins that are given by default – Hello Dolly and Akismet. I turn the comments off as a rule so don’t need Akismet, which is generally a tool for getting rid of spam comments. I then load the following plugins:
- WordFence Security
WordFence is always the first plugin I load. It is a great WP Security Plugin. Once loaded WordFence prompts one to provide an e-mail address for alerts. I untick the alerts option for products and enable the alerts option for scan warnings. - Limit Login Attempts
Limit Logins is a very simple tool for blocking IPs that try to access the Website with brute force. It’s usually the second plugin I load when I start a new WordPress installation. What I do is to go into the settings and change the limit login attempts to a slightly higher number, just in case I should have difficulties one day with logging in. - All-in-One WP Migration
The All-in-One WordPress Migration Tool is a powerful backup and restore tool. I don’t know how good it is for very large sites, but for smaller to medium sized sites it is faultless. I haven’t had a single issue with using it in all of my experiences with VPSs. I previously used the Duplicator tool, and the latter tool always seemed to be finicky with server specifications – also laborious as one has to use FTP to upload the files. With the All in one WP Migration tool one can save the backup and upload and restore the backup directly from one’s desktop computer. - Spacer
The Spacer plugin is only a recent discovery of mine. There are plenty of spacing plugins available and more regularly used however they are generally too heavy going and intrusive for me. The Spacer plugin is a bare minimum one that adds spaces to paragraphs only. One can modify the settings for the exact paragraph space one wants. The Plugin works with a visual button in the editor menu. Very easy to use and completely non-intrusive. - Post Types Order
WordPress always orders posts by date, the most recent date first. Sometimes I need to order the posts by subject instead and in the rare event I do I use this Post Types Order Plugin. - Easy Google Fonts
I very rarely use this plugin, but if I’m into a “pretty” site where I’m fixated on a specific font I want and can’t get this from the theme, I add this plugin to the WP Dash Board. - Erident Custom Login
This a very neat plugin for jazzing up the WP DashBoard login screen and giving it its own unique design and identity. I rarely use it, but if I’m to share the WordPress site with other members, this really makes the login screen look very attractive. - All of the plugins that come with the theme – in the case of Generate Press the paid plugins I’m using are: Generate Colours, Generate Disable Elements, Generate Secondary Navigation, Generate Spacing, Generate Typography
- I don’t promote my WP sites as such but in the event I should ever need to do this the following plugins are recommended for SEO: Google Analytics for WordPress, and Yoast SEO. Google Analytics one has to apply for first separately by registering one’s Website with Google. The Google Analytics WP Plugin then acts as a Google Analytics Dashboard for the site. Here’s the Login for Google Analytics registration.
