Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks - by Themeisle - this is best animation plugin I've found. It animates on scroll automatically without any need to add classes.
Animate on Scroll by Arya Dhiratara and/or Michał Sajnóg - exxcellent animate on scroll plugin with complete features and instructins in the "View More" section of the plugin. Lightweight too and great for gutenberg as you only have to add one class (not one class on parent and one on child like on our animate it animations) to get simple animations working. Has delays, durations, easing of all kinds (with extra classes). Known conflicts: only problem is that aniations do not work when the required aos classes are put in php template files--all animation classes must in in wordpress db (ie. on the wordpress page) in order to work. too bad. Also has problem with dynamic jquery read more/ read less (expand content) jQuery code in my library: any animations after the read more/read less function do not come into view properly. So, yeah.....
Animate It! - The Animate It alternative plugin requires you to generate css classes on their site and then enter them in the class section of Gutenberg blocks (at least, that's the only way I can get animations on scroll to work--animation on load work fine without this.) For this reason I can't recommend it.
Keep in mind, you can also use my custom library of animations found in Coding Library although it is a little clunky (you must add css and classes yourself, and animations that happen at the very top of the page can be a bit buggy, but this is the most efficient thing to do code-wiseContact 7 - supports ajax automatically, allows FREE file uploading (Ninja you must pay) easily supports Google captcha integration with a google account and captcha keys. In order to save form submissions to a DB you must download yet another plugin called Contact Form DB (which allows form data to be saved from other plugins as well). An unfortunate extra step, but okay.
Ninja Forms - very user friendly but not very customizable, supports Ajax when the option is clicked. No free file uploader but super easy interface. Automatically saves to a DB accessible in the admin and of course also sends emails.
Block Visibility-great plugin for hiding wordpress blocks from users in the front end and indicating which blocks aren't visible in the backend. Fantastic settings allow you to hide a block on many contitions including if the user is logged in or what role is assigned to them or just hide the block for everyone. Works with woo commerce and in any block page builder. Used on tmoalife.com (the meadows of aurora).
Genesis Blocks-add more functionality (including full width containers that support margin and padding) to Gutenberg.
Ultimate Add Ons for Gutenberg-this plugin adds lots of blocks, but most importantly it allows you to define a pixel width on rows (and automatically centers this row), which get us our "fixedWidth" container we're so fond of using inside a full width container (in the theme). Guternberg plain still does not offer this important asset (2022).
The Post Grid - good for grabbing posts by category/tag etc. with post animation and a toggle menu. Note that the toggle menu only displays when you select Layout>Isotope from the plugin settings. Also note that despite the fact that the "Show All" button appears in the backend preview, having the show all button actually appear onthe site is only a PRO feature, as of May 2022 at least (I think this has since been corrected). You'll need to create a category called "Show All" (or whatever) and put all the posts into that cateogyr and then add that category to The Post Grid set of categories to display. Note also that the Isotope layout is masonary. If, instead of masonary, you want all the posts to line up nicely, include these styles in your style sheet to create a flex layout instead (wrap shortcode in a div with the class "preventPostGridPluginFromDoingMasonaryLayout". See collisgroup.com "Proudly representing" page for an eg. of this. The styles are:
/*prevent the Post Grid plugin from doing masonary layout so everything lines up and other Post Grid styles begin*/
.preventPostGridPluginFromDoingMasonaryLayout .rt-tpg-isotope {
/*outer container*/
display: flex!important;
height: unset !important;
justify-content: space-around;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
.preventPostGridPluginFromDoingMasonaryLayout .isotope-item{
/*inner elements*/
position: unset!important;
top: unset !important;
left: unset !important;
width: unset !important;
flex: 0 1 400px;
}
Search & Filter (by Code Amp)
Good plugin for filtering and searching by date range, category, tags etc with search fields/form. Free version does not offer AJAX "live" searching, meaning that it takes the user to the search of category page to see the results of the filter. Be sure to have these set up (and search page Query set to "use template").FacetWP
Allows full query build and tempates and then uses "facets" (form fields or filters) allowing sophistiaced search and filtering on WP posts. THIS IS A PAID PLUGIN, BUT IS THE VERY BEST, $99/year. You must build the query inside the "Listings TEmplate" area and then insert this query via a shortode into the page you want. Then, you must create "facets" (filters) and insert them via a shortcode wherever you want them. Note: the names for the facets have a character-limit that, if exceeded, will make the facet not so--so don't use long names for the facets. There is a free trial in Coding LIbrary > WordPress > Plugin copies or keys, but it only allows for 2 facets per page. This free plugin may only work for a liited time, so be careful. If you do install the free plugin and then update it to pro, be sure to click update on the plugin or the Pro version will not install. Used on cafii for their member area.Mobile Menu - very good for building mobile navs--lots user settings. We now genrally use the custom made one in our theme, but this is good for other themes. Don't use "Responsive Menu" as this is totally messed up now.
Mega Menu
- very dense plugin for creating large, spread out menus. Used on virtualguardian.com. Limitations:You must use the paid version to get subs to display properly in mega menus. Bit of a learning curve and heavy, but may be worth it.Tabby Responsive Tabs - add tabs in wordpress content that accoridan depending on screen size.
Breadcrumb Trail -for putting in breadcrumbs.
Popup Maker - very cool program to make "modal" or pop-up windows. Tons of styling functions, ability to make themes (so pop ups can look different on any page), ability to choose what class activates the pop up--really good.
WP Popups - very good alternative pop up plugin in.
Floating Social Bar (untried) lightweight plug that puts social media on your site.
User Registration (and Membership) by WPEverest - This plugin allows you to add fields to the standard Wordpress "Create Account" form, such as might be needed if you have a Business to Business woocommerce website that only sells to wholesalers and these wholesalers have to be approved before they can see product, prices or can shop. It allows you to add fields like "Compnay Name" etc etc to the registration (sign up to create account form). This plugin also has a manual approval mode and automatically emails administrators and potential customers and let's the administrator approve each potential registrant before they can shop or see prices. Combine this with my code snippet to hide price and "add to cart" found in Coding LIbrary>Wordpress>woocommerce>hidePriceAndAddToCart-ForWholesaler.php (goes in functions.php). used on epkdistributing.com NOTE: IF YOU NEED TO HIDE CERTAIN WHOLE PAGES (NOT JUST CERTAIN WOOCOMMERCE PRODUCTS) UNLESS A USER IS LOGGED IN THIS PLUGIN HAS A FREE EXTENSION CALLED "CONTENT RESTRICTIONS" (SEE PLUGIN wp admin MENU "EXTENSIONS" MENU ITEM) THAT ALLOWS PAGES OR PARTS OF PAGES TO BE RESTRICTED UNLESS YOU ARE LOGGED IN. USED ON CAFII LIVE SITE. NOTE: THE PAID VERSION OF THIS PLUGIN ALSO PROTECTS RESTRICTED MEDIA FILES, SUCH AS PDFS ETC, FROM DIRECT ACCESS VIA A URL, WHICH WAS NEEDED ON MEMBERS.CAFII.COM. NOTE THAT WE HAVE CODE TO DO THIS SAME THING IN CODING LIBRARY > WORDPRESS > Media Gallery Files-Deny Direct Access to Via URL.html. But, if you purchased the plugin, you could just use their version.
SearchWP Live Ajax Search - for fancy search box where search is autocompleted and results populate in the actual search form without needing to go to the search page. Used on solsys.ca.
Advanced Woo Search- great plugin for much better ajax searches in WooCommerce.
Wordfence - the ultimate in wordpress security.
All-in-One WP Migration - best importer/exporter/cloner for WP. Must be installed on both old and new sites to work. Use search replace to fix URLs before exporting. We have a paid version for larger installs.
Updraft Plus - backup your site to the cloud, dropbox or many others places and restore versions with one click. Good for some clients.
Gutslider - All in One Slider for Gutenberg - by Gutenbergkits - used on container pros seems to work well.
Gutenslider -can slide combinations of any blocks!! BEST USE THIS!! This is great and should now be the go-to for WP.
Meta Slider -great for sliders of all types. Lots of customizable options. Known issue: if using in our fifty fity box layout, slider must be set to fade not slide as slide screws up the fifty fifty layout
Responsive Lightbox & Gallery by dFactory- GOOD GOOD GOOD plugin for all types of lightbox galleries and does sliders too!!!. Might be better than metaslider in many cases. You have to fiddle with the many setings to get it right. Used on assetsservices.ca and caninepartnerscanada.ca
Photo Gallery by 10Web- pretty good plugin for all types of lightbox galleries. More complex to use, but offers a large slideshow with lighboxes. Known issue: There doesn't seem to be an "X" in lightbox slideshow, so there is no way to exit. This is weird.
Smart Post Show (by shapedplugin) - allows any post, post category, product to be made into a slider with configurable content. Used on virtualguardian.com. Seems pretty good.
WP Responsive Recent Post Slider/Carousel-good for automatically creating sliders from featured images in posts. Not super customizable, but free. Alternatives: Metaslider has a paid add-on (untested) that purports to do this too. Revolution Slider also has a similar addon with much customizability but is expensive.
Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery by Themetic-not a slider per se: it offes a draggable area to view before and after type images.
Logo Carousel-infinte vertical scrolling for logos etc. Works well and allows dragging. Limitation: only one unique instance of a carousel with the free version. We also have a custom thing that does this in "Coding Stuff folder" so not sure how useful this is anymore?
SmartSlider 3 by Nextend-offers lots of parallax effects on slide transitions. Responsiiveness is good. Allows you to add layers to slides but these layers are not animateable without pro version.
Transition Slider by creativeinterativemedia-offers independent slide layers that are animateable even in free version. Limitations: overall responsiveness and sizing is very hit and miss. However, it seems you can control it by setting Sizing>responsive height to "on" and then inputting under "Aspect Ratio" you images aspect ratio eg. 1.3. Device size control only available in pro version. Does not seem to be available in wordpress plugin library, must go to https://transitionslider.com/ and download.
Strong Tesimonials-Pretty good plugin, but basic setup requires some css. Wrap shortcode in a div with a class like "testimonialsWrapper" and this CSS:
.testimonialWrapper .testimonial-name{
color: whitesmoke;
}
.testimonialWrapper .strong-view.controls-style-buttons:not(.rtl) .wpmslider-next:before, .testimonialWrapper .strong-view.controls-style-buttons:not(.rtl) .wpmslider-prev:before{
background: #344942;
}
.testimonialWrapper .strong-view.wpmtst-modern .wpmtst-testimonial-content:before, .testimonialWrapper .strong-view.wpmtst-modern .wpmtst-testimonial-content:after{
background: #344942;
}
Also, in "Views" be sure to set it to "slideshow". Then adjust timing to 4 seconds, horizontal scroll. Click off "continous sliding". Naviation, choose "slides previous/next" and "buttons 1". Under "Style" set it to "modern". Font color to "custom" (and picka font color). Then use CSS above (note setting font color in plugin admin does not affect the testimonal attribution name color, for some reason.)
Real Testimonials by Shapedplugins - good plugin for sliding testimonials. Lots of settings to dynamically control each testimonial height, etc. Limitations:latest version is buggy (punctuation in testimonial text is whacked, left and right arrows not mobile friendly as of Jan 2022). Instead use "Strong Testimonials" above.
Polylang
- fairly straightforward plugin for enabling translations of your site into other languages. Only problem is that to place the langauge switcher, you must put this code into your functions.php file as there is no gutenberg block for the language switcher in the free version of Polylang: Then in a Gutenberg shortcode block placed wherever you want the language switcher to be, put in this code: [polylang_langswitcher] Then in css (to get rid of list marker): ul.polylang_langswitcher li{ list-style-type: none; }Osom Block Visibility (by OsamPress)
-- allows block's visibility to be set to on or off on the front end via the backend. Great for clients who don't want to display some content for a while without having to delete the block or use css to display it none. NOte that WordPress has a "Hide" menu item for any block, but that just hides the block in the backend, which isn't very useful.BETTER SEARCH REPLACE by wpengine
--allows sarch and replace capability in wordpress, good for when URLs are incorrect after migration, etc.Autoptimize - good for minifying javascript and css files if they are so large as to make this useful (such as on Virtual Guardian.com.) Only takes a couple of percentage ponts off Google Lighthouse peformance, if that, but it's here if you need it.
Php everywhere - allows php code to be put directly into admin pages. Good for many things, but often creating a very custom query for posts. Now, it seems it is deprecated and no longer available in WP plugins. See my uploadable plugin copy in Coding Library > Wordpress > Plugins Copies or Keys > PHP everywhere.
Custom Fields and Custom Fields Repeater - great for custom fields. Repeater is paid, but just copy it from another site.
Simple Page Ordering - change the order of pages by dragging in the page admin - no clunking number ordering on each page for propoer order to show in admin>pages.
Admin Collapse Subpages - used to expand/collapse sub pages in the page admin--good for sites with a lot of subs
Admin Menu Tree Page View- displays menu items in a tree view on hover --great for admin navigation in sites with lots of subs.
Regenerate Thumbnails - once a thumbnail has been imported at a given size, you'll need this to change their sizes, if thats what you want to to do.
What the File -displays what template and template part is being used by a given page in the admin bar (make sure admin bar is set to display by going to users>edit and clicking display admin bar when viewing site) on the live site. Great for figuring out what's going on in the dev stage--then delete when live, if you want.
Display Widgets (untried) allows you to easily show or hide widgets on selected pages and posts. You can even show widgets only to logged in users and hide for everyone else.
WP Mail SMTP - Due to configuration settings on some WordPress hosting providers, your WordPress emails may not get delivered. To solve this problem you would need WP Mail SMTP plugin. It allows you to use an SMTP server to send your WordPress emails instead of PHP’s mail() function.
Broken Link Checker - identifies any broken links that no longer work, missing images, or any redirects. Once broken links are identified on your site, links can be edited directly from the plugin page to avoid manually updating each post.
WP Force SSL - wordpress often has issues switching over to https from http. This plugin solved this on Solsys.ca.
WP Super Cache - for page caching, which seems to be required for wordpress site health checks since version 6.1 Do not use on WP engine or sites hosted on WordPress.org.
Email Address Encoder - This plugin searches for email addresses using WordPress filters like the_content, widget_text and others. Found email addresses are encoded using decimal and hexadecimal HTML entities, which obfuscates the email addresses to protect it from being read by most email-harvesting robots. Alternatively, you can use the [encode] shortcode: [encode]+1 (555) 123-4567[/encode]. How can I make sure the plugin is working? You can use the “Page Scanner” found under Settings -> Email Encoder to see whether all your email addresses are protected. Alternatively, you can manually look at the “page source” of your site. Note: Chrome’s Developer Tools, Safari’s Web Inspector and others automatically decode decimal and hexadecimal entities. You need to look at the “plain HTML source code”.
WP Super Cache - standard (browser?) caching plugin
Docket Cache -
The Docket Cache is a persistent WordPress Object Cache solution designed to store data as plain PHP code. It offers an efficient alternative for users who are unable to utilize Redis or Memcached servers. Unlike conventional approaches that rely on serializing and unserializing PHP objects to store them into flat files, this plugin transforms objects into plain PHP code. This method significantly enhances data retrieval speed and overall performance, especially when paired with Zend OPcache. When it comes to reliable persistent Object Cache in WordPress, Redis or Memcached comes on top. However, those solutions require knowledge of server and rarely available at low cost or shared hosting servers. The only viable solution is to store object caches in files. In WordPress, exporting PHP objects is not easy. Most plugins implementing file-based caching rely on serializing and unserializing objects to store and retrieve data. Docket Cache takes a better approach by turning the object cache into plain PHP code. This solution is faster since WordPress can use the cache directly without running other operations. Object caching is a process that stores database query results in order to quickly bring them back up next time they are needed. The cached object will be served promptly from the cache rather than sending multiple requests to a database. This is more efficient and reduces massive unnecessary loads on your server. In simple terms, object caching allows objects that are used often to be copied and stored at a closer location for quicker use.