How many WordPress plugins are YOU using?

I thought of sharing my plugins I’m currently using on Serradinho.com. I know many of us use a lot of WordPress plugins and we actually shouldn’t. The more plugins we use the more load we are putting on our database and servers.

I will be looking at reducing the number of plugins I currently use, this is a process on it’s own and takes patience and time.

Example of reducing plugins used

Reduce WordPress plugins

A great way of selecting which plugins to install and which ones do not need to be installed via using some code is very important.

You can reduce the server and the database load by just making a few changes here and there.

An example of this is the Twittley plugin. Yes, they have a plugin that you could install and then you just configure your settings. I had this plugin installed and then removed it. I removed it as they also supply the javascript coding. The code can be implemented very easily into your theme, you can get the code from their Twittley button page.

Some plugins do not really need to be installed, but others have to. It depends on your sites goals and you need to know where to draw the line.

Serradinho plugins being used

Currently, Serradinho is using 18 plugins and I’m still trying to reduce that number. I do know that I probably don’t have the all best plugins installed, but these are the ones that I require at this stage.

1. AdRotate – Make making money easy with AdRotate. Add advanced banners to your website using the simplest interface available!
2. Akismet – Checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. You need a WordPress.com API key to use it. You can review the spam it catches under “Comments.” To show off your Akismet stats just put in your template.
3. CommentLuv – Plugin to show a link to the last post from the commentators blog by parsing the feed at their given URL when they leave a comment. Rewards your readers and encourage more comments.
4. Dynamic Content Gallery – Creates a dynamic content gallery anywhere within your WordPress theme using SmoothGallery.
5. Enhanced WP-ContactForm – WP Contact Form is a drop in form for users to contact you. In the message it sends to you it gives the page the user visited before the contact page, as well as the original outside referrer. It can be implemented on a page or a post.
6. Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO.
7. MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer – Saves your WordPress blog from getting tagged as ping spammer by installing this plugin.
8. MoFuse – If you need a MoFuse account, visit www.mofuse.com and create a free account and you can have a mobile version of your WordPress blog up and running in just seconds.
9. No Self Pings – Keeps WordPress from sending pings to your own site.
10. Shadowbox JS – A javascript media viewer similar to Lightbox and Thickbox. Supports all types of media, not just images.
11. Subscribe To Comments – Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry.
12. SyntaxHighlighter Evolved – Easily post syntax-highlighted code to your site without having to modify the code at all.
13. Thesis OpenHook – This plugin allows you to insert arbitrary content into the many hooks that the Thesis Theme Framework provides. Never again edit a file! Based on K2 Hook Up and GPLed.
14. WordPress Download Monitor – Manage downloads on your site, view and show hits, and output in posts. If you are upgrading Download Monitor it is a good idea to back-up your database just in case.
15. WP-DBManager – Manages your WordPress database. Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up and optimizing of database.
16. WP eStore – Simple Shopping Cart Plugin to sell digital (ebook, mp3, photos) and non digital products from your WordPress blog through PayPal. The digital goods are automatically delivered to the buyer after purchase using encrypted download links.
17. WP Super Cache – Very fast caching plugin for WordPress.
18. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – Returns a list of related entries based on a unique algorithm for display on your blog and RSS feeds. A template feature allows customization of the display.

Questions

I have a few questions that I would like you to ask yourself and maybe leave a comment below with your answers.

They are all easy to answer, so go ahead and let me know. I’m curious to know what others are doing in this regard. Do they suffer loading time with having fancy features or do they go for simplicity?

1. How many plugins do you currently have installed?
2. What are your favorite plugins?
3. Do you think you could remove some of those unwanted plugins?
4. Is there coding that could be used for one or more of the plugins installed?
5. Do you do a cleanup of plugins every now and then?
6. Do you remove entries from the options table when you remove a plugin?

Tagged as: plugins, plugins installed, serradinho plugins, used plugins, Wordpress, wordpress plugins

From the desk of George Serradinho

I am the proud owner of Serradinho.com and have made this my second home. I'm into blogging, downloads, WordPress, meeting and helping others, etc. Basically the internet in general :) Serradinho Web Services is my own company whereby I offer my services to clients. This ranges from web design, website upgrades, theme customizations, support, premium WordPress plugins and many more .....

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