The WordPress directory has 50k+ free plugins that were developed so you can extend a WordPress website with functions and features far beyond your imagination.

Additional thousands of WordPress plugins are available from various marketplaces.

No matter how much you might have a need for a specialized plugin or two, would you really want to spend a full workday on reseraching? Probably not.

So, what, if anything, can you do? We have an answer to that.

We tested tens of WordPress plugins and selected the 8 best WordPress free and premium plugins for a range of both popular and lesser used functions.

These plugins focus on important functionalities that you won’t typically find in a WordPress theme. They address web designer/developer needs for:

• problem-free building of landing pages that catch the eye.
• management and displaying of financial, commercial, scientific, statistical, and other data, as well as of substantial amounts of data.
• visual storytelling that enhance UX.
• automating and streamlining appointments bookings.

These 8 best WordPress plugins for 2024 are available in trial, free, or premium.

• Amelia
• wpDataTable
• Brizy Builder
• Slider Revolution
• LayerSlide
• Essential Grid
• Web Stories
• Tablesome

What key qualities do these top WordPress plugins have?

Support – We reviewed product development teams’ responses to problems and questions and recommended only those products whose teams have a history of answering support issues within 24 hours.

Reviews by users. We extensively read product reviews and testimonials that specified both ‘Have’ and ‘Have nots’ of these plugins.

Features – We scrutinized each plugin to ensure its advertised features would meet the goal the plugin was designed and built to satisfy.

Free version – All 8 have free versions with a large number of features.

Compatibility – We made certain each plugin was fully compatible with the latest WordPress and PHP versions, and has been updated within the past two months.

8 Best WordPress Plugins for 2024

These 8 WordPress plugins are excellent in their areas. And we have made your job easier by doing time-consuming work for you.

Below, you will read about each plugin’s key features, how their customer evaluated them, and we will give you links to test them out or find out more info for yourself.

1. Amelia WordPress Plugin — Appointment Booking WP Plugin

Amelia is the best WordPress plugin for a service-oriented business looking for an automated booking system.

More than 70% of Amelia’s users agree that Amelia’s standout feature is its powerful multilingual Notifications system that enables users to seamlessly manage their appointment and event bookings via SMS, email, and/or WhatsApp messages.

Product qualities users realize once they begin using Amelia:

• effortless navigation and ultramodern backend and frontend interface attributes.
• the ability to tailor Amelia to meet their specific needs.
• a user-friendly design that is free from unwelcome surprises together with the value inherent in transparent functionality and pricing.

A service-oriented business like the one shown in the barbershop template can take advantage of Amelia’s new and improved booking form, organize an appointment flow that best suits their business model, and receive appointment requests online  24/7.

Product rating: 4.8/5 on Captera.

Customer Insight: 
Pros: “Amelia is one of my favorite plugins because: 1. Easy to install and use. 2. Reliable and professional quality. 3. Full of great features – better than any others I have used. 4. Great layout, versatile and works seamlessly with clients 5. It is always updated and improved. 6. Support help and communication is fast, friendly, and excellent. 7. Not just a flash in the pan. It has been around for a long time.”

Cons: “Nothing I can think of or have had to be concerned with.”

Instant Support: Documentation, Videos on YouTube and a Discord Group.

Find out more here

2. wpDataTables: The Best WordPress Table & Chart Plugin

wpDataTables is the best WordPress plugin for organizations or individuals tasked with creating tables and charts from complex and/or massive amounts of data.

wpDataTables’ key feature is its Multiple Database Connections capability. This groundbreaking feature is a data management breakthrough that allows a table to set up independent connections to MySQL, MS SQL, or PostgreSQL databases and become a versatile data hub in the process.

Product qualities users quickly become aware of:

• a user interface that does not require technical ability to effortlessly create tables or charts.
• wpDataTable’s blend of powerful features that handle complex data structures with finesse.
• effortlessly show informative tables by seamlessly incorporating data and information sourced from diverse origins.

wpDataTables is excellent for statistics data tables that are responsive. Other uses include:

• fixed headers and columns that ensure that key columns and headers remain visible while scrolling and make data analysis more straightforward.
• Shortcode for single cells: helpful for useful adding multimedia, links, or other dynamic elements to a table.
• The ability to populate tables with data from various APIs.

Product rating: 4.83/5

Customer Insight: “Really great for tables using csv or Excel. Solved a very difficult content issue for me. Thanks so much!”

Instant support options: Excellent documentation and on point YouTube videos.

Use WpDataTables for free.

3. Brizy: Best Website Builder

Brizy is the ideal WordPress website builder for those looking for a White Label solution to market their own brand.

Brizy’s standout feature is its White Label option. You can brand the Brizy builder as your own and encourage clients to create websites using “your” builder.

Product qualities users discover as they use Brizy Builder:

• You will never have a problem editing in place whether you are clicking on a text, an image, or any other kind of content.
• Content is never created in a disjointed sidebar, as is the case in some competing builders.

Tailored features for agencies and resellers in addition to the White Label option, include Billing, Reseller Client Management, Multi-language capabilities, and Marketing integrations.

Brizy Builder is ideal for building creative websites and landing pages in the Brizy Cloud or when used with the Brizy WordPress theme. “Petits” Brizy’s pet website template is ideal for a pet shop in addition to having a wide range of  other uses.

Product rating: 4.6/5 on Trust Pilot

Customer Insight: “In many way a very satisfying pagebuilder, with a generous and fantastic free version. Especially the way of working with pictures is really nice. However, sometimes experience that Brizy is a little unstable, some things that in between do not flow as they should. But can warmly recommend it, not least for beginners.”

Support capabilities include the Brizy support manual and YouTube videos.

Click here to check out  the Brizy Builder plugin.

4. Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution is the best WordPress plugin for those looking to incorporate a WOW factor into their sliders without any need for coding.

Some say it’s the knockout effects for WordPress that turn them on. With others, Slider Revolution’s top feature is the one that enables them to create sliders visually. Both are right.

Revolution Slider has a host of design options for every category of user:

• Web shop builders will tell you that the WooCommerce sliders are especially useful.
• Businesses and small agencies find the one-page portfolio templates particularly helpful.
• The images and cool scrolling effects in Slider Revolution’s mesmerizing Brewery Website slider template will tempt you to take time out for a cool one. It’s great for a wide variety of uses.

Users quickly take note of the features that allow them to easily upgrade a WordPress website visual in mere minutes.

Product rating: 4.6/5

Customer Insight: “This is a stunning tool. There are great templates that are easily modified to suit you. There’s a learning curve which should come as no surprise once you recognize its potential (and therefore yours.) I don’t know one line of code.”

Support: Slider Revolution’s support manual and YouTube videos provide instant support.

Click for a preview of the Slider Revolution plugin.

5. LayerSlider: #1 WordPress Slider Plugin

LayerSlider is the best WordPress plugin for web designers looking for an uncompromising approach to making amazing web content with gorgeous visual effects.

LayerSlider is not only for building responsive sliders and popups but is also excellent for creating more complex websites. LayerSlider’s top feature is, in fact, a scroll effect in which a hero image magically animates as visitors scroll through the page, as is the case in the Fairy Magical Company example with its scroll scene, scroll transition, and pinned layers.

With respect to templates, the Wood Sculptor website template shows a great example of LayerSlider’s capabilities.

Qualities that only its users will notice include:

• A Project Editor that matches professional desktop applications in terms of performance and usability.
• A complete suite of visual content creation online services without leaving the UI.
• Built-in transitions and effects that can be applied instantly.

Although LayerSlider’s popup and banner-creating capabilities and popular animation features are excellent for marketing purposes, LayerSlider is “tailored” for use on any website niche.

Customer Insight: “Powerful features and a flexible slider for many effects. Makes a very professional looking slider.”

Support: A support manual comes with the package, plus built-in help for almost everything inside the LayerSlider Project Editor.

Click for a preview of the LayerSlider plugin.

6. Essential Grid

Essential Grid is the #1 WordPress gallery plugin for creating galleries guaranteed to capture visitors’ attention.

The grid skin options and 50+ unique grid skins are clearly Essential Grid’s top feature.

Users can easily plug and play these customizable templates to complete projects in no time at all, plus Essential Grid’s visual skin editor enables users to create as many skin variations as they want.

• Essential grid created galleries load with a rocket-fast speed and are responsive to display the content on all devices in the most perfect way.
• It’s also possible to do search engine optimization of an Essential Grid gallery using deep linking and pagination to achieve a higher ranking on Google.

Team, blog, portfolio, and You/Tube Vimeo channel stream grids are popular among target client categories. The Portfolio Grid example features a image-based portfolio grid layout with pinned text layer and hover effects.

The developers of the wildly popular Slider Revolution plugin, which also appears on this list of best plugins, created Essential Grid as well.

Product rating: 4.7/5 on Trust Pilot

Customer Insight: “It’s rare in today’s world to find support that is competent and responsive, but Theme Punch’s Essential Grid support is AMAZING!!! My issue was resolved on the first contact, and within an hour of submitting a ticket.”

Support: Look to the support manual and YouTube videos for instant support.

Preview Essential Grid.

7. Web Stories – WordPress plugin

Web Stories helps users create powerful narratives and fast-loading full-screen experiences.

The top feature of this WordPress storytelling editor is how smoothly it blends a selection of story creation capabilities into a WYSIWYG creation tool. WebStories also provides an impressive selection of templates. Bike Shop is simple, straightforward, and also one of the most popular eCommerce themed templates.

Other popular features include even more beautiful page templates to help get story creation activities underway together with:

• a visually rich and intuitive dashboard that makes it easy to navigate through the entire story creation process.
• drag-and-drop capabilities designed to make composing beautiful stories as easy as possible.
• access to the WordPress media library through the plugin’s dashboard.

Product qualities that Web Stories’ users discover when they begin using the plugin include:

• fast loading times that keep visitors engaged and entertained.
• sharing and linking stories on the open web.
• tracking and measuring stories for monetization.

Product rating: 4.1/5

Customer Insight: “On our website, we personally love the web story platform! It’s SO beautiful and customizable, we can create different posts that fit our media outlet, and our public likes it a lot. It isn’t that easy to make in the beginning, but once you get it, you can produce a lot!

Instant support option: Solid documentation.

View the Web Stories plugin.

8. Tablesome

Tablesome is the best WordPress form automation plugin for those who need to efficiently transfer information from submitted forms into tables.

Tablesome’s top feature is easily its WordPress Automation feature which enables users to automate certain data management processes when people have submitted forms such as:

• storing the form entries in a table.
• saving the form entries to Google Sheet.
• sending the form entries in an email.

Tablesome’s users appreciate what Workflow Automation does to make their work easier. As they become familiar with Tablesome they gain a better understanding of the tasks it can do, and also become aware of the significant reduction in the number plugins needed to carry out those tasks.

Tablesome can also be used to support building of or improving data-centric websites thanks to its integrations with MailChimp, Google Sheets, Slack, HubSpot CRM, OpenAI/ChatGPT, and WordPress.

Product rating: 4.7/5

Customer Insight: “I was searching for a simple responsive table plugin that allowed Excel file imports in the free version, and after testing all the so-called popular table plugins, I realized that none of them offered excel imports in the free version or if they did, they were not responsive. Then I found Tablesome, and it worked perfectly! Within minutes I had the table setup from the existing excel sheet. Thank you to the authors of Tablesome, and I highly recommend it to everyone!”

Support: YouTube videos and Tablesome’s user manual are best for instant support.

Preview Tablesome.

***** 

Which plugins or plugins you might use in 2024?

It’s understandable you would not need every one of them, but having one or two could add significant value to your projects. With so many free and premium WordPress plugins to select from in the 4 areas that we covere, we saved you a great amount of time.

Each of these best WordPress plugins is:

• super-fast, solid, and has excellent UX.
• free of restrictions or limitations within its area.
• a huge time saver thanks to its prebuilt demos that make creating web projects efficient and enjoyable.
• designed for looking excellent on both desktop and mobile.

And customer support for each of these plugins is on point, responsive and pro.

Check out these free and premium wordpress plugins, take them for a spin and go premium if you need the extra features.

If you’re using the WordPress platform for your website building projects, you’re definitely on the right track. Still, building a better website than the competition’s is usually easier said than done. As doing so may require design or coding skills beyond what you currently possess.

The good news is that there are WordPress tools that can be precisely what you need to improve a website’s features or add desired functionality.

These tools are called plugins, and they are software addons you can install on your websites to add features. You can extend functionality, optimize SEO, boost speed and performance, and more.

Check out these 9 great  WordPress plugins for your website projects in 2023. One of more of them could give you exactly what you are looking for.

1. Brizy: The Best Website Builder for Non-techies

If is unlikely that the Brizy design team really intended to pander to you, but once you start using it, no other website theme builder will ever feel as nice and easy to work with. The Brizy cloud website builder is ideal for beginners and non-techies (and for techies as well), and you can download it for free.

The Brizy WordPress theme builder has many uses. You can, for example –

• build a new website.
• improve upon an existing one.
• create dynamic templates and use them for creating blog and archive pages, headers and footers, and custom pages exactly as you want them.
• choose among more than 150 high conversion pre-made templates
• access elements and templates to customize an eCommerce shop site

Key Brizy features include a Theme Builder, Global Blocks, Global Styling features, and WooCommerce integration. You can take advantage of the 100% White Label option if you want to brand the Brizy Builder as your own.

Click on the banner to give Brizy a closer look. A Pro option is available.

2. WpDataTables – WordPress tables plugin

You probably enjoy facing a challenge now and then, or you wouldn’t be a web designer. Still, working with massive amounts of complex data can be frustrating at times. Especially when it takes hours of effort to create a table or chart and the final result is disappointing.

wpDataTables is a power-packed WordPress tables plugin that can process huge amounts of complex data to create attractive, interactive, responsive, and easily editable and maintainable tables and charts in minutes.

wpDataTables key features include –

• 4 chart-building engines — Google Charts, Highcharts, Chart.js, and Apex Charts.
• the ability to work from multiple database sources, MYSQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL and with all standard data formats
• using Conditional Formatting to highlight and color code key data
• integration with Elementor, Divi, Avada and WP Bakery.

Other useful features include sorting and filtering, formula columns, nested JSON, and more. Click on the banner to learn more.

3. Amelia – WordPress booking plugin

Adding the Amelia WordPress booking plugin to a business’s WordPress website can completely streamline and fully automate its appointment booking operations with its ability to –

• manage an unlimited number of client appointment bookings at multiple locations from a single platform and dashboard.
• enable clients to book appointments online 24/7.
• manage group appointments, packages, and events.
• send notifications and reminders to clients via Email or SMS
• accept payments online using PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, or

Booking forms can even be customized to match the business’s brand. Amelia provides an ideal booking solution for beauty, healthcare, fitness, consulting, educational, and other client-dependent business enterprises.

Click on the banner to learn more about how you could use the Amelia WordPress plugin streamline and automate your business’s booking operations.

4. LayerSlider – Best WordPress Slider Builder Plugin

Choosing LayerSlider to add sliders to a website is a wise choice as it’s the best WordPress slider plugin on the market, and it can also be used to create image galleries, popups, landing pages, animated page blocks, and parallax and scroll scenes.

• LayerSlider will fully support whatever WordPress theme and page builder you happen to be using.
• LayerSlider’s 210+ highly customizable website, slider, and popup templates provide a great starting point for your new projects.

5. TheDock – Ship Solid Websites

TheDock WordPress theme builder helps teams create websites faster; websites that are guaranteed to look sharp, perform great, and be easy to support because of this plugin’s –

• well organized selections of Custom Post Types and Custom Fields.
• extremely fast page loads
• auto-adjusting, highly flexible layout system and its global UI components
• White-label builder for sharing access to TheDock’s theme builder only when you want to
• high security and easy maintenance.

6. Slider Revolution – more than a WordPress slider plugin

If you would benefit from injecting a few healthy doses of spice and flair into your websites, you should have the Slider Revolution WordPress plugin in your web design toolbox.

Slider Revolution’s-

• 250+ website and slider templates and innovative website animation effects will impress the most jaded of visitors
• web design tools take you to the limits of web design possibilities.

Slider Revolution is used and trusted by over 9 million worldwide users.

7. Ads Pro – WordPress ad manager

The Ads Pro WordPress advertising plugin presents its users with an exceptional range of advertising sales, management, and display options.

Ads Pro’s easy to work with key features include –

• an Admin Panel and front-end order form that supports efficient ad management.
• 25+ customizable ad templates and 20+ ad display options including 3 Facebook display options
• 3 billing methods and 4 payment gateways together with click fraud and ad block protection.

8. Download Monitor – Best WordPress Download Manager

Download Monitor is a WordPress downloads manager that can help streamline your business operations without having to set-up a complex tracking solution, such as Google Analytics.

Download Monitor enables you to –

• track multiple file download types (ZIP, PPT, XSLX, PDF, etc.)
• aggregate file download statistics for total downloads, downloads by IP, by user role, etc.
• establish access rules based on user roles and download quotas.

9. Essential Grid – Best WordPress grid plugin

You can use this, the best WordPress grid plugin on the market, to incorporate breathtaking, professional-looking galleries into your websites.

It isn’t all that difficult to do so. Essential Grid places at your fingertips –

• fully customizable and stunning boxed and full-width to full-screen grid layout options and masonry and cobble grid designs
• responsive designs that enable you to control how your grids will appear on various devices
• access to social media content.

*******

WordPress is a highly flexible content management syste for building websites. A driving force behind this flexibility is the wide variety of great WordPress plugins you can use to add features to your site.

Choosing the right WordPress plugin is important for a website’s performance. It can be critical with respect to what it will be capable of accomplishing.

Check out these 9 best WordPress plugins for your website projects in 2023. One of more of them could be a game changer.

WordPress powers more than 42% of the web, making it by far the world’s most popular website platform. This platform has the tools needed to build any type of website. They include themes that serve to make building high-quality sites easier. Also, cool WordPress plugins that add special features and functionalities that themes often lack.

The right plugin can do wonders for a website’s design and performance. But with more than 42,000 essential WordPress plugins to choose from, finding the “best” plugin to satisfy a particular need can be a time-consuming task. It is one that has no guarantee of being successful.

Finding just the right plugin is best left up the experts, those people in the back room that are very good at comparing one thing against another.

What those experts have found as we enter 2022 is simply amazing. Perhaps one or more of these 9 top WordPress plugins will be exactly what you’ve been looking for.

1. Amelia

Amelia is an automated booking system that can flawlessly manage an unlimited number of appointment bookings for an unlimited number of business clients.

Amelia can manage appointments for multiple locations and does so using a single insightful dashboard from a single platform.

A WordPress website design that utilizes the Amelia plugin’s features and functionalities can completely streamline a business’s booking operations.

• Clients can make or change appointment bookings online at any hour of the day
• They can request appointments with specific employees
• They can receive reminders and follow-ups and be notified of forthcoming special events or learning sessions online
• They can also make any payments due online, or pay deposits for appointments and events
• Businesses can schedule training or educational sessions, or other events and sell packages of services online
• Booking forms can be customized to fit a business’s brand

Amelia’s time and money-saving automated booking system is ideal for service-oriented businesses like beauty parlors, gyms, health and fitness centers, training centers, and barbershops.

Click on the banner to see how Amelia can help you leverage your business.

2. wpDataTables

You’re tasked with building a responsive, interactive, and maintainable table, the task must be completed relatively quickly, and you’ve got several million rows of data to process. When you start to think seriously about seeking a new line of work, you hear about wpDataTables, an absolute workhorse when it comes to creating tables and charts from massive amounts of data quickly.

This powerful WordPress plugin –

• can process data from multiple sources using multiple formats
• can highlight key data and color code essential data in both tables and charts
• can help users build tables manually, from spreadsheet or database data, or a real-time MySQL database
• wpDataTables features a large amount of data sorting and filtering options. It also provides ready access to Chart.js, HighCharts, and Google Charts libraries.

Click on the banner to see what 50,000+ satisfied users already know. 

3. LayerSlider

The LayerSlider plugin has been on the market for more than a decade. Following web design trends and customer demand, the developers have elevated LayerSlider’s functionality and ease of use to new heights.

LayerSlider 7 has just made its debut. This is the biggest update yet, and by far the most exciting. With this release, LayerSlider has evolved into a powerful tool to dazzle your website visitors with eye-catching web design and effects.

• LayerSlider 7 introduces a powerful, totally redesigned project editor that is a joy to work with and gives users the ability to design anything without limits
• Users can also design popups with stunning effects. Popups can be used to grab visitors’ attention with adverts, store messages, newsletters, and similar solutions
• With a growing selection of templates and Add-Ons, LayerSlider continues to offer an all-in-one solution for every need

LayerSlider 7 is well worth a closer look. Click on the banner to do precisely that.

4. Essential Grid

A gallery is often meant to be the focal point of a website, but from a design standpoint it is all too often treated just like any other website page.

Essential Grid can give your website gallery a shot in the arm with its –

• features that let you display products, videos, and portfolios as you always meant them to be displayed
• variety of screen layout options coupled with row, column, and spacing adjustments

5. TheDock

As a web designer you’ve probably found website building easier when you use a website theme. You might even have given some thought to creating your own theme(s), but you don’t believe you have the skills to do so.

TheDock plugin’s visual editor changes all that.

• It runs as a plugin and writes the code for you.
• TheDock-created themes are always responsive.
• You can edit theme design, layout, and architecture without writing a line of code.

6. Slider Revolution

The Slider Revolution plugin is designed to help web designers incorporate healthy doses of spice and flair into their websites – and impress their clients by doing so.

• Slider Revolution takes into account today’s over-the-top web design demands
• The 25+ addons and 200+ website and slider templates that are included are designed to impress
• Slider Revolution users can also import dynamic content from the web

Customers can look forward to receiving one-on-one support.

7. Tablesome – Advanced WordPress Table Plugin

Tablesome is a data table plugin that enables its users to create tables they can embed in their website pages or posts.

• Tablesome’s drag and drop feature can be used to manually sort or reorder tabular data
• A table can be partially or fully duplicated to create a new table

Tablesome stores Contact Form 7 submissions and stored data can be uploaded to external sources such as Google Sheets, MailChimp, etc.

8. Wordlift

The WordLift SEO plugin helps web designers improve their websites’ search engine capabilities by working with them to create custom AI-powered Knowledge Graphs.

The designers can use their Knowledge Graphs to –

• enhance their websites’ expertise, trustworthiness, and authority
• help Google understand website content
• lead website visitors to content that is most likely to keep them engaged

WordLift also serves as an SEO knowledge and training partner for its users.

9. Heroic Inbox

Incorporate the Heroic Inbox plugin’s features into your company’s website and you’ll be able to manage all of your company’s emails from shared inboxes.

• A third party platform is not required. All email inboxes can be managed from your company’s website.
• Past customer email communications can be displayed on a sidebar to support customer-company dialogs.

Heroic Inbox tracks key company and team performance metrics.

*****

Having just the right plugin in hand can do amazing thing for a website’s performance and capabilities. But with so many useful WordPress plugins to choose from, searching for the “best” plugin to scratch an itch or satisfy a particular need can be a time-consuming if not hopeless task. The one that has no guarantee of being successful.

This is an area that is best left up to those who have the expertise to locate the top WordPress plugin(s) in a given category. They are recommended to web designers and interested businesses. The experts’ pick of the top WordPress plugins for 2022 is what you see in this post.

If you plan to add social media posts to a website, add a few colorful, informative, and responsive charts. Or, simply spice things up with a few carefully placed animations, you may need to enlist the aid of a plugin to do it well.

If you really want to take your site or business to the next level, it only makes sense to seek out one of the best WordPress plugins in a given category. So, you won’t get just good results, but awesome results.

Which is presumably why you’re reading this article.

Since all useful WordPress plugins are obviously not created equal you might want to do some comparisons to see what might perform best for you.

Or you could simply check out the following selection of 9 top WordPress plugins. Select one that provides the functionality you’re looking for, and get on with it.

You will not be disappointed.

1. Amelia WordPress Booking Plugin

Automated processes can save time, minimize or eliminate stress, give you error-free performance, and make all interested parties happier than was previously the case.

At least that is what Amelia can do for fitness centers, beauty parlors, training centers, consulting firms, photographers and other businesses as 30,000+ businesses already benefit from Amelia scheduling.

• Amelia automates the appointment booking process, while at the same time giving clients and employees full control over their respective actions.
• Clients can make, change, or cancel appointments 24/7.
• Appointments are only made at times that are convenient for the parties concerned (usually a client and an employee).
• Selling packages of appointment for a single price is possible
• There is no limit to the number of clients, the number of appointments that can be booked, or the number of employees, plus Amelia can serve multiple locations.
• This Enterprise-Level booking manager can schedule events as well as appointments.
• Business owners can check overall status at any time. Clients do not have to login to WordPress to cancel or reschedule an appointment.

Click on the banner to learn more.

2. wpDataTables

wpDataTables is a WordPress table and chart plugin that gives its users the easiest way to create responsive tables and charts from a variety of sources and in a variety of formats.

wpDataTables –

• creates simple tables, data tables, and 3 types of charts
• easily manages massive amounts of data and organizes the data into intuitive and interactive tables and charts
• accepts data from Google spreadsheets, Excel files, CSV files, and other sources
• generates real-time data directly from MySQL
• features conditional formatting techniques for highlighting and color-coding key data

While wpDataTables can be used by anyone and in any industry, this popular plugin has proven to be particularly useful when working with financial statistics, operational statistics, large product inventories, complex analyses, and comparisons.

Click on the banner to review the full range of wpDataTables’ features and capabilities. 

3. WPC Product Bundles for WooCommerce

Cross-selling is an established marketing practice in which products from different product lines are combined or bundled, a practice that can be difficult without a well-planned system as WPC Product Bundles for promotion offering, stock management and order packaging to keep the ball rolling.

WPC Product Bundles can bring about to your business –

• Combine simple products, variable products, selected variations of a product to form a bundle (e.g., combine a t-shirt with jeans and shoes)
• Display bundled products with an appalling interface of your preference: ddSlick, Select2, HTML tags or Radio Buttons
• Use drag and drop to rearrange the order of bundled products
• Auto-calculate or manually set regular and sale prices
• Smartly manage inventory, tax, shipping charges, and order invoice

Plus, WPC Product Bundles can work with many other WPC plugins (ie. Smart Wishlist, Quick View, and Compare) to strengthen the user experience and sales boosting effects.

Click on the banner to learn more about the benefits of this top-rated product bundling plugin. 

4. Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution’s new template library isn’t just for building sliders. It’s also for creating stunning and responsive hero sections and other web page sections and content elements.

• Slider Revolution’s drag and drop intuitive editor will save you hours of work on every project
• Everything you need is there for creating jaw-dropping designs
• Royalty-free background images, videos, font icons, and more are at your fingertips

Click to learn more about this amazing plugin. 

5. LayerSlider

The name LayerSlider doesn’t come close to describing what this amazing WordPress builder is capable of.

LayerSlider –

• Is a multi-purpose tool for animation and content creation
• Is perfect for giving old and run-of-the mill websites a new lease on life
• Can be used to create engaging popups you can use to display important messages or store offers
• Does not require coding. It’s all drag and drop.

Click to find out even more.

6. Logic Hop – Content Personalization for WordPress

Personalization is more important than ever. Without it, your site shows the same message to every visitor. Every time they visit…

Logic Hop shows the right message to the right person and helps you increase conversions. Features like geolocation, dynamic text replacement  and integrations with WooCommerce and Gravity Forms make Logic Hop the best personalization tool on the market.

Try Logic Hop and see what personalization can do for you. 

7. Heroic Inbox

Instead of relying on a slap-dash method of trying to manage a customer support staff’s email inbox, Heroic inbox makes it much easier for staff members to work together.

• With a snappy UI and fast workflows to work with, your support staff can quickly achieve Inbox Zero status and maintain it
• Heroic Inbox tracks the key metrics involved in inbox management, so you can always see how the staff is performing

8. Ads Pro Plugin – Multi-Purpose WordPress Advertising Manager

“More and Better” is always a nice place to be, and Ads Pro, the best ad manager for WordPress puts your ad management operation firmly in that place with its –

• 20+ ad display techniques
• 25+ ready-to-use user friendly and responsive ad templates
• Intuitive Frontend User Panel and Order Form and Statistics Module
• 4 Payment methods and 3 Billing modules

Click on the banner to learn more about how ads Pro can help you. 

9. Flow-Flow Social Feed

Flow-Flow is a friendly, fast, and powerful way to customize the design and behavior of your site’s social media feed.

• You can add as many social feeds to a stream as you need
• Flow-Flow is responsive, highly customizable, and no coding is required to set it up
• A free Lite test drive version is available

Flow-Flow has been Envato’s best-selling social media plugin since 2014.

 *****

WordPress plugins are great tools for adding and extending functionality to WordPress and WordPress user sites. To get the greatest value for your money, we recommend that you always set your sites on getting the best plugin in its category.

As you can see from the above selection, best-in-class useful WordPress plugins can be reasonably priced. Any one of these is capable of turning a website into a conversion and money-making machine.

These essential plugins for WordPress are easy to set up and work with, and were designed to make life easy for WordPress website administrators.

In an age where hacking is proliferating at unprecedented rates, website security matters more than ever. But often when building a website, security is at the bottom of a developer’s priority list. And it can be difficult to understand how to build a strong website which stands a higher likelihood of resisting hacking attempts, malware, and viruses. And unfortunately, regularly running antivirus protection is rarely enough to keep your website safe!

We put together an easy, comprehensive guide for building a more secure website from the ground up, offering practical tips and suggestions which can make your website a harder target. According to published statistics, as many as one in three websites on the entire internet is vulnerable. Don’t let yours be one of them!

Pick Your CMS With Security In Mind

Most websites are built on a CMS framework like Jooma or WordPress, these days. But the CMS you choose can have a dramatic impact on your website’s security. For example, most hackers will opt to hack more popular CMS-based websites, simply because they represent a larger pool of popular targets. But the offset to that is that more popular CMS frameworks are generally patched and updated more frequently to correct vulnerabilities than less popular frameworks.

With this in mind, select a framework based on your expected website management schedule. If you think you’ll be able to regularly check for updates to your framework and install them, than a more popular option like WordPress might be technically more secure. If you intend to have a more hands-off approach, and might check in on your website every few weeks or months, you might be better off using a less popular framework, which will make your website a statistically less likely target.

Secure Your Hosting Plan

Most website developers are aware that they can purchase additional security mechanisms for their hosting from their hosting provider. But the type of hosting you have can also influence your security. For example, shared hosting is generally less secure than dedicated hosting. And keeping your databases and cpanel regularly updated (just as with your framework) can also help implement security patches and updates to improve your hosting security.

Install Plugins Judiciously

If you’re utilizing a CMS for your website, chances are there are dozens, if not hundreds, of potential plugins for you to install on your website. These plugins can help your website do anything from capture leads to display parallax images to integrate with social media. But we caution developers against installing too many plugins, simply because every new plugin is another element of coding which might have an easy loophole for hackers to gain entry into your website.

A good rule of thumb is to find one or two plugins which do many of the tasks you need, rather than finding plugins which each individually specialize. You should also have an aggressive update regimen, to ensure that all plugins are updated to their newest versions as often and as easily as possible.

Protect Your Login Credentials

Always ensure that the names of user accounts never display on a website; and for that matter, ensure that no administrator account to get into your website is named ‘admin’. The ‘admin’ account name is among the most popular on the internet, and unfortunately, this fact makes it all the easier for hackers to crack into websites. Using novel, long user names and passwords, with complex characters, can add a substantial layer of protection to your website.

Other Security Tips

It can sometimes happen that your own machine might help to spread viruses and other problems to your website. Always have a rigorous security suite installed and active on your computer, and use your antivirus protection to conduct regular scans. Try to avoid using public networks where possible, and clear your browser cache regularly.

We often don’t feel the stress of whether or not there are multiple version of a file saves until there is a coding issue which leaves you with no choice but to revert to a previous version. These issues make you realize the importance of version control systems, as they help manage source code and distribute different versions. It is considered a vital part of core development for WordPress. Version control is a way to record changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later.

Version Control Systems (VCS) create automatic backups that are designed to help multiple people collaboratively edit files. They can be set to automatically backup files eliminating the worry of saving the latest version. Even if you are offline or working on multiple computers, the VCS will automatically merge the changes intelligently once you are online. They also enable you to access files from multiple computers.

If you are a graphic or a web designer and you intend to keep every version of the image or layout you designed, a (VCS) is a very wise thing to use. It allows you to revert files back to a previous state and compare changes over time allowing you to easily check the latest modifications made when a problem arises from one version to the next. It is especially handy when collaborating with several people on a project to track introduced something new and when. Using a VCS also generally means that even if you make a mistake or lose files, your previous work can easily be recovered.

With the emergence of new technology, web development is becoming more complex which in turn increases the difficulty to incorporate a proper version control process into a platform. Due to the complexity of new technology for both front and back end, auto backups and version control have become a necessary tool for developers and designers who can’t afford to lose hours of work. Be aware, some information can still be lost when performing multiple backups to WordPress sites. There are still a few difficulties when backing up things like plug-in settings or databases when they are distributed over teams. A good plugin that aims to resolve this issue is VersionPress.

Different Kinds of Version Control System

Local Version Control Systems
This involves copying the files to another directory. This is common and simple to use, however, the major drawback is its prone to error as It is easy to forget in which directory you’re in and you may accidentally overwrite the wrong file or copy. For this reason, it is recommended to use a time-stamped directory, a popular VCS tool for this is RCS.

Centralized Version Control Systems (CVCS)
Developed to help coordinate and collaborate with developers on different systems. All the different versions are conveniently stored in a server and can be checked easily by different team members from that central place. There is a major risk if the server gets corrupted. If Multiple backups are not created you could lose all your files.

Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCS)
Every clone is really a full backup of all the data. Users can check out the latest snapshot of the files which fully mirror the repository even if the server dies, the systems still continue to collaborate on it, all of the user repositories can be a fully restored backup to the server to restore it as a whole.

Author Bio – Jack Calder is a PSD to WordPress theme conversion service provider who shares his experience about WordPress and web designing via blogging.

It can be difficult wading through the sea of free open source code to find exactly what you’re looking for. Each project has its own feeling and purpose based on the context of the situation. This means developers are continually searching for the best free plugins to save time instead of writing every line of code from scratch.

I’d like to share a number of resources that should prove useful to every web designer & developer. Each of these tricks and online webapps place a focus on free plugins and free source code. Tutorials are another method of learning to code which teaches developers how to create plugins and how to edit them properly. I don’t assume that every person would find all of these resources useful – but depending on your skillset and project workload some of these links will be a lifesaver.

Code Repositories

By far one of the most popular and incredibly important tools of the modern Internet era is GitHub. If you’re a developer I must advocate that you sign up for an account if you don’t already have one. The site is like a social network full of developers with knowledge in every programming language under the sun.

Each person has their own profile which includes a list of all their code repositories, or repos for short. A repo could be anything from a detailed WordPress theme down to a tiny jQuery plugin. There are repos for Objective-C iOS apps, Java Android apps, RoR gems… if you need it there’s probably a repo on GitHub.

Best of all GitHub as a product is completely free without any need to ever pay money. All public repos are also free and they each include a download button over to the right-hand side. Take for example the jQuery library which surprisingly does have it’s own GitHub page.

The repo will list all of the files included with jQuery, when they were last updated, and some details about the project. You can also browse through support issues or post a new issue of your own.

Perhaps the best feature about GitHub as it relates to web development is the search functionality. Just punch in some keywords and enjoy. For example if I needed a carousel rotator/image slider I might search for “jquery slider” and see what comes up. The results can be filtered by best match, number of stars, recently updated, and other parameters.

If you’ve never used GitHub before then please make this your first stop. It’s easy to get caught up in all the beautiful repos and spend 30-60 minutes just browsing through everything. And best of all you can find plugins for nearly every library or CMS in existence. Actually the best part is that it’s all 100% totally free!

Google Queries

I can’t overstate the immense value acquired through Google. Whenever I have a problem or need to find a solution Google is often my first choice. But it’s not enough to just type some keywords and expect their search algos to do the rest. Google is a tool, and like all tools it becomes more powerful in the hands of someone with experience.

A good rule of thumb is to not always expect to get your best results in the first 2-3 searches. This attitude is what causes developers to give up and go look somewhere else. One technique I like to use is limiting keywords based on a single website’s domain. This is accomplished by appending site:domain.com at the end of your search.

For example, to look for a solution to a recently encountered problem you might try limiting keywords to site:stackoverflow.com. This query would offer thousands of results and it’s likely that you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for. Alternatively you might be searching for a tutorial or plugin with specific functionality, so extra keywords will produce more accurate results.

If you’re looking for a certain technique look over Google’s search tips & tricks webpage. This includes a basketful of content directed specifically at those who want to take advantage of everything that Google has to offer.

Organized Plugin Galleries

A number of people have built their own websites showcasing hand-picked jQuery plugins. These galleries are meant to be resources for developers to find the latest & greatest plugins as they’re released on the Internet. Since there is no central release point it can be tough to locate new plugins as they become available.

My #1 absolute favorite gallery is Unheap which organizes jQuery plugins based on a number of categories. These include forms, animations, navigation, embedded media, and a whole lot more. The site must have hundreds if not thousands of different plugins for any purpose imaginable. Each plugin has its own little featured preview along with outbound links pointing directly to the plugin’s homepage & demo page.

By comparison my next recommendation would be jQuer.in. The design isn’t as sleek and it’s a little more difficult to navigate – but jQuery.in updates far more often than any other plugin gallery I’ve found.

This means you’ll really be up-to-speed on the pulse of new technologies as they’re released. It’s worth checking the jQuer.in homepage every few weeks just to see what’s been posted. Sometimes you won’t find anything but other times you’ll be pleasantly surprised with a pile of very cool resources.

The last plugin gallery I want to mention is jQuery Rain. This one can be a little confusing because it’s structured more like a blog instead of a gallery. But the links are updated frequently and it’s certainly a reliable resource for great jQuery plugins. One thing I’ve noticed is that jQuery Rain often includes tutorials as well as plugins. This may or may not be useful depending on how much work you’re willing to put into development.

But when it comes to finding great plugins you can never go wrong with these galleries. Most items are curated by hand to be checked for pristine quality and a set of code that actually works properly.

Cloud IDEs

Cloud hosting is in a rapid growth cycle and has proven to be an excellent choice for many different platforms. Saas(Software as a Service) is almost completely predicated on the notion of paying a fee in order to use some cloud-based application. But the most interesting and popular cloud apps often turn out to be free.

When searching for plugins you won’t always find the perfect codebase, however you might find a great example that can be converted into a plugin. Developers like to host demos in the cloud for editing their code on different computers and sharing with others around the world. This has turned into a huge market full of services like CodePen and JSFiddle.

I really like these cloud applications because most user profiles are public, and developers like to share their code online. Some apps even let you search for particular keywords or tags which can be very helpful. But another choice is using Google as I mentioned earlier.

By searching for a piece of functionality and limiting to a certain domain you’ll get much more explicit results. This allows you to browse through 40+ pages of results pulled from any cloud IDE service. Granted this may not lead to a specific plugin, but it will lead to some great examples and free code snippets which can be edited as you please.

Closing

Whether you’re an experienced developer or just getting started in the field, these resources should give you a leg up on frontend JavaScript. With enough patience and practice you’ll grow to understand a lot more about the world of dynamic frontend web development. If any of these links caught your attention make sure to bookmark them for later. Additionally if I forgot any resources for plugins feel free to share with us in the post comments area below.