Ensuring that your WordPress blog stays safe is no easy task as webmasters are always susceptible to a host of different issues. You could get hacked, face server errors or even accidentally cause an irreversible problem. What’s more, the backup facilities built into the WordPress platform are almost non-existent.

Luckily, there are a huge number of plug-ins to help you effectively backup your website and prepare for any future problems. The only thing is, there’s so many of these plug-ins, it’s hard to know where to begin and often, it can seem like the only option is to purchase a premium plug-in.

Truthfully, this isn’t entirely necessary as there are a number of great, free backup plug-ins for WordPress and to help you out, we’ve rounded up some of the best WordPress plugins for the job.

Summary

Before we explore the ins and outs of each plug-in in greater detail, here’s a brief summary of what each of the plug-ins on our list offers:

BackupToDropbox – Perfect for any Dropbox users looking to backup their entire WordPress site. It’s best for those with sites less than 2GB in total.

BackUpWordpress – Great for WordPress beginners and novices. It’s simple to use and creates a full backup which is sent via email.

BackWPUp – Great for those looking to backup their website to third-party services (i.e. Dropbox, S3 etc). Also great for users who want to backup multiple WordPress websites.

Snapshot Backup – Good overall backup plug-in, although lacks third-party backup functionalities that many other plug-ins have.

WP Complete Backup – Simple plug-in that is great for those looking for an easy backup and restoration tool.

WordPress EZ Backup – Great backup and restoration plug-in aimed at less experienced WordPress users. Lacks third-party functionality.

Online Backup for WordPress – Good for relatively small WordPress sites and easy to use for beginners.

XCloner – Feature-rich plug-in aimed at the more technically-minded, experienced WordPress users.

Snapshot (developed by WMPU.org) – Fantastic all-round solution for beginners and WordPress experts alike. Not a free plug-in but available for just $19.

#1 – Backup To Dropbox

Dropbox is a hugely popular file storage option these days and it’s easy to see why, they give you 2GB of space completely free of charge. Backup to Dropbox is a WordPress plug-in that essentially, allows you to create automated backups and store them in your Dropbox folder.

It’s available completely free of charge and gives you a lot of control over your backup too. You can choose the time of day and regularity of your backups as well as which directories should/shouldn’t be included.

It’s also an extremely secure plug-in as your Dropbox login details aren’t actually stored within the plug-in itself as it uses the OAuth plug-in.

The best thing about this plug-in is that it offers a complete solution as it backs up your database and website files if required.

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

For those that are looking for a simple, automated plug-in, Backup To Dropbox is perfect. It’s quick and easy to setup (it literally only takes a few seconds) and is also perfect for those with websites/databases that are quite large in size as Dropbox allows 2GB storage space free of charge.

If you do have a particularly large site however (i.e. 2GB +), this plug-in might not be the best option unless you’re prepared to pay for additional Dropbox file storage, so bare this in mind.

If you’re looking to access your WordPress backup file from multiple computers/locations, this would also be a great plug-in to opt for as this is ultimately the service provided by Dropbox. This makes it perfect for those that require the functionality to easily share backup files with web developers/technical website managers.

#2 – BackUpWordpress

If you’re looking for a super simple WordPress backup option, look no further than this plug-in. BackUpWordpress is an extremely simple, no-nonsense WordPress plug-in that allows you to quickly and efficiently manage your backups.

Once installed, it’s simply a matter of choosing how often you’d like a backup to be created, when it should start and how many backups should be stored.

BackUpWordpress stores your backups on your WordPress server and much like Backup To Dropbox, it allows you to exclude certain directories if required.

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

Much like with the Backup To Dropbox plug-in, BackupWordpress is perfect for anyone looking to create a full backup of their website in a quick and easy manner, rather than just a database backup.

Essentially, this plug-in has been created to be used by WordPress beginners/amateurs and because of this, simplicity is at the heart of its design so if you aren’t particularly technically minded, this is a great plug-in to opt for.

All backups will be emailed directly to you according to your defined schedule so ultimately, once the plug-in is installed and a schedule is created, your work is done. I’d personally recommend the use of this plug-in to those with small/medium-sized sites and not a great deal of WordPress knowledge.

#3 – BackWPUp

BackWPUp is absolutely packed with features and will ensure that your WordPress site is always backed up as it should be. Although it’s a simple plug-in to install and use, BackWPUp allows you to backup your database and/or files, exclude directories and even check, optimize and repair your database of required.

It also allows you to send the backup to a number of different cloud storage options including Amazon S3, Dropbox, RackSpaceCloud, SugarSync and more; although you can also backup to your FTP server too.

BackWPUp also allows you to create your backups in a number of different file formats including .zip, .tar and plenty of others. This compression will ensure that your backups require as little space as possible on your web server or third-party web space provider.

This plugin was also in our Top 100 WordPress Plugins list a while back.

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

Because this plug-in is so versatile, I’d recommend this as a great option for almost anyone running a website that uses the WordPress CMS. Because backups can be saved on your web server or to a third-party backup service (i.e. Dropbox, Amazon S3 etc), it allows you to backup your site in a way that suits you.

It’s also great for anyone that has multiple WordPress websites as it has multi-site support (so long as you’re the network admin), allowing you to save a lot of time that would have been spent setting up multiple plug-ins and backup systems.

Ultimately, this is perfect for anyone running a WordPress website that’s looking for a simple, effective, fully-automated option. It works well and does exactly what it says on the tin.

#4 – Snapshot Backup

Snapshot backup doesn’t only create a backup of your database and file system, but essentially, the entire structure of your site. It backs up your database, WP core, plug-ins, themes, uploads, everything.

The plug-in outputs a single file that you can either download directly and store it on your local system or uploaded directly to your server via FTP.

It’s extremely simple to install and use and takes minimal configuration (basically just your FTP details if you have them).

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

Because this plug-in doesn’t have any third party file storage support (such as Dropbox etc), it only has the ability to save your website backup to an FTP repository of your choice. Obviously, if you have a substantial amount of web space as part of your hosting package, this isn’t a problem but if you are limited in this area, it might be best to opt for a plug-in that supports third party hosting options (such as Backup To Dropbox).

It should be noted that you do have the option to download the backup and store it on your computer, but this is not really a viable option if you’re going to be creating backups on a regular basis according to a predefined schedule.

Aside from this, the plug-in does a great job of backing up your website in its entirety (that includes database, directories, plug-ins and uploads) and the fact that it stores the backup as a single archive file makes things even simpler.

For anyone looking for simple way to backup absolutely all aspects of their WordPress site, this plug-in works great. However, in my opinion, it lacks some of the basic functionalities that many of the other, aforementioned plug-ins provide and therefore, it may not be suited to everyone.

#5 – WP Complete Backup

This plug-in does exactly what it says on the tin and creates a complete backup of your WordPress website. It creates a complete file system backup as well as a complete database backup.

It also includes some pretty nice features including an automatic backup tool (to allow you to backup your website with ease), randomized server storage locations (for security purposes) and an entire support forum.

It’s easy to use and you can even remotely backup your site through the creation of an API key.

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

Simplicity is once again at the heart of this plug-in making it perfect for anyone looking for a simple, yet complete backup plug-in for their WordPress site.

It’s functionality is relatively limited compared to some of the other backup options but in my opinion, almost all of the backup functionalities required for most websites are included as it not only backs up the database, but also the entire file directory structure.

One of the particularly useful things included in the WP Complete Backup plug-in is the automatic backup restore tool. This literally makes restoring your website from a backup as simple as clicking a button.

While it doesn’t have any option to backup to third-party storage options, it offers a great solution for anyone looking for a complete backup and restoration plugin. It’s also great for anyone concerned with security as it randomizes server storage locations too.

#6 – WordPress EZ Backup

WordPress EZ Backup is one of the most popular free WordPress backup plug-ins and it’s easy to see why. It’s a plug-in that has been designed with ease of use in mind, hence the name.

Once installed, you can create a custom backup schedule from the admin panel by choosing the time and regularity of the backups. There is also a restoration service built into the plug-in which makes restoring your site from a previously created backup as simple as it can possibly be.

The admin panel also allows you to browse and manage all saved backups.

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

I’d recommend WordPress EZ Backup to anyone that has little knowledge of the WordPress CMS and is simply looking for an automated backup and restoration tool.

Sure, it lacks the functionality of any third-party storage options, but it does backup your sites database and file structure in its entirety according to the schedule set within the admin interface. It also allows you to restore your site from a previously created backup with ease (much like the WP Complete Backup plug-in) and this functionality can be handled from the admin interface too.

Using this plug-in is simple and the admin interface is straightforward and well thought-out. There’s also a help section within the admin interface so any problems you might encounter are likely answered with ease, making it perfect for WordPress beginners.

#7 –  Online Backup For WordPress

This plug-in from Backup Technology allows you to not only backup your WordPress website in its entirety but also, store the backup online using their free secure online storage.

Online Backup for WordPress will back up your sites database and file system including all posts, pages, media, attachments and plug-ins. The resulting backup file will be made available to download as a ZIP file, emailed to your directly or stored on Backup Technology’s secure servers.

Backup Technology gives you 100mb of storage space completely free of charge but if you require more, this is of course upgradable for a small fee.

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

Personally, this is one of my favourite plug-ins on this list as it’s easy to use but also provides a lot of functionality, making it perfect for beginner and advanced WordPress users alike.

As mentioned, you automatically receive 100mb of free storage from Backup Technology when using this plug-in and what’s more, this is secure, fully managed hosting. It is also upgradable if you’re willing to pay a small fee but if not, it might be best to opt for one of the previously mentioned plug-ins with other third-party capabilities (such as Dropbox etc).

The support forum is another nice little touch and problems/queries are usually answered in a timely manner, so getting answers to problems is pretty straightforward making it great for WordPress novices.

If you have a relatively small WordPress site and are looking for a secure, functional backup plug-in, I’d highly recommend this one. It also allows you to back up the rest of your WordPress site if your blog is only part of it which few other plug-ins allow you to do.

#8 – XCloner

If you’re looking to migrate your WordPress website to a new host, this is the plug-in for you. XCloner is essentially a third party application but there is also a WordPress plug-in included that allows you to back up absolutely every aspect of your WordPress website.

The plug-in/application also allows you to easily migrate the backup and restore it on any server that supports the WordPress platform, making it perfect for hosting/server migrations.

XCloner is available free of charge although it is possible to opt for commercial support from 49.95 Euro’s per year if you require it.

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

XCloner is a plug-in aimed at the more technically-minded, experienced WordPress users. It wasn’t primarily created for use solely with WordPress as it can actually be used with Joomla too due to the fact that the bulk of the program is a third-party application.

XCloner does have a lot of functionality which makes it perfect for those looking for a lot of control over their backups. It allows you to create backups, restore them from multiple locations and share your custom backups with clients too.

Personally, I’d recommend this plug-in/application as the perfect option for anyone with multiple websites and a good amount of WordPress knowledge. For those looking for a simple backup option with less customisation functionalities, I’d recommend one of the other plug-ins mentioned in this post.

#9 – Snapshot (WPMU’s own plug-in!)

Clearly, we’re a little biased when it comes to this plug-in as we developed it ourselves and yes, it isn’t free (it only costs $19 though!) but if you want a fantastic, all-round solution, it really is worth the small cost (at least we believe so anyway!).

Snapshot will not only create a full backup of your entire WordPress site (i.e. database, posts, pages, taxonomies, comments, plug-ins, themes and more!), but it also has a cool feature we like to call Time Machine. Essentially, this allows you to create as many snapshots of your WordPress database (or individual tables) as you like meaning that you can literally go back in time and restore any of these points in history with just a few clicks.

Not only this, but Snapshot allows you to backup your WordPress website via FTP or even to third-party websites including Amazon S3 and Dropbox. There’s no membership costs and no licence restrictions either!

Who Should Use This Plug-In?

Everyone! We designed to plug-in to not only offer a full-featured backup solution but also, to be easy to use by WordPress beginners and novices alike. The admin panel is straightforward and simple to use while at the same time, it offers a lot of flexibility in terms of what gets backed-up and what doesn’t

Plus, we guarantee that it will work with the latest version of both WordPress and Multisite (oh, and Buddypress too) and once you’ve purchased the plug-in, you can use it on as many sites as you like without licence restrictions. There’s no subscription/membership charges and you’ll even get access to a Q&A support section where a dedicated team of WordPress experts are eagerly awaiting any questions you might have.

So to summarise, it’s the perfect solution for pretty much everyone (we designed it that way!). Plus, if you’re a web developer/designer, all the code is 100% GPL so you’re free to edit it however you

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I’d say there are three facets to social integration: Engagement, Self Promotion, and Viral Value. Whilst you can force none of these, there are definitely great tools out there to make it as easy as possible for you and your readers to make noise about your site on social networks.

Without further ado, I present to you the mighty five of WordPress social integration.

Social by Mailchimp

The guys over at Mailchimp have made a considerable effort into bringing Twitter and Facebook to your WordPress website.

Social handles all three aspects of social engagement and nothing else. I really like this plugin.

Engaging The User

Social allows your readers to log in via a preferred social network and comment on the blog under that identity. Why is this good? People are comfortable with their Twitter and Facebook profiles, and don’t necessarily feel like filling out a form. It also captures their information, which if you’re a power user can be vital. Every logged in Twitter user gets added to your database and is also given the opportunity to tweet their comment!

Giving Your Content Viral Value

Social brings yet another commenting system to the table, which is a mashup of tweets, Facebook comments and of course WordPress comments. Whilst you may roll your eyes at someone reinventing the wheel again, it’s not all bad news. Tweets stay on Twitter, Facebook comments stay on Facebook and it all gets brought into a beautiful feed of social buzz. It also allows you to filter the “social buzz” between networks by seeing who has tweeted and who has Facebooked about your content.

Promoting Your Content

When you publish a post, you have the option to “broadcast” the post to Twitter and Facebook- if they are your cup of tea. Quite simply, you link up a Twitter/Facebook account in the settings, and Social will automatically post to your accounts for you. Using various handles (i.e. {title} to show the title), you can even determine the structure of the post. It’s no frills, and just works.

Score: 9/10

It’s simple, does the trick, doesn’t do more than you want it to and is easy to use. For social integration, this is really your one stop shop for everything except fancy share buttons. The way Social gets your readers to do the sharing for you via their own vanity (having their profiles all over the web) is ingenious.

AddThis

AddThis is an excellent plugin for getting users to share your content in a very unobtrusive way. With the ability to share to over 300 services, this is certainly a catch all if you’re after a “share this post” plugin. It automatically hooks into the_content(), and adds the button to the top and bottom of the post.

The cool part about AddThis, though, is that it provides analytics so you can track your content being shared across networks, and gives you detailed reports on your post’s viral value. Google Analytics for social! Sweet!

If you so wish, you can even do a custom implementation using the AddThis library. This involves downloading the Javascript Library, and enables you to place and theme your Share buttons wherever and however you want. Not to mention the Analytics for the Javascript version are much more involved!

Score: 9/10

AddThis has a clear purpose — to enable readers to share your content as easily as possible. And in tackling that challenge, they do a stellar job at providing a simple way to share to over 300 services, which is mighty impressive if you ask me! The detailed analytics are a cool way to watch your content go viral. If you use the Javascript version (not WordPress plugin) there’s a whole lot more cool stuff you can do — custom Hello Bars, trending content, and follow buttons.

Sharebar

Sharebar is a sweet plugin for those who like drop and go. It’s entirely responsive, and highly customizable without giving you too much to think about, or control.

Probably the coolest feature of Sharebar is its ability to collapse from a vertical bar that can follow your readers down the page, to a horizontal bar that sits under the title of your post when the viewport is less than 1000px wide. That means for those out there who have (awesome) responsive themes, this plugin is a real asset.

The fact that it follows the reader down the page can either been seen as ingenious or annoying. Personally, I think Social Integration is all about coverage, and how many people share your s**t so to speak. Sharebar does a great job of giving your readers every opportunity they can to post your content to their social networks. In fact, you can set it up so there is always a share button visible, which is pretty powerful. All it takes is a single click and hundreds, even thousands of people, are exposed to your site.

You can also insert the Sharebar where you wish using the helper functions supplied, i.e. horizontal_scrollbar() can go under your meta information or at the bottom of your post. I love being able to customize every part of my site through code, so this feature I believe is there to make the developers happy. And really, it’s not a tough thing to incorporate in a plugin! You can even put in specific buttons by using the sharebar_button() function. Another invaluable tool!

Score: 8/10

Despite its simplicity, this is a cool plugin. It’s a plugin for the masses that is very easy to get set up and running. The fact that it follows a reader as they scrolls is cool. It could look a little prettier (as it stands out obviously as a plugin), but that’s the designer in me getting frustrated! You can hack the plugin CSS, but I hate touching updatable files. As with anything, Analytics would be nice. The counters are some form of feedback I guess. Responsitivity is invaluable!

Shareaholic

SexyBookmarks — erm “Shareaholic” had to make the list! In the past, it was called SexyBookmarks and I believe that was a very well fitted name. Plain and simple, it gave you sexy share buttons, complete with shadows, popup CSS stuff and… that’s about it.

Nowadays it has a couple of extra features. It does have analytics! Which is nice, but I much prefer the analytics on AddThis. A “top bar” has been added (a la Hellobars) to share your site, and a related content widget. Not to mention telling your readers that “Sharing is Sexy!”

Score: 7/10

For a drop and go plugin, this is great. It looks good, functions well, has a relatively large amount of services you can share to and just works. That’s about it though. I’d love to see some sort of SexyFollowMe addition.

Jetpack

Jetpack by Automattic has received somewhat controversial criticism. I reviewed it recently, and I quite like it. Some love it, some hate its reliance on the WordPress.com servers. Love it or hate it, a couple of the free modules will get you on your way to sharing and publicizing your content.

That said, it pretty much works in the same way that Social by Mailchimp does, but less. It’s nice to have an “official” plugin that tackles a common problem, but I’ve heard of many people having troubles with consistent connections, issues with connectivity to the “mothership” i.e. Automattic’s servers.

The other thing that is a bit of a pain, is that you have to activate three modules (Jetpack Comments, Publicize and Sharing) to get all the functionality that Social offers you.

Similar to Social, you can post your content right from the publish post page to a number of sites. It’s actually got a lot more variety than Social, having the ability to post to Yahoo! and LinkedIn as well.

The share functionality is similar to Shareaholic, albeit not as sexy or as many services.

Score: 7/10

I was torn between 7 and 8, because it’s a really nice plugin. The issue is it can rely on Automattic’s servers at times, you need the whole Jetpack suite (unnecessary) and cannot have them as standalone plugins. If they were standalone, I’d rate them.

So which do I use?

It’s up to you in the end. All five of these plugins do a great job at adding social functionality to your website. If you want to track viral value, AddThis is fantastic for all the stats it gives you. Social by MailChimp is my favourite for its simplicity and functionality. If you use Jetpack already, it would be silly to not use their social plugins. Sharebar and Shareaholic are two good solutions for those that like drop and go.

I’d choose Social though! What about you?

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Jetpack brings loads of the features from wordpress.com blogs to your self-hosted WordPress site.

It comes with 24 free modules to beef up your WordPress experience. But are they really all necessary?

Now that’s a lot. And the first thing I thought when I heard about Jetpack back in 2011 was, “Great, a whole bunch of new fluff to load my site up with.” As it has grown though, some really cool features have been added to it that whilst not necessary, definitely make managing a WordPress site easier.

Out of the 24 free modules, there are seven that stand out to me as things you really need.

• Publicize
• WordPress Stats
• Sharing
• Contact Form
• Shortcode Embeds
• Extra Sidebar Widgets
• Enhanced Distribution

In my experience from creating custom websites for clients, these all come in handy at some stage. You always need a sharing plugin, a plugin to sync your social services, easy ways to add content to the sidebar and so on. Jetpack tackles all these with what you know is going to be air-tight code. It has, after all, been written by the people who wrote WordPress!

There are also a few that I find very handy and cool to have. Not necessities, but they will definitely augment your WordPress blog.

• Jetpack Comments
• Carousel
• Mobile Theme
• Infinite Scroll
• Photon

And my favourite of them all is the JSON API.

I’m going to give you a quick run down on why I love these thirteen modules, why they stand out above the rest, and how they can help you with your blog.

The Necessities

Below are the plugins I’d absolutely recommend from Jetpack and a little bit about them.

Publicize

Publicize is a sweet module that will automatically ping your social services (such as Facebook and Twitter) and post your new content on your behalf. In my opinion, this is invaluable, as I’ve never not been asked to sync accounts in such a way.

There is only one true competitor out there when it comes to social connections, that being Social by MailChimp. Now that there is a “native” alternative that supports more services, I doubt I’ll ever use Social again.

The thing that I love most is the care Automattic has  taken to make the UI as easy as possible to understand. That goes for all plugins in this list. They take special care to every UI detail to ensure the usability of the plugins is as good as it can be.

Publicize at current supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Yahoo connections, which I think is more than enough. It covers social, to business, to leisure networks.

WordPress Stats

Yes, we do have Google Analytics for this. But if you visit the dashboard regularly like I do or have clients that lack the knowledge of how to access analytics, this plugin is great. It’s a life and time saver for everybody.

At a glance, you get to see page views for today. Which is nice for clients because it tends to make them feel like their website is growing.

The cool thing too is that it has a surprisingly good amount of stats for you. Geo stats, pageviews, content count and much more. It even gives you details on comments, users, custom post types, etc. Since it’s obviously a competitor to Google Analytics, they do their best to make it worth your while.

Google Analytics is for power users, WordPress.com Stats are for those who want a nice overview of their traffic.

Sharing

We all love some beautiful custom sharing buttons. But for the stock standard and solid, Jetpack provides a sharing module that allows readers to share your posts to a large number of popular networks.

Whilst it doesn’t have blanket coverage of a plugin such as AddThis (300+ services to share to!), it covers all the important ones. Enough for me, and enough for the general user I think. AddThis would be a solution for the hardcore networker.

Contact Forms

Contact forms have been the bane of a developers existence since the early days of web development. Whether to roll your own or use a plugin, dealing with human verification and validation–all a pain.

There are loads of plugins out there that let you create custom web forms through a (generally horrible) UI. If all you’re after is a simple email contact form, then this is the plugin for you. I daresay you could even create a solid article submission form using Jetpack’s Contact Forms.

The UI is nice (thickbox), and it uses shortcodes which us developers love. +1 for Jetpack Contact Forms over any other basic solution.

The only limitation is that it is an email form. If you’re after forms that interact with WordPress, it’s best to roll your own.

Shortcode Embeds

Whilst not a complete necessity, I find shortcode embeds a valuable utility. I’ve been asked to embed YouTube videos into websites more times than I care to count, especially when a client or manager cannot figure it out. Definitely handy to have.

Not only easy to use, it supports a huge number of services. Not just popular video sites (Youtube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc), but also Google Maps, Slideshow services, images and documents, and even polls.

Extra Sidebar Widgets

The highlight of this plugin for me is the ability to add a Twitter feed. Seriously, that’s probably all I’d use it for. I would occasionally use image widgets for promotional reasons, but that’s usually handled by some sort of ad manager service (i.e. Google’s DFP).

Once again, when building client websites I’ve always been asked to embed a Twitter feed. This takes the pain out of doing so, and is totally customisable via CSS.

Enhanced Distribution

The key to ad sales online and selling your content or product is by far coverage. You want to make sure your stuff is searchable in all the major search engines.

Whilst SEO plugins are good for this (Infinity SEO is an excellent solution), pinging search engines to let them know you have new content is important to get these well optimised pages and posts to the masses.

Simply, Enhanced Distribution automatically pings Google, Bing, and other third party services to let them know you have content ready to be indexed. You can sit back and relax, and watch your content show up in Google. Brilliant.

The cool things

Whilst not 100% necessary, the following modules have a special place in my heart for being cool additions to great websites.

Jetpack Comments

I used to work for SitePoint, and an ongoing discussion we had was whether to stick to default WordPress comments, use a custom solution we built ourselves called Podling, or go with the already established Disqus.

Jetpack comments are what we should have gone with. We would have gotten social connection (via commenters logged in through Twitter or Facebook), kept ownership of our comments through the admin panel, and had a sexy form.

I don’t often design blogs (usually custom portfolios or websites), but if I were to I would absolutely use Jetpack Comments to handle that issue.

Carousel

My favourite thing about the Carousel module is that it’s mobile ready. It’s responsive, looks beautiful, and just works. You have options on what data to display (title, caption, even EXIF data from the photos themselves)

It uses built in WordPress galleries to make these excellent swipeable image carousels, which makes building them in your posts and pages even easier.

Mobile Theme

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all about responsive design. I love it. I think watching a page collapse as you make the browser smaller is one of the finer things of the modern web.

But. It does take a lot of work and planning, and can sometimes be too time consuming to be worth it.

For those people who want an instant yet simple and beautiful mobile theme, this module is for you. It looks great, and gives you just enough customization options to make it look like yours. In conjunction with the Custom CSS Jetpack module, you have a mobile theme ready to go at your fingertips.

The only lame thing is that it has a small advertisement at the bottom prompting you to download WordPress for iOS.

Infinite Scroll

Do I really need to convince you? It’s a big novelty, but I’m a massive fan of infinite scroll for a number of reasons. People are lazy as all hell, and will read less of your site if they have to click next page over and over to reach more content. This in turn, means you’ll end up displaying more ads to the reader (if you’re in that business).

The only downside of infinite scrolling is that your pageviews will drop a little- people are no longer visiting 5 pages to see 50 articles, just one.

Photon

Last but not least, Photon is great for speeding up your blog. All your images get uploaded to a content delivery network hosted by WordPress. This means the browser can download more images at once resulting in a faster page load, and happier readers. Combine this with some sort of lazy-load plugin, and your pages will load blazing fast.

A special place in my heart

I’m a huge fan of data. Raw data. WordPress is great, because it makes it really easy for designers to create good looking websites easily.

For the developer though, one would understand that rendering content on the server is lazy and gives you lack of control.

Cue the JSON API

Yes. Ah. I love it. If you’re building something totally custom, whether it be a backbone powered site, or even a native iOS or Android app, a JSON API is the most invaluable tool you will come across.

Having a JSON API at your fingertips enables you to create data-driven websites, and have totally custom solutions. It’s even extendable via PHP, so you can get anything in your WordPress database with ease in JSON format.

If you don’t know what JSON is, it’s a data-structure that has absolutely no HTML in it- just the data. Imagine an enormous PHP array but for Javascript and other coding languages. It takes up a load less bandwidth to send (it’s raw data and not thousands of lines of HTML) and well, if you’re into Javascript you’ll know why this is such a boss tool to have.

Okay… So Should I Use Jetpack or Not?

My vote is yes. It provides so many functions and tools that you’ll search for otherwise in one tight package. It’s written by the guys that wrote WordPress, so you know it will be solid and tested. All the modules have a good UI, which makes using it a pleasantry.

And quite frankly, I’m sick of wrestling with 3rd party plugins to get what I want. Jetpack just works.

For the full list of modules available, check out the Jetpack website.

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So, having got that out of the way let me tell you why I’m profoundly unconcerned by the announcement today that WordPress.com is venturing into the ‘education vertical’ and why I don’t think it should scare of any other niche site builders out there.

tl;dr – it’s shallow, insincere, cynical, lacking in focus and flimsy.

Here’s why…

Almost too shallow for words

Let’s ask what WordPress.com education’s offering really is, what have they actually added or dome to the site itself.

Well, there’s the education landing page.

And that, literally, is it.

No extra functionality, no education specific support, nothing that, you know, might actually make it easier for teachers to run a class - need I mention that Edublogs has all of those - nothing except for this:

And an announcement on TechCrunch. They get a lot of them.

Achingly insincere and creepily cynical

Is it just me, or does the jump into all these different verticals (man, I hate that word, feels so VC-esque) smack a little of a business being driven by, oh I dunno, investors?

Rather than the folk on the ground, responding to users needs, people who might say, for example something like:

I mean, that’s not all that surprising, WordPress.com got off the ground courtesy of a pretty hefty chunk of change.

But that was back in January 2008, 5 years ago. You would imagine that the folks that stump up that kinda cash, would be in the mood for seeing it come back to them.

Something that while certainly feasible with revenues previously expected to be $45m in 2012… but let’s face it, VCs would rather have their cash in something that’s gonna reach for the stars or crash and burn, and just being a very successful company doesn’t really nail that. Perhaps.

So, really, where is this initiative coming from? I’d contend, strongly, that it’s a crack of the investors whip, and as such I reckon it’s probably doomed from the start.

Lacking in focus

This is something I’ve had to contend with myself, and thus can talk about with a little authority.

Once upon a time we were not only running WPMU and Edublogs, but also, ahem:

• Incsub – WordPress MU consulting service
• Blogsavvy – Blog consulting service
• WP.MU – WordPress MU installation & hosting service
• BuddyDress – BuddyPress theme provider
• Blogs.mu – and MU version of WordPress MU (start your own MU network!)
• WP Plugins – WP plugin marketplace
• And some more that got horribly close to release and wasted a heap of time

You know what this did? I reckon it set us back years, it slowed us down and it messed with us, a lot.

Reason being that all of those were a distraction, which failed because we couldn’t find the time to focus on them, and which hurt our core businesses by demanding that we spent any time on them at all.

Catering, largely, to my starry-eyed ‘it’s the internet, we can do anything, we’re a startup, woot’ approach to things, it was fun, with lots of highs, but at the end, a lot of grimy lows, protracted failure and the dumping of a great deal of effort.

And what I figured out from was that if you want to succeed, by all means throw shit at the wall, by all means try stuff out, but try as much as possible to do that without making it a big damn issue and feature of your business… because then it’s (likely, with every project) failure is not going to feel, or look, good.

Flimsy, flappy, flotsam

And last, but not least, you’re only as strong as the people behind your project.

At Edublogs we are blessed to have some amazing people, who care and deeply love the project. Ex-teachers, as am I, committed to what we’re doing, understanding what’s needed and where things need to go, talking to teachers, going to conferences, teaching themselves.

I’d wager that Automattic don’t have any serious educational experience backing this up… that terribly patronising theme would certainly indicate it :/

And while obviously there are people keen on having portfolios, and I’m sure the odd musician within their ranks, I very much doubt they have any ex FT restauranteurs running that side of the business too (although I could be wrong).

The fact is, I reckon that I could no more succeed in some sort of fashion startup than I could in a gardening one… just not my bag baby. However, education, WordPress, media… mmmm, bring it, I love that stuff, I understand it, I’ve lived it… and I reckon I know what is required.

I don’t think WordPress.com does here, I don’t think their site creation and management tools come anywhere near some of the other people in this space targeting specific niches, and I don’t think there’s an honest motivation behind these projects.

Give it a year or two, these will pass, and it’ll be the team who can provide the product, passion and people who will win.

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There’s been a misconception about what the purpose of these columns have been from the start. I’ve found that hilarious, since some readers of these things have been expecting yet another 30 Free Business WordPress Themes or 16 Cool Responsive WordPress Plugins for Images and Videos. Those who know me also know that I don’t do linkbaity stuff like that. In fact, that sort of posts utterly bore me, but if you like them that’s fine. To each his (or her!) own, after all.

The columns here have been opinionated columns. That was the plan from the start, and the carte blanche I got from The Farmer was the only way we could make this work. You know, since I don’t write those list posts and all. Instead I’ve done my best to piss off the WordPress community (not really) and to poke fun at whatever madness I’ve come across while trawling the RSS feeds.

That was the plan.

Thing is, you guys didn’t know it. No one told you this was a column, some of you no doubt read these things as a regular WPMU.org post. I blame The Farmer for this, he’s been playing you all from the beginning, using me as a tool. I’m very upset about this, and I tried to fight his sinister plan with my sneaky What The FAQ?! column, but I suspect he buried it with dark SEO magic. I’m actually pretty upset about this, a victim in The Dark Lord’s plot, that’s what I am. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t even continue writing this with a straight face.

So yeah, this has been great fun. Just in case The Farmer has a meltdown and is hovering the Delete button, here’s a picture of a pig to soothe his mind, making him feel right at home.

I would’ve liked to spin this column out of control, after this very loud column, and that was the plan too. The WPMU.org team really did ask me to be more SEO friendly, otherwise I’d have to go. Everything written is true, possibly slightly exaggerated to make a point, but it is true. Unfortunately I couldn’t follow-up on said column the way I wanted, due to personal reasons. My absence for two weeks, before the Ghost column, was due to this. I’ll keep the reasons to myself, but suffice to say it didn’t involve a mental institution, although there were a dash of brain surgery involved. Make of that what you will, all that crap really punched me in the nuts.

It’s a shame. A weird spiral out of control would’ve been fun. Now I’m ending it like this instead, with a conversational piece about this little beast of mine.

I’d just like to say a few things before I go:

• Sorry, writers of WPMU.org! I’ve been making fun of you and your search engine and reader friendly posts. I’m glad you’ve taken it in stride, most of you at least. Whoever left that burning bag of dog poop can go to hell collect a $50 reward, just email me your address and I’ll send it over.
• To the readers who didn’t get it: Tough luck, but you know, this was obviously not for you. A column shouldn’t be for everyone, then it’d be so utterly boring that nobody would read it.
• To the readers who did get it: Good for you! And me, obviously.
• Finally, to The Farmer: I hope you like the gold-plated pitchfork I sent you.

That’s it, that’s all. Almost. If you can’t get enough of me, then these are the links you need:

• I’m @tdh on Twitter. Talk to me!
• I’m @tdh on App.net. Talk to me there too!
• I’ve got a fan page on Facebook, how ’bout that?
• TDH.me is my site, where I’m currently running a series on writing.
• Yes, I’ve written books. You should check out Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 3rd Edition if you haven’t already. Here are all my books, since you no doubt were dying to know.

See you on the flipside. I’m outta here.

Photo by Maurice (CC)

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The brainchild of this concept is John O’Nolan, a digital nomad/designer/entrepreneur. Personally, I love what he’s done with Ghost. I don’t like all of the concepts, but I do like the energy and enthusiasm he has put into his pet project. If I were half as talented as him in terms of graphical design, I might do something similar.

But I’m not. However, I can write, and Ghost planted a little seed in my head. I often ponder on what I would like WordPress to do, and I tend to voice my thoughts sporadically (and often at random) in various posts around the web. It’s about time I brought them all together.

The Problem with WordPress

I am a blogger, I use WordPress almost exclusively for blogging, and I have my own ideas as to how WordPress should be (don’t we all?). My vision is not nearly as dramatic (or exciting) as Nolan’s, but for many months I have noted new WordPress updates with some frustration — why are argubly superfluous new features being produced whilst fundamental issues and bugs are not being resolved?

I am going to explore a bunch of ideas relating to how I think WordPress should be below, but they are all based around one central concept — the most heavily used aspects of WordPress should be 100% reliable and intuitive. Get the fundamentals right, then you can go around building theme customizers and embedded tweets.

I’m not a WordPress hater — on the contrary, I absolutely love WordPress. I make a living out of it, one way or another. But that does not detract from its many foibles, and I for one would love to see the following issues addressed.

Note: I’m not going to pretend that these ideas are cutting-edge — some of them are in fact proposed in the Ghost concept. This isn’t about me trying to break the mould; it’s simply about how I would like WordPress to be.

Interface

Let’s start by getting rid of a bunch of the meta boxes on the dashboard:

• Right Now
• QuickPress
• WordPress Blog
• Other WordPress News

I like the concept of Incoming Links, but in reality it’s completely useless:

Unless it can be improved, that should go too. In reality, the Dashboard is almost redundant and should perhaps be replaced by a launch screen, a la Google Chrome:

By default this screen would present options based upon your most frequented backend destinations (e.g. Add New Post, Plugins), but you would also have the option to set it manually.

The Hello Dolly plugin should be removed for obvious reasons — it has no purpose. And no, I am not buying the argument that it somehow explains what a plugin is to new users. A brief introductory screen explaining what a plugin is would be more useful (if you want to go down that route).

As for Akismet, it needs to go to. It is not the definitive spam solution — there are alternative options used by many — and as such, it should not be present by default. Let’s not forget that this is a freemium plugin, and as such really has no right to be so closely attached to an open source application.

Finally, the WordPress community needs to initiate a drive to normalize 3rd party application usability. When plugins settings screens can be found in four different places on the backend, you know that something aint quite right. And if themes are to have their own settings screens, there should be some sort of agreed standard that can be developed to.

More Inbuilt Functionality

The WordPress core is getting bloated, so you might think it unusual that I am proposing we add more functionality. But for the most part I am referring to functionality that is (a) arguably integral to the ongoing running of most websites, and (b) already used by the vast majority of WordPress users.

I suggest that the following should be added to the core:

• Analytics: integration with the most popular services accessible via a settings screen.
• SEO: let’s get one of the popular SEO plugins integrated with WordPress already, shall we?
• Redirects: to include redirects created by WordPress when slugs are changed.
• Code Snippets: you should be able to create your own mini-plugins inside of WordPress.
• Search: WordPress search is astonishingly bad — at the least, Relevanssi’s functionality should be built into the core.
• Basic Security: limit login attempts, IP logging, no more default “admin” profile…
• WYSIWYG Text Widget: why should non-programmer types be hamstrung by a featureless text widget?
• Widget Logic: ’nuff said.
• Tables: we should be able to build tables in WordPress without relying upon a third party plugin.
• Image Optimization: why not optimize images losslessly by default if it is possible to do so?
• Comment Reply Notification: should be included as an option within Settings > Discussion.

Less Inbuilt Functionality

Now what about all the crap in WordPress that most people will never touch? Let’s start with a particular passage from the Ghost concept that I agree with wholeheartedly:

…admin color schemes, quickpress, post-via-email, remote publishing, inline theme editing, media editing and multi-everything.

I have no idea how these features can be justified as deserving inclusion in the core — they can’t be utilized by more than a fraction of WordPress users. Since we have such an active plugin community, there is no reason why these can’t be available in plugin form to the minority.

Whilst we’re at it, let’s get rid of all those widgets you’ll never need too — the Calendars, Tag Clouds and Recent Comments of this world. Again — they can be made available in plugin form to the minority who want them.

Content Creation

This is the big one for me. I spend far more time writing in WordPress than doing anything else, and yet my work is often interrupted by frustrating bugs and limitations.

Whilst Ghost’s idea is sexy…

…it would never be implemented in the core — the average WordPress user is going to be intimidated by Markdown syntax. Having said that, I would love to see the above in plugin form (I’d certainly give it a go).

What I would like to see happen in the core is the fixing of the myriad bugs in the text editor. I’m talking about random <div>s being inserted after lists, PHP code being obliterated, images behaving strangely, and so on.

And don’t get me started on the distraction free editor. Don’t get me wrong — I love it, and I’m using it right now, but it is chock full of of bugs and issues (here are ten).

When it comes to making sure something works as perfectly as possible, nothing in WordPress should be more important than the text editor. Nothing is more integral to a blog than its content, so the same should go for the platform on which it is built.

Making this a Reality

I expect plenty of people to tell me that a lot of the above would be difficult to do, and I am not doubting that. I am no programmer/designer – I certainly couldn’t do any of the above myself. But just because something is difficult does not mean that it shouldn’t be done.

The above issues are most pressing to me as a full time WordPress blogger. If the above improvements were implemented my life would be a lot easier. I am sure that the same could be said for many other WordPress bloggers.

Which brings me neatly to you, and your opinion. What is your take on my suggestions for a much-improved WordPress? What would you do if you had the opportunity to make an instant difference to the core? Let us know in the comments section.

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The recent WordPress Ghost concept by John O’Nolan, featuring an easier to use admin interface, have gotten some space within the WordPress. Even this site have talked about the Ghost concept, and since they want me to add links in my columns I’ll oblige this time around.

First of all, the Ghost concept is interesting. I don’t agree with it, but that’s a matter of taste at this point. When there is something to actually use we can talk about how well it works, but I’ll say this right away: Mobile first.

Now, Ghost not only shows that there are people who want to improve the WordPress admin area, but also that I’m not alone in wanting everything to be a bit easier on the user. Sure, administrators and possibly editors will need a comprehensive admin interface, but if your site is more blog than magazine then you have different needs.

The solution could be to just create an admin theme, which is closer to the route Ghost is taking right now as far as I understand it. O’Nolan is still talking about forking WordPress, which I think is a sure way to make sure that the Ghost won’t fly, but who am I to talk?

There is definitely a need for an easier, more accessible WordPress admin interface. I think the solution is a complete overhaul, even more modular thinking, and getting it ready for mobile once and for all. The community seems to agree, Ghost proves this. I do think that this is something that needs to be in the core, not a plugin. I also think that it should be easier to theme the admin interface and hence offering a more complete package when using WordPress for both front and backend.

I’ll be following the Ghost project closely. I doubt it is the future of WordPress, but I applaud O’Nolan for the effort and you should too.

Random WordPress Tip
Did you know that you can alter the look of wp-admin? You’ll have to write a plugin containing your stylesheets, graphics and whatnot though, essentially overruling styles from WordPress. Read more about it in the Codex. I also touch it briefly in Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog in case you prefer books.

Photo by Super Awesome (CC)

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Let’s leave the shenanigans for a while and talk shop. Or comments, let’s talk comments.

Do you like comments? On your site, your blog, your every bloody thing you publish online?

I don’t. People keep being bad to me, and I end up crying in a corner. I’m a very sensitive person, you know, and people need to be nicer.

But then again I do like comments, because sometimes there are meaningful discussions about important things, like cats and cheeseburgers and single malt whisky. I like meaningful discussions. Incidentally, I also like single malt whisky, I’m into Ardbeg at the moment, so let’s take a photo break, shall we?

That was nice. Not as nice as actually drinking the stuff, but you get the picture. Yes, this is quite obviously still a column…

Back to comments, and whether their existence is even something remotely good. You know, you have the perfect chance to prove either way in the comments below. Either you behave like an asshole, or you offer your opinion in a more constructive fashion.

Or you say nothing at all, that works too. It won’t prove any points, but at least I won’t get those pesky notification emails about comments being posted. It’s a win-win situation, really.

Why am I talking about this now, without listing a bunch of pros and cons about having comments on your site? Well, first of all, because I’ve been mulling over comments and their place in today’s social web, but also because of this excellent quote from Matt Mullenweg:

“A Blog is your home on the web!” Matt Mullenweg @photomatt (Founder of WordPress, Automattic) at #pf12 keynote twitter.com/grienauer/stat…

— Nico Grienauer (@grienauer) October 31, 2012

If your blog is your online home, then having comments there is much like inviting guests. And not just your friends, they are welcome to come and stay of course, but also the creepy guy across the street, the nasty teenager lacking social skills, the closet nazi, and Mitt Romney.

All these people, and more, can walk into your home and piss on your carpet.

Which is to say that they can write comments about anything, be as rude or as nice or as weird as they like. You can throw them out, but they can come back. You can get a bouncer (aka spam killing thingy) but that will just stop the robotic carpet pissers.

Comments are a nuisance. Comments are inviting conversation. Comments are potentially libelous. Comments are helpful. Comments are an opportunity waiting to happen.

Comments are obviously complicated.

What say ye? Use the comment form below, and by all means, piss on the carpet if you like. It’s not like it is my house anyway.

Photo by Jonathan Nightingale (CC)

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The previous column (still a column, not another linkbaity tutorial) was easy enough to write. There just wasn’t any choice, I had to make fun of being laid off this opinionated column of mine, and I had to do something featuring keywords. But if you know you have another four posts left, what do you write about?

I imagine this is how terminally ill people feel like.

Or maybe not.

Then it hit me. My obvious disdain of writing for robots is just one thing I hate about writing for the web in general, and traffic-hungry blogs in particular.

Here are 7 types of posts that I loathe:

1. Top X themes/plugins/pictures of cats to make your day/earn money/make you famous. This is linkbaity crap that could be helpful but since most of it is utter shit it just makes my stomach turn. Yes, WPMU.org is guilty of this.
2. Paste this code in your functions.php file and your blog will spurt double rainbows/get some feature to clutter it even further. You know, most of the time the code is poor and your need for it is none when you think about it. Don’t ever add something you don’t need, and if you need it, add it the right way. In fact, most of the time the code you put in your functions.php because some blogger told you to should be a plugin instead.
3. This is the iPad 4 Mini Retina Air (or whatever it is that makes you all giddy)! But it isn’t, it is a rumored backplate of a product that might or might not exist that you found on some forum. It might be a hoax, it might be a piece from a prototype, it might be an plain ol’ lie. Point is, your headline isn’t telling the truth, it is just aiming for clicks. It makes me hate you.
4. What do you think about this? (Haha I won’t answer comments!) Go ahead, write an opinionated piece, make it controversial, invite people to discuss and spend time proving you wrong. Then forget about them, don’t answer, ignore comments, remove the ones you don’t like, be an asshole. It is disrespectful behavior, you know. WPMU.org is guilty of this too, but they might not be when I’m gone…
5. 69 beautiful themes that is better than sex. How is this different from #1? Well, these themes are actually beautiful (albeit not better than sex, unless you dislike sex, in which case this might be true) and you want them all, badly. Problem is, they are all paid themes, and every bloody link is an affiliate link. You can even make this more annoying: Put some decent free themes up top, and then show the truly impressive ones below, which cost money. Oh the hatred! This wouldn’t be so bad if I knew I was getting a list of stuff that costs money, by the way. I’m pretty sure WPMU.org is guilty of this at times, I’m not sure. Prove me wrong in the comment if you dare (refer to #4 before you do, though).
6. In fact, every list containing images of other people’s creations and a link is nasty shit.
7. List posts. I hate unwarranted lists, and now I hate myself. Also, WPMU.org does these, so I’ll let them have some of my hate as well.

What sort of posts do you hate? If you say that you hate this post, I will not answer your comment.

This Week’s Piece of WordPress Advice
Organize a meetup/tweetup/beatup and talk to real people, not just internet trolls and ranting columnists. This is great fun, no matter if you take it all the way to a WordCamp, or just get together over coffee/beer/virgin blood. I bet you’ll learn something.

Photo by Stuart Richards (CC)

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Just a few days since our official release of Appointments+ on WPMUDEV but already the feedback has been positive as well as overwhelming.  The one thing we keep hearing (after releasing Events+ and Appointments+) is that some of you all are really looking for a dedicated booking software.

Well, good news, that’s what we’re working on now.

To meet the modern needs of a fully-fledged online booking software is no small tasks.  Indeed, you could consider Events+ and Appointments+ as our first “baby steps” into this arena.  We’ve learned a lot over their releases and now want to dive head-first with the upcoming bookings plugin. We’re considering a huge range of things and have already been brainstorming and mapping out how things are going to work.

Of course, with software, there’s gotta be a realistic expectation for what’s delivered in the 1.0 version and what will follow.  So, we want to hear from you all!  Are you a developer familiar with this industry? Do you currently use an online booking software?  Now’s your chance to chime in! Tell us what’s most important to you and what frustrates you most.  We want to hear it all so help a brutha out and fill out the survey below, cool?

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