Murdoch University Blogs

Plugins

Plugins are extra features to let you do more with WordPress. Initially Wordpress has a core set of functions for all blogs, but these can be changed by adding different modules called plugins. You may or may not want to switch these on.

Some extra features (plugins) are switched on for all blogs. Some plugins you need to switch on to use.

There is a list of other possible plugins at the WPMUDEV site. If your blog isn’t doing everything you want it to, then you may find an appropriate plugin on the list and request that we install it.

PLUGINS ENABLED FOR ALL BLOGS

More privacy options

This adds three new options under the Settings > Privacy Tab. They are explained in the information about Settings . Here is a link to information about the More Privacy Options plugin from the plugin authors.

WYSIWYG print

This makes any page you print out look more or less like it did on the screen of your browser. Here is a link to information about the WYSISYG  plugin from the plugin authors.

Anarchy media player

This inserts a media player into your post when you link to an audio or video file ( *not* a video sharing site). This is highly customisable. Here is a link to information about the Anarchy Media Player plugin from the plugin authors.

Allow embedded videos

This lets you use the embed code from sites like YouTube and Slideshare to embed media into your blog posts. Just copy the code from the site under the “code” tab when you write your post. Here is a link to information about the Allow Embedded Videos plugin from the plugin authors.

Akismet

This stops spam comments or pingbacks from being added to your blog posts. *Sometimes* people with legitimate comments are blocked, especially if their email account is from a site where people are know to send spam. Here is a link to information about the Akismet plugin from the plugin authors.

PLUGINS YOU CAN SWITCH ON IF YOU WANT TO

You will need to enable these plugins using the plugins screen if you want to use them.

Here’s how to get to the Plugins screen:

Please note: the screenshots below are for an earlier version of the software, but the options are the same.

To enable a plugin, click on the word “activate” on the right hand column. The plugin will be switched on and the work “activate” changed to “deactivate”. To disable the plugin, click on the word “deactivate”.

The image below shows no plugins activated:

Once you have activated a plugin, you will need to set its options. The options page appears under the Settings tab only after the plugin has been activated.

Add RSS

When web browsers detect an RSS feed on any page on the web, a small RSS icon appears in the address bar. Users can click on this to add the RSS feed to their browser bokmarks. This plugin lets you add other feeds to the list of autodetected feeds, for example the RSS feed fir library new books in a subject area.

Add Firestats

This records non-identifying information about people who view your blog, like which URL referred them, which country they are from, their domain and the type of browser they used. This information lets you know whether you are reaching your target audience. Statistics are only recorded for posts published *after* the plugin is enabled.

Photo dropper

This adds an extra search box on your “Write post” screen. It searches Flickr and retrieves images released under Creative Commons. You can then click on S, M or L to automatically insert a small, medium or large image into your blog post, including attribution.

Sociable

This adds a number of icons to the bottom of all your posts. If users click on these, then it adds your post to their account at a corresponding Social Networking site. You determine which icons are offered via the options page.

Spam Karma 2

This adds extra Anti-spam protection to your blog. When you first enable the plugin you will see a pink line at the top of your page with a request that you click on the link to visit the SpamKarma options page. Click on the link and be taken to the configuration page, do nothing more and then go about your business, just a little more spam free than you once were. You will get regular email messages from Spam Karma telling you what is happening with your blog.

Subscribe to Comments

This adds a check box at the bottom of the screen where people can comment on your post. If they check this, then they will be emailed every time someone else makes a comment on this post. Commenters with this set up for your blog can later change their email address details using a link at the bottom of the page.

Wordpress video plugin

This lets you embed media items from other sites. Most of the time, the site-wide “Allow embedded videos” plugin will work. If for some reason it does not, then enable this plugin and go to the instructions page to see how to embed the media.

GD Star Rating

GD Star Rating plugin allows you to set up rating and review system for posts, pages and comments in your blog. You can set many options for displaying the rating stars, and also add widgets into the sidebars for displaying top ratings and other statistics generated by the plugin. Plugin includes advanced settings panels that will allow you to control many aspects of rating. Plugin also supports multi ratings along with thumbs based ratings.