WordPress Helpers: The Missing Settings Page for WordPress
Sarah Gooding   – September 18, 2012
3 Comments

WordPress Helpers: The Missing Settings Page for WordPress

When customizing WordPress there are always those little things you want to change to make it easier to use, such as removing dashboard widgets, setting the default post editor, removing extra options, etc. Many times you end up adding tons of little plugins to make these small changes. Have you ever wished for WordPress to provide a simple settings page for turning things on or off?

The WordPress Helpers plugin was created to be exactly that – the missing settings page for WordPress. It’s part of the PIKLIST Rapid Development Framework and as such requires that you have the PIKLIST plugin installed first. PIKLIST is a powerful, flexible framework for developers who want to focus on tailoring and extending WordPress. It makes it easy to build fields for settings pages, widgets and custom post types with minimal code.

WordPress Helpers, once installed, is located at Tools > Helpers. There you will find a settings screen with tabs for all the options available to be changed.

WordPress Helpers features the ability to:

  • Take control of the WordPress Admin Bar, including “Howdy”.
  • Show ID’s on edit screens for Posts, Pages, Categories, Tags, Users, Media, Custom Post Types and Custom Taxonomies.
  • Disable the theme switcher.
  • Remove the “Screen Options” tab.
  • Remove WordPress version, Feed Links, RSD Link, wlwmanifest and relational links for the posts adjacent to the current post, from your theme header.

WordPress Dashboard:

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  • Hide Dashboard widgets.
  • Set the default Dashboard columns.



Writing:

  • Set the default Post editor (Visual or HTML).
  • Totally disable the Visual Editor.
  • Increase the height of the Excerpt box when writing a Post.
  • Disable Autosave.
  • Set the Post Per Page on the edit screen.



Discussion:

  • Close Comments for older posts.
  • Remove auto linking in comments.

There are many more settings beyond those listed here. If you wanted to make all of these changes, you would normally have to install 20 or more separate plugins to handle it. With WordPress Helpers you get everything in one shot, with the settings panel under one menu in the WordPress dashboard. No need to hunt around to try to find out how to change every little thing.

New WordPress users can be confused by all of the extra options and widgets in the dashboard. These little tweaks can make all the difference for someone who is struggling to use WordPress for the first time. Install WordPress Helpers to keep the dashboard trim and simple.

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