13 Interesting WordPress Plugins You Should Not Missed

Here is the list of 13 interesting WordPress plugins you should not missed!

WP YUI Menu

This plugin allows the YUI menu to be implement into your WordPress templates.

For more info on YUI see The Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI).
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/

For more info on YUI menu.
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/menu/

First Impression: The design of the menu is nice. I’m not sure how well it can integrate with WordPress, any customization need to be made?

Heyzap Games

The newly launched Heyzap.com now has a WordPress plugin. Put more than 6000+ of the Internet’s most addictive, fun games on your blog. You can add games to your side bar or to the end of your blog or embed key to track game plays on your site.

First Impression: Wow, there are so many games that you can put into your blogs within seconds. I’m concerning will it attract those traffic which does not have interest in the content of your posts? What do you think?

OpenID

OpenID is an open standard that allows users to authenticate to websites without having to create a new password. This plugin allows users to login to their local WordPress account using an OpenID, as well as enabling commenters to leave authenticated comments with OpenID. Version 3.0 includes an OpenID provider as well, enabling users to login to OpenID-enabled sites using their own personal WordPress account. XRDS-Simple is required for the OpenID Provider and some features of the OpenID Consumer.

First Impression: OpenID is a popular standard recently and it’s growing fast. With just 1 ID, your reader can actually login to different blogs they are interested.

IdealScale

The IdeaScale WordPress plugin makes it easy to integrate IdeaScale inline or popup crowdsource feedback system into WordPress without having to directly edit template code. IdeaScale (http://www.ideascale.com) is based on the simple model of crowdsourcing. It begins with an idea posted to your IdeaScale community by a user. Each idea can be expanded through comments by the community. The ultimate measure of an idea is determined by a voting system. Any idea can be voted to the top or buried back down to the bottom. It combines the “wisdom of the crowds” concept with Web 2.0 models like Digg.

First Impression: Perhaps you can use this plugin to get more ideas from your blog readers. More people to contribute are better than one.

WP To Twitter

The WP-to-Twitter plugin posts a Twitter status update from your blog using the Cli.gs URL shortening service to provide a link back to your post from Twitter.

First Impression: It’s just another Twitter posting plugin, seems nothing much.

pageList

Conclusion of numbering of pages in the bottom of each page. Very convenient to use, changeable appearance.

First Impression: I’ve seen many blog using pagination list at the end of the page. Visitors can easily jump to other page instead of clicking page by page.

AWSOM News Announcement

AWSOM News Announcement allows you to post news announcements in the area above your posts (or anywhere else you want) and edit it using the Visual Editor or code editor, all from the Wordpress admin area. You can select who sees your posts (only non-registered people, or whatever level of registered user for your site) so you can keep certain things for only people who are members, or you can show ads only to non-registered visitors. You can now also run php code from the news area, so audio or video players can now be run without any other plugin. You can now add the news area to a post or page and also run php code there. You can set start and end dates for all news posts. The Plugin is now fully XHTML compliant.

First Impression: Good plugin. I’m looking for a plugin to insert a piece of information/note at the end of my post. I will check it out and see how it works.

thydzikGoogleMap

thydzikGoogleMap is a WordPress plugin that creates inline Google maps in your WordPress posts. There are many advantages over other existing Google maps plugins and they are:

• Ease of use, to create a Google map simply type thydzikGoogleMap(mapdata.xml) in your post on its own line.
• Uses XML map data, this allows for maximum configurability, and supports multiple points, lines, coloured and numbered markers.
• Supports cross-domain XML files by using a PHP proxy.
• Google Map width, height, zoom and type is all individually configurable.
• thydzikGoogleMap produces valid XHTML.

First Impression: This is suitable for those blogs which is travel related or posts that would like to show the location of a map.

[GWA] AutoResponder

Build your mailing list right from your Wordpress Weblog. Subscribe and manage your entire list directly and automatically with WordPress.

• Build a list of unlimited size
• Send daily email auto-responses
• Easy to add, edit, and reschedule mailings
• Send single messages to your list anytime
• Import/Export entire list format

First Impression: This plugin include the basic feature of an auto-responder. Hope that the plugin author can continue to implement new feature to make it a full feature auto-responder.

Add to Any Subscribe Button

Helps readers subscribe to your blog using any feed reader or feed emailer.

First Impression: The unique feature is it allows you to subscribe via mobile phone!

Add to Any Share/Save/Bookmark Button

Helps readers share, save, bookmark, and email your posts and pages using any service, such as Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, and over 100 more.

First Impression: It’s similar to ShareThis whch is much more popular.

Podcasting

Originally created for the Google Summer of Code 2007, Podcasting brings complete podcasting support to WordPress. It supports:

• Full iTunes support (both feed and item tags).
• A dedicated podcasting feed that can stand alone or be applied to any archive, category, or tag page.
• Support for multiple formats (or podcasts) with each format receiving their own dedicated feed.
• Offers a podcast player (audio and video) that can be included in any post.
• A simple, easy to use interface.
• Fully integrates with WordPress existing enclosure support.

First Impression: It’s a popular plugin which simplify podcasting process.

WP Greet Box

This plugin lets you show a different greeting message to your new visitors depending on their referrer url. For example, when a Digg user clicks through from Digg, they will see a message reminding them to digg your post if they like it. Another example, when a visitor clicks through from Twitter, they will see a message suggesting them to twit the post and follow you on Twitter. You can also set a default greeting message for new visitors (not matching any referrer URLs) suggesting them to subscribe to your RSS feed. Having these targeted suggestions will help your blog increase exposure, loyal readership, and reader interaction. Best of all, this plugin is compatible with WPMU and various WordPress cache plugins (so you do not have to sacrifice speed).

First Impression: This is an excellent plugin which you can personalize greeting message for visitors come from different source. Just to let you know, I use it in this blog.

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