Recommended Wordpress plugins

Just 2 days ago, I did a Wordpress update from version 2.3.1 to 2.5.1. Firstly I backed up my entire database through phpmyadmin and backed up all my files using the back up manager tool in ISPConfig. Just to make sure I had everything, I also download a back up copy of my blog posts using the Wordpress export function. I even called Nicole just to double check. So paranoid! Coz this isn’t my first time attempting to upgrade. I’ve tried it with previous versions and I ended up with all kinds of setbacks resulting in close disaster. Worst case, database screwed up. Ever since, I haven’t dared to upgrade again.

Anyway, I’m really glad to say, this time, SUCCESS! No screw ups whatsoever.

So, with my beautiful new Wordpress dashboard, I decided to add more functionalities to my blog. Started looking for plugins on the web and I must say I found quite a few good ones which doesn’t clash with each other or give me fatal errors. Here they are:

Add Lightbox – This plugin automatically add the rel=”lightbox[ID_OF_THE_POST]” to images linked in a post. ID_OF_THE_POST is unique per post so all images per post are grouped in one lightbox set. Doesn’t add the the files required for lightbox!

Akismet – 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 <?php akismet_counter(); ?> in your template.

Audio player – Highly configurable single track mp3 player.

CommentMailer -  A plugin which gives the author an option to send email notifications to people who have posted comments when their comments are replied.

Exec-PHP – Executes <?php ?> code in your posts, pages and text widgets. *NEW*

Global Translator – Automatically translates a blog in fourteen different languages (English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Dutch, Norwegian) by wrapping four different online translation engines (Google Translation Engine, Babelfish Translation Engine, FreeTranslations.com, Promt).

HidePost – Protect a part of your post by using Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content. between the protected content.

Live Comment Preview – Activate to supply users with a live comment preview as the comment is being typed out. Use the function <?php live_preview() ?> to display the live preview in a different location.

Maintenance Mode – Adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance. Logged in administrators get full access to the blog including the front-end.

Now Reading – Allows you to display the books you’re reading, have read recently and plan to read, with cover art fetched automatically from Amazon.

Slimbox Plugin – Used to overlay images on the current page. This plugin includes the new Slimbox 1.52 javascript written by Christophe Beils.

Welcome Visitor! Reloaded – Customizable message that can be added as a widget to your sidebar or elsewhere on your blog. Uses cookies to show either a custom welcome or welcome-back message, including (optional) visitor name and MyBlogLog avatar.

Wordpress Gravatars – Makes use of Gravatars and MyBlogLog Avatars, places Gravatars, OpenAvatar, Wavatar, Identicon, monsterID or MyBlogLog Avatars in the comments section. Uses the comment authors email to display their Gravatar. It also gives the user an Author Profile picture, based on his or hers Gravatar.

WordPress Related Posts – Generate a related posts list using Wordpress tags.

WP-chgFontSize – Allows users to dynamically change the font size.

WP-SlimStat-Ex – Track your blog stats. *NEW FEATURES ADDED*

WP Ajax Edit Comments – Allows users and admin to edit their comments inline. Admin and editors can edit all comments.

WP Picasa LightBox – This plugin allows you to easily add your Picasa photos to your posts. It requires a Lightbox plugin to work.

XHTML Video Embed – XVE is a WordPress plug-in which embeds the videos in the right way, the XHTML way. (Valid XHTML Transitional 1.0) *NEW*

Oh, just so u know, I don’t use widgets in my sidebar. All manually coded…