Here are the most important updates you should know about:

New Support Tab

Forum threads about a plugin are now pulled into a new “support” tab on the plugin’s listing page. This is a huge UI improvement that closely ties support in with its corresponding plugin and makes it more of a focal point. Housing support forums under the plugin page is a much tighter integration and more convenient for anyone browsing.

Plugin Author Display

Plugin authors are now more prominently displayed with bigger gravatars, the number of plugins they’ve created and better placement on the page. This is one of my favorite updates, as it gives developers a little more credit for the plugins they offer for free to the community and gives the donation link more prominence.

Support Activity Summary

Now you can see how active and well-supported a plugin is by glancing at how many threads have been marked as resolved in the last two weeks.

New Favorites Feature

You can now mark plugins as favorites. Your favorites will show up on your WordPress profile page so that you can find them quickly.

Forum Stickies

Forum developers now have the ability to set stickies on the plugin forums. These can be used to showcase FAQs or to provide extra information on troubleshooting. Any user you add as a committer on the plugin will have moderation access to the forum.

Head on over to the plugin repository to check out all the changes. What plugins are you adding as your favorites?

Sarah Gooding on Google+

Ice Visual Revisions is a new plugin that will add revision tracking to the visual editor within WordPress. It’s based on the Ice Library, which was developed by The New York Times CMS Group to track changes with Javascript for articles written in the newsroom.

When the plugin is installed you will have the ability to see who changed what in the post content and then approve or cancel those changes.

As you can see, the plugin displays the modified, added, or deleted text in color, along with the user and time of change.

Hover over the change to accept it or reject it, and then your visual editor will go back to business as usual.

If you’re using WordPress with multiple editors, in a newsroom scenario, or simply want to track your own changes on your personal blog, add Ice Visual Revisions to your site. It’s available for free from the WordPress plugin repository.

Sarah Gooding on Google+

But here’s the thing – I am a bit of a usability freak. I first read Designing Web Usability ten years ago (I was a very cool 16 year old). I like to make stuff that is easy to use, and I like to use stuff that is easy to use.

Which makes it all the more frustrating to me that in certain ways, WordPress has a long way to go in terms of usability.

Plugins

Ultimately, as a WordPress user, you will spend the majority of your “fiddling” (i.e. non-writing) time with plugins. Once you’re finished with your design you’re not likely to go back to your theme files and settings much, but you’ll regularly find new and interesting plugins that can make your site even more awesome.

The problem is that such plugins are often unintuitive and difficult to use. Let me give you an idea of what I mean. The following are screenshots of where you can find plugin settings on the backend of my own blog:

Yikes.

Does the following process feel familiar to you?

1. Install plugin.
2. Check plugins page – settings screen not linked to. Hm.
3. Check sidebar – plugin isn’t listed.
4. Go to Settings menu bar – no settings screen (or perhaps it is there, but named in such a way to almost seem deliberately misleading).
5. Go to Tools menu bar – nothing there either.
6. Consult documentation, which may or may not hold the answer.
7. Cue head scratching and frustration.

Every single new plugin installation is a variation on this theme. Occasionally you’ll find what you need immediately, but sometimes you’ll go some of or all the way along the above process with no joy.

The Problem

Initially I figured that there must be some plugin UI best practices listed – that it was simply the open source curse that some plugin developers don’t follow “the rules”. Rules as to when a plugin should get its own spot in the sidebar, when its settings screen should be placed in the Settings menu, what makes a plugin a “Tool”, and so on.

So I turned to my trusty friend Google. Here are a selection of articles I found, from respected WordPress-related blogs:

• Best practices for WordPress coding (Cats Who Code)
• 7 Simple Rules: WordPress Plugin Development Best Practices (WP Tuts+)
• WordPress Development Best Practices (Yoast)

These articles cover common themes, such as coding standards, internationalization, and so on…but nothing at all about UI best practice.

After some further digging, I finally found WPCandy’s Completely Unofficial Guide to Plugin UI. A noble effort, certainly, but the key is in the words completely unofficial. How many plugin developers are likely to stumble upon this. And whilst the advice therein seems sensible, is it truly complete and correct?

The Solution

The WordPress development team are currently busy beavering away on improved custom headers, improvements in internationalization and localization, HTML in image captions (finally!), improved help tabs, and so on.

I would argue that providing an official guide to plugin UI best practice would be more beneficial in the long run than the sum of all the improvements that they are currently working on. Everyone uses plugins, and I believe that everyone has experienced frustration as a result of poor plugin UI usability.

Plugins are of course here to stay. They are an enormous part of the reason as to why WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system. The problem I have discussed today is not going to go away of its own accord.

If WordPress wants to be truly awesome, it needs to be so as a complete package – plugins and all. Seeing the usability wheels fall off after the installation of a few plugins is simply not good enough.

Creative Commons image courtesy of nerdegutt

Tom Ewer on Google+

Yep. That’s my column, all self promotion and the like. Paid in chocolate kittens, remember?

Joking aside (right…), I think the WordPress community summit is a great idea. For those of you who find posts on wordpress.org to be scary, here’s the lowdown.

Wait. You find posts on wordpress.org scary? That’s just plain stupid, go read it, battle your phobia, then come back here.

Pretty nice huh? From core developer meetup, to something that sounds like a great opportunity to inject new ideas and point of views into the WordPress project. There is definitely a need for the core developers to be able to sit down and discuss things all by themselves, but just like regular human beings they are not all-knowing, without fault, or well-versed enough in the greatness of single malt whisky.

WordPress have come a long way, really. It is a great platform and I’m personally grateful to everyone who’s helped make it this wonderful over the years. That includes people I’ve had spats with, people who need to work on their manners, and people who are just plain nice. Sometimes I criticize and question these people, Automattic, the WordPress Foundation, and WordCamp Central, but I’m counting on that they all understand that this is just to point out flaws and make sure that I appear in better light.

Someone actually suggested that was the case. Yes, I was taken aback. Seriously? Then again, maybe it is just because these columns are published on WPMU.org, which some people have a hard time with, I don’t know and I don’t particularly care.

Obviously I want WordPress to thrive. Anything negative I say about the platform and/or the people and organization around it is because I want WordPress to thrive even more. To evolve even further. I think we all share that trait, at least I like to think so, although I know it is hardly true. But that’s OK, the open source spirit is optional.

This is why I’m thrilled to read about the WordPress community summit. It is a great opportunity to make sure that even more points of view are discussed with the core team. I’ll be sure to nominate people I think could help. The summit definitely need some Europeans to attend, because things are slightly different here and internationalization is way more important to us than to Americans for example. There should also be representatives from commercial theme and plugin businesses, because that’s a part of the ecosystem that we need to not only come to terms with but actually start think about how to handle.

I could go on but I won’t, because it is, well, the end of the column. Nominate people you think should be at the WordPress summit, do it now.

Did I mention you should nominate?

Nominate.

Nom.

Om nom nom nom?

Photo by woodleywonderworks (CC)

This is a really cool idea for showcasing your members’ many talents. It also helps your users get acquainted with one another’s interests and abilities. Members can explore each other’s projects which are listed in the sitewide project directory:

Portfolio items are listed with a thumbnail, description and the creator’s avatar.

Users can create projects and add an image on the front-end, as easily as one might write a blog post or edit a profile question:

Each user also has his own portfolio page listing each of his projects:

BuddyPress Portfolios features:

• A new tab in the user profile listing their projects
• A new page listing all projects
• A widget listing the latest projects
• A new activity for each new project

If you want to draw more community attention to the member profiles, you can add the built-in portfolio widget to display the latest projects:

What’s on the roadmap for future versions of BuddyPress Portfolio?

The plugin’s developer plans to expand BuddyPress Portfolio so that each project will have its own page. He’s also planning to add the ability to upload multiple captures for a project.

This plugin greatly expands what you’re able to do with BuddyPress. BuddyPress Portfolio is available for free from the WordPress plugin repository. If this plugin serves a crucial need in your BuddyPress-powered community, download it today. It will give users a place to express themselves in a more permanent way than a status update and add a new dimension to your social network.

Sarah Gooding on Google+

Here’s a look the new features in the latest release:

(Note: The API service is only available with a paid membership.)

• Refreshed menu structure and admin screens
• New Pattern Matching functionality to block bots by signup patterns
• New Are You A Human PlayThru game captcha
• New blog and splog creation stats screen with pretty graphs
• Add tags to API call for more accurate classification
• Add splogging command capability to admin toolbar
• Fixed various bugs/notices

While much of the power of the Anti-Splog plugin is necessarily behind the scenes, there are a few new additions from the list above that will be visibly noticeable: the refreshed menu structure and admin screens, the new blog stats screen, and the addition of Are You a Human PlayThru game captcha.

Let’s take a look at the stats screen and the new captcha game below.

Stat Screen

The new stats screen lets you clearly see at a glance how many blogs (as well as splogs) have been created on your site. In the graph below, legitimate blogs are in green (labeled ham) while splogs (labeled spam) are represented in red.

Are You a Human PlayThru Captcha

The Are You a Human PlayThru game captcha is another weapon you may choose to use to stop splogs. It’s one of several captcha options offered in the plugin. (Note: As with a number of the better captcha solutions, this is a free service that requires registration. You will then need to enter your assigned API key.)

The Are You a Human captcha works by presenting the visitor with a little animated drag-and-drop game that they must complete. Below are a few examples:

Anti-Splog Overview

Much of the power behind the Anti-Splog plugin comes from the Anti-Splog API service hosted at WPMUDEV Premium. The API service not only prevents/limits bots, it also identifies human-created spam.

In addition to the API service, there are a number of other methods the plugin uses to shut out splogs before they even get started, such as using sophisticated captchas, changing the sign-up page location every 24 hours, and limiting sign-ups per IP per 24 hours.

For a short overview of the plugin, check out the video below.

You can checkout the plugin in more detail and download it on its homepage here.

Joseph Foley on Google+

Pingdom

Pingdom offers a free package that lets you monitor one website or server and includes 20 free SMS alerts as well as free email alerts.

Uptime Robot

Uptime Robot lets you add up to 50 websites to monitor for free. You’ll get alerts by e-mail, SMS, Twitter, RSS or push notifications for iPhone/iPad.

Tag Beep

tagBeep lets you monitor up to 50 sites for free. The service checks your site every minute and sends free email and SMS alerts to notify you of errors. When errors are detected the service takes a snapshot of the page and saves the HTML.

Service Uptime

Service Uptime alerts you within seconds via email or SMS whenever your website becomes inaccessible or returns incorrect data. A free account lets you monitor one service and will check on your site or server every 30 minutes.

Site Uptime

The free plan at SiteUptime allows you to monitor one website. Their software tracks site failures and logs detailed reports of the uptime/downtime of your website each month.

Site 24×7

The free option at Site 24×7 allows you to monitor two websites at a 60 minute poll interval.

Monitor.us

Monitor.us offers unlimited monitors and email notifications for free.

Uptime Dog

Uptime Dog checks the availability of your website every two minutes to see if it is online and working. It will notify you via email if your site is down. The free account requires you to put a link to their site at the bottom of your site.

100 Pulse

100pulse lets you monitor two websites for free with a minimum interval of 15 minutes.

Internet Seer

Your free account at Internet Seer will notify you of downtime email. The services checks your site once every hour.

Binary Canary

The free service at Binary Canary lets you monitor up to five websites at a 15 minute frequency.

Uptime Spy

Uptime Spy is a free service that provides all of the functionality, quality, and performance of monitoring systems that one might normally pay for. The service checks your website at 1/5/15/30/60 minute intervals and offers TCP monitoring, ping sensitivity control, monitor periods, contact management, and node selection.

Sarah Gooding on Google+

That’s why the team at Theme Tailors created a solution for users of the popular MarketPress plugin. FrontEnd MarketPress creates a total front end experience for stores powered by WordPress and MarketPress. It takes only one minute to install and configure.

After the plugin is installed all the store settings are easily accessible on the frontend:

Store admins can create products on the frontend:

Manage orders, products, categories, and any settings related to the store:

The best part is that when MarketPress is updated, plugin gets seamlessly updated too!

Theme Tailor’s MarketPress Frontend Plugin features include:

• 1 minute install
• Creates front end forms to manage every MarketPress setting
• Autocreate store settings page for each new store creation
• Option to disable store setting links
• Option to disable wp-admin to Sub-Store admins

Frontend shop management is especially important for MarketPress, because it’s 100% WordPress Multisite and BuddyPress compatible, allowing you to create your own network of stores similar to Etsy or Shopify where you collect a percentage of all sales. The ability to do everything on the frontend is a big selling point your potential shop owners.

This plugin dramatically changes a user’s experience with MarketPress. The Frontend MarketPress plugin is available for $47 from Theme Tailors. For a limited time our loyal WPMU.org readers can get a 30% discount. Use coupon code: wpmudev at checkout. It’s good for a week starting today, so get it while it’s hot.

Sarah Gooding on Google+

Sharing media on a network is especially useful if you’re using multisite to manage a number of websites that you personally own and update. Or perhaps you are managing a group of student blogs and want to make a set of allowed images, video, and audio available for use. This plugin is perfect for that. Download Network Shared Media from the WordPress plugin repository.

Sarah Gooding on Google+

Before We Begin…

If you just want to get straight onto the list, feel free to skip the following.

*Assumes a defensive stance*

I’ll address the elephant in the room before we begin. In recent months I have occasionally taken it upon myself to produce lists. Two lists in particular – the WPMU 100 and the Top 100 WordPress Plugins. I produce them because they are the kind of lists that I would like to see. Since I am an avid WordPress enthusiast, I figure that others may well like to see them too.

For the most part, feedback from these lists has been very positive. People are delighted to find a resource that consolidates most of the best options into one place. I will be the first to admit that things are missed – no list is perfect. But it isn’t about producing a perfect list – it’s about producing a useful one.

Constructive criticism and suggestions as to themes that you think deserve to be on the following list are heartily welcomed in the comments section. If you are tempted to simply state that the list is terrible and offer no recommendations for its improvement, please take your opinion elsewhere.

Ranking Criteria

Right! With that out of the way, let’s get on with the subject of today’s post – the top 50 WordPress themes for your site. If you have no interest in understanding how the themes have been ranked, feel free to skip straight to the list.

Compiling this list presented its own unique set of challenges. First of all, compatibility was a priority. I decided to only include themes that have been released or updated since 4th July 2011 – which was the day that WordPress 3.2 was released. Whilst this isn’t a perfect solution, this step should ensure that the themes on offer are compatible with the current version of WordPress.

The alternative solution – installing each of the 50 themes and putting them through full testing – would have taken an enormous amount of time. If you believe that any of the themes on offer incompatible with the WordPress 3.3, please let me know.

There were two other issues that I faced. Firstly, there simply aren’t as many themes available as there are plugins. Secondly, people apparently aren’t all that generous in their propensity to actually rate the themes they download.

Having obtained a full list of all themes available in the WordPress themes directory (thanks to a tame WPMU DEV genius – thanks Ve!), it became clear that a top 100 list would be impractical – whilst a huge number of themes have been released since 4th July 2011, the number of ratings per theme was down to around 10 by the time you got to the 50th most rated. In my opinion, any lesser number of ratings would possibly produce some undesirable results, so I decided to keep the list to 50.

Given the low number of ratings, I had to give some thought as to how to rank the themes. In the end I decided to place a far higher weighting to the number of ratings. Whilst a high star rating is certainly taken into account, a higher number of ratings is seen as far more valuable. I think this accurately reflects the quality of a theme – getting a small number of 5 star ratings is easily done, but getting a higher number of ratings is a little more challenging.

The List

Here it is folks – the top 50 free WordPress themes for your site. As I mentioned earlier, please feel free to add your comments, suggestions and constructive criticism in the comments section. Enjoy!

Tom Ewer on Google+