So, you´ve seen the light and are using Wordpress; coz, let´s face it, if you have your own webspace hosting there really is no excuse to not use it for your blog. It´s easy to install and use and what´s even better, easily customizable; there´s a shitload of readily available themes out there and even basic CSS-knowledge will get you a long way on the road to beautiful.

Though, what really should make it every blogger´s wet dream is its easy expandability through plugins. Tons of plugins, ranging from useful to neat to cool to essential.

I could think of a number of blogs I read, offhand, that would benefit from some of the plugins I´m going to mention, like, massively. (Yes, I´m talking about you, you, you, you and you)

So, let´s take a tour together, through the wonderful world of plugins;

{ Essential - use it now! }

» Update Monitor //
What does it do? It adds a little graphic to your admin area, indicating which Wordpress version you´re running. But what´s better, it´ll indicate whenever a new update is available, linking directly to it; looking like this:

(the plugin page is in german, but it´s quite easy: download, unzip, upload to plugins directory, activate, voila)

» WP Database Backup //
What does it do? Adds a button to the Manage section, enabling one-click backup of your Wordpress database. Fear of dataloss evaporates.

» Live Comment Preview //
What does it do? Adds a preview section below the comments section for every post, where commentors can see what their post will look like, while they´re typing. See in action below.

» Subscribe To Comments //
What does it do? Adds a checkbox below the comments section of every post, which if checked will alert commentors by email, that a reply to their comment has been posted; allowing people to keep up with ongoing discussions.

{ Spam, scourge of the internet }

Between Akismet and Spam Karma 2 you sould be pretty much rid of any comment and trackback spam; no need for moderation queues any longer; hopefully. (I´ve been told by a few people that SpamKarma is way too agressive, though I couldn´t verify that so far)

{ Other neat stuff }

» Google & Feedburner Reports //
What does it do? Adds a Reports section to your Admin panel, displaying your Google Analytics and FeedBurner stats right there in your admin area, which is, if I may say so, the culmination of neatness; looking like this:

» Popularity Contest //
What does it do? Stat nerds rejoice. This little critter will calculate the popularity of posts on your blog, coughing up a myriad of lists and statistics; highly configurable; looking like this:

» Contact Form //
What does it do? For those shy and paranoid types, who don´t and won´t display their contact data for every one to see, it´ll add a quicktag in the Write section, allowing one click implementation of a simple contact form an any post, or page; looking like this:

» AIM Online Status Indicator
What does it do? Erm, that one´s pretty much self explanatory, right? See in use to your left.

» One Year Ago
What does it do? Why not add a historical dimension to the fast-lane business of blogging, by displaying what was going on 365 days ago? I´m using this in my sidebar, though chances are, there´s nothing there today, since last year´s blogging-schedule was spotty at best.

This last one seems to be offline right now.

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