Over the weekend I put the finishing touches on a new WordPress plugin I'm calling "Photographer Connections". It is basically a framework to connect photography related sites to WordPress sites. At launch, it has Pictage, SmugMug and Shootq built in. You can list your Pictage events, add SmugMug galleries to any page or post, and allow the Contact Form 7 plugin to send information to your ShootQ account. For developers, this was created with an easily extendable format, allowing new sites like Flickr, Picasa or any others to be added very quickly as new modules. Because this was developed for PhotographyBlogSites.com, it has some great MultiSite options as well. Super Admins of any WordPress MultiSite network will get an extra menu item, allowing them to enable or disable any module sitewide. You can find full details and instructions at the official PhotographyBlogSites page or download the latest from WordPress.org.

Posted In: Blog, WordPress Resources.
Tags: pictage, plugins, shootq, smugmug, WordPress

Easier is not quite right either. Some of the things I have been able to do with WordPress MU would not be possible without the plugins and support of the folks at WPMU DEV. What is WordPress MU and What is WPMU DEV? WordPress has become a well known name as one of the best (the best in my opinion) Content Management System available. It allows any site from a simple bog or basic five page site, up to the most complicated site you could imagine to be easily edited by anyone without any knowledge of HTML. WordPress MU means WordPress Multi-User. It is essentially the software that runs WordPress.com and was developed to allow an entire network of sites. User can visit a WordPress MU site and get there own site by just signing up. No installation, no hosting to worry about, etc. It has been a branch of WordPress for the last

Posted In: Blog, WordPress Resources.
Tags: photographyblogsites, wordpress mu

WPJumpStart is a collection of tools and instructions that will drastically speed up your WordPress theme development or blog design. WPJumpStart is: A system of tools that will improve theme design workflow. Built especially for designers and developers with experience building themes for WordPress. A helping hand for those with intermediate knowledge of WordPress themes. WPJumpStart is not: Meant for those new to HTML or completely new to WordPress. A complete guide or manual to the inner workings of WordPress. What Exactly is it? WPJumpStart is a compilation of resources that will improve your workflow and allow you to create cleaner designs, build themes faster and optimize WordPress itself. Bring your WordPress projects to a more professional level and decrease the time you spend on projects. BlogStarter - An emptied out blog theme, ready to be quickly styled into a custom theme. BlogStarter is now actually two themes - a Two-Column simple blog layout, and a wide One-Column layout complete with

Posted In: Downloads, WordPress, WordPress Resources.
Tags: Downloads, products, web design resources, web design tips, WordPress, WPJumpStart

This is a list of WordPress Plugins that I use and recommend for almost every WordPress site I work on. I will try to keep it up to date with the best that I can find in each category. There are plenty of great plugins out there, but I find myself using these ones over and over again. If anyone knows of better options or can add ones that I missed, please leave a comment below and I will try to add them in. Best Plugins for Spam: Askimet - One of the default plugins. It has been all I have needed for spam so far. Activate this right away. Best  Plugins for SEO: All in one SEO Pack - Lets you control metadata on everypage and post. Google XML Sitemaps - Automically generates a sitemap and submits it to Google, MSN, and Ask.com. KB Robots.txt - Easily control your robots.txt file and help search engines

Posted In: Articles, WordPress, WordPress Resources.
Tags: plugins, web design resources, web design tips, WordPress, WPJumpStart