Top 10 Most Embarrassing Website Mistakes
First, I’m being kind in calling these mistakes. You don’t just do these “by mistake” — it requires a willful action to do something that to most people is a blaring faux pas. As the web matures, I see these less and less often, but new, enthusiastic web designers who are primarily technical people aren’t always wired in to what users expect when they visit a site.
So here they are: the top 10 things that will wreck the credibility of your site. Please note I am not ranking them by how ridiculous they are because any of them should get you fired if the website project is paid work, and possibly are in violation of the Geneva Convention.
#1 Visitor Counters
These went on life support at the end of the last century and died with kiddies using MySpace finally becoming adults. Almost anything a counter says is a potential embarrassment: either the number is really low and tells you no one cares about the site; it’s moderate, meaning one or more people keep hitting refresh to jack the number up; or high, meaning you started the counter at an inflated, fake number. Nothing screams liar like being visitor number 10004.
It’s more modern cousin is less puerile, but still awkward — the “click here for stats” link. Sure the data is more interesting — to you, maybe. But unless you are selling ad space, keep it under the hood. It still evokes the question to the average user, “Why is this here”?
#2 “Best Viewed With {Firefox, IE, Chrome, etc.}”
The browser wars are not your concern. Stop telling people what browser you decided they need to use based on your design. Making a site functional and looking reasonably good in all modern browsers is your job.
#3 Monitor Contrast Test
Seriously? The job of your website is for people to make sure their monitor is calibrated? I haven’t seen this one in over a decade for a reason, so enough said.
#4 “Best Viewed in {some WxH screen resolution}”
Really? Okay, this is forgivable, given you live in a TARDIS stuck between 1984 and 2005. From the start, HTML was designed to be flexible enough to accommodate multiple resolutions, and life was good considering monitor sizes were limited and slowly got larger. But in a world where most web viewers are mobile devices of any number of sizes, you can’t target any one slice of the range. The solution is to optimize for a moderate screen size (fixed width being less than average monitor resolution on laptops and tablets), or better yet use responsive design. Whatever. The point is you can’t expect people to put down their phone and find a PC at the local library to look at your site. Which brings us to:
#5 Oversized Web Pages
I can always tell when someone made a website using a monitor that doubles as a screen for a drive-in theater. I’m sure it looks normal to them, and every other page on the Net was obviously made too small. Sorry, no soup for you. If people using the typical screen resolution du jour and have to scroll sideways to see it all, you did something wrong, not them. It could be layout or oversized images, usually both. Fix it and test on your grandmother’s PC.
#6 Huge File Sizes (images)
Like the oversized monitor warning sign, I can tell when people either have a screaming-fast connection or only test the copy of their website on their computer. Today’s almost ubiquitous broadband made download times almost a non-issue, but increasingly insane and uncalled-for camera photo resolutions have brought back the headache. The most important thing that people get wrong is that IMAGE SIZE IS NOT FILE SIZE. What you see on the screen is surprisingly irrelevant to how much space the file takes up on your computer, and more importantly, how long it takes to load.
There are two reasons for this. The first is that you can “resize” how an image is on a webpage without changing the dimensions of the file itself. People who do not understand that a “thumbnail” is a separate, SMALLER VERSION of the original need to learn this pronto. The second is that two photos (or other graphics even) that are the same dimensions in pixels can be different file sized by a scale of 100 timers or more. Seriously. It’s too much to get into here, but file type and compression make all the difference in the world, and done right will show no difference in quality. Usually resizing the (non-thumbnail) image to be no wider than a typical screen and re-saving as a JPEG with even slight compression will do the job.
#7 Background Music
If you are making a site for a movie or band, feel free to push a video or audio clip in the visitor’s face. Better yet, allow them to choose whether or not to play it and not alert their co-workers you’re surfing on company time. Otherwise, don’t think about it. I’ve broken this rule a couple times over the years at the client’s insistence and threatened to take my company name off the credits. And if you use MIDI music, ever, anywhere, I will hunt you down. I will find you. And I will kill you.
#8 Painful Text-Background Color Combinations
Either you are color-blind in this respect or you are not. If someone says “it’s kinda hard to read”, and the font set and size is typical, they’re probably being nice by not requesting you be a ward of the state so someone can dress you at taxpayer expense before you go outside. So listen carefully when people say this. Test trial it out with people you don’t know. Do it. For the children.
#9 Animated GIFs
No one objects to a waving flag once in a while. On a page for a personal hobby or organization not expected to have a budget to do things right, it doesn’t look so dumb. Now add in more waving flags, hands popping in and out of mailboxes, starbursts announcing “NEW!” and “UPDATE!”, flashing horizontal bar separators, and congratulate yourself. You’ve just created an ADHD circus. Which when combined so often with MIDI music, the 1990s truly was the Dark Ages of the Web. That, and the fact that people who made such web sites worked from their parent’s basements. For the love of all that is wholesome, it’s time to get out of the basement.
#10 Excessive Stock Graphics
This is a grey area. First, let’s be clear we’re not talking about official logos, but generic images that either accent or distract from content. Secondly, let’s distinguish between CLIP ART and STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY, the former a definite step below the latter in terms of professionalism. They can be used sparingly — as in one or two images per page. But any more than that and it’s obvious filler, or someone still recovering from changing times not allowing them to use a bombardment of animated GIFs.
Iconic images directly related to the topic can be exceptions to this rule, especially if it’s artwork emblematic of the subject. Again, sparingly. Heck, you can even get away with a line-drawn hot dog if it’s on a post announcing a picnic. Just remember, the website is not a street sale flier. Unless it’s for a street sale, in which case professionalism isn’t expected. But again, less is more, and sometimes none is better than one.
Artisteer vs. TemplateToaster
{Caveat: I am a heavy WordPress user. Artisteer and TemplateToaster are WYSIWIG CMS theme-builders not limited to WordPRess, but I will be dealing from a WordPress point of view, so some of the below may not apply outside of that. And as with any such reviews, be aware of the date. This is about the two CMS theme platforms, Artisteer and Template Toaster (version 4.x), as of the beginning of May 2014. I discuss Artisteer version 4, but most references are to version 3, for reasons explained below.}
There are plenty of ways to develop WordPress site designs, from highly customizable themes and framework plugins, to development tools such as Artisteer and TemplateToaster. These last two have been invaluable to me, as I want to focus directly on design and layout, not code.
How they are (mostly) similar
Both Artisteer and TemplateToaster generate WordPress theme .ZIP files containing all the necessary elements, templates, and CSS files. Simply export from the program(s), then upload the file using the Dashboard, install, and activate. Artisteer also lets you include in the .ZIP file a copy of the project file (Artisteer’s .artx format) that could be a helpful archive if you lose the original file, or simply want a snapshot of that version of your theme.
These are WYSIWYG editors. They both have a ton of settings from general layouts to minute, granular adjustments for very specific text (such as the font size of a visited link in a widget). You may have to dig through the menus a bit to find every little detail you want to change, but it’s worth it. The overall interface is so similar, my guess is TemplateToaster is based heavily on Artisteer, to the point I wouldn’t be surprised if it was started by ex-employees. But there are many distinct differences that, depending on what is important to you, could be a deal-breaker for one or the other.
Both are inexpensive and worth every penny: $129 for Artisteer, and $99 for TemplateToaster.
Framework and Responsive Layout
This is the biggest gap between the two.
TemplateToaster allows for three templates (“index”, “PageTemplate1”, “PageTemplate2”) so that you can have different layouts available (columns, etc.) for use in pages. It is also fully responsive, and you can even preview it based on various devices (portrait and landscape).
Artisteer 4 is responsive at well, but this is by no means a tie, since this latest version of Artisteer is incompatible with still-heavily-used versions of Internet Explorer. The company’s response? Update your browser. Seriously — somehow you as designer are supposed to have the magical ability to get all your client’s potential client’s across the world to upgrade their browser. This not only reveals a huge gap between the developers of Artisteer and marketplace reality, but an outright apathy toward it. Their users — including myself — have been begging for them to fix this for some time, and it seems more likely the market will change before this happens however long it takes.
This is why I — and so many others — have uninstalled version 4 and restored version 3. The problem there is that is it not responsive, and you must use a plugin to enable a mobile theme (such as WP Touch and Carrington).
This is also why most of the comparisons below are for version 3 of Artisteer, not 4.
Design Suggestions
TemplateToaster has a library of easily choosable themes or you may start “from scratch”. Artisteer has color themes to choose from, but not complete designs. Well, that’s not true. Both will give you a nearly infinite number of design suggestions both to start with and for individual elements, randomly generated but with a sane sense of color combinations. In my opinion, Artisteer’s suggestions are far more vibrant, so much so I often wish I had a project just to use this or that suggestion.
In this respect, if you take the time to sort through suggestions and don’t have pre-established design criteria, you will probably find a LOT less tweaking using Artisteer. In general, Artisteer also bundles settings of fonts and colors far better, whereas you may end up wit ha long list of individual element changes in TemplateToaster.
Visual Design Abilities
With Artisteer, almost everything has a transparency setting; TemplateToaster has very few transparency options. On the other hand, TemplateToaster allows for the use of an image and not merely a texture or color for many elements, such as widget areas and even buttons. It’s a trade-off.
Both have plenty of textures and stock images to choose from, and nice effects to boot. Artisteer seems to have a better library, but TemplateToaster enables adding multiple foreground images (and even has pre-made logos) for the header. In fact, TemplateToaster allows for more text areas in the header, though not as smooth in tweaking header setting as Artisteer.
Artisteer gives Flash effects options for the header, but Template Toaster allows for a header slideshow. Again, a trade-off.
Other Considerations & Conclusion
There are more theme options in the WordPress dashboard once a TemplateToaster theme is activated, but when you switch themes you may have to redo or re-save settings each time, particularly the placement of menus in sidebars. In Artisteer, just make sure any custom menu is still in place for the main navigation.
I must mention one more amazing thing: TemplateToaster has a huge number of customizable widget areas, allowing for some nice framework flexibility. It bogs down the widget page on the dashboard if you don’t use them, but is a heaven-send if you want to insert some content in between spaces in the layout, such as between the main content and the footer, or in the main body above or below the content and/or sidebars.
There are other details too exhaustive to mention here, but if we have to reach a conclusion, it really depends on your needs and preferences as a developer. For me, Artisteer is a faster path to getting design done, but lacks responsive design unless you want to alienate a big segment of web users. TemplateToaster gives more control, but also demands more attention.
A lot of people have migrated to TemplateToaster from Artisteer, though Artisteer seems more “finished” in its user experience, TemplateToaster a touch like it’s still developing. I use both, depending on the project parameters. If I have the time and the client needs a slick mobile version, it’s TemplateToaster. If it’s a simple site not expected to be used on phones often, Artisteer 3 saves me a lot of time. I only wish their project files were compatible or could be imported and exported between them.
How to Direct and Trust Your Web Developer
One of the challenges of web design is that when clients give direction, they really don’t know what they are saying, or why. They may like this or that other site, or a site you make for them more or less, but really don’t know why. They can’t put their finger on it, and expect you to know what they mean. Most of the time it’s the quality of the photos (that they will supply) or lack thereof (that they will not supply). Sometimes it’s the colors, or the font, or the shiny Flash video on the front page. But they don’t know that. All they know is their reaction to what is in front of them, and a vague reason why, usually wrong enough that when you do exactly what they want, they are not happy anyway and can only go back to saying it’s not like {enter site they like here}.
The Challenges
My job is to educate them, or barring that, make guesses what they want somewhere between what their gut will tell them is alright and still looking professional and not embarrassing. Or I have to make it clear what they want (exactly the way they are demanding it) is not in their best interest for a technical reason, or not in their budget, those two going hand in hand more than you’d think. Often it means having to steer them — again, if they are willing — toward something their CLIENTS will like and convince them they they and their family and friends (and sometimes even existing clients) are not their target audience.
The problem is, I care. I don’t see my job as a taxi driver being told what address to arrive at. O, if it were that simple! I am more like a mechanic being told to put the engine in the driver’s seat and the tires on the roof. So when I say something is a bad idea, I don’t mean I want to take them somewhere other than where they want to go — I’ve saving their hide, their brand, and trying to avoid unsatisfactory results I will be blamed for, as well as the potential embarrassment of a sub-par or inappropriately designed site with my name on it. That is why I charge quite a bit more than a basement code jockey, and rarely do business with clients who want to nickel and dime themselves (and me).
I’d rather have more input from them than little or none, and can even tolerate some micromanagement. But at some point there has to be trust, and I mean trusting that my judgment is based on years of professional experience that they simply do not have. I will always defer to a client’s intentions and needs. They must defer — at least in general — to doing the work as it makes sense as a professional hired to help them.
“But you’re a computer wizard. Other people don’t understand how to click things.”
I get this a lot. People wrongly assume I am not in touch with the marketplace, the real world. Actually, I’m not a computer wizard. I’m a marketing professional in the medium of the Internet. It’s my JOB to be in touch with human behavior on the web, more than the client. I don’t see things through the eyes of a programmer when it comes to front-end experience. I know how “real people” use the web. And I know that there’s only so much you can dumb down the usability of the site before it looks dumb or even insulting to the average user. When the client and some of their friends or users giving them feedback are behind the curve, they are cutting off their own noses by demanding their assumptions about what others will like are the rule and not the exception.
Simple isn’t Simple: Content versus Design
Every site has it’s own purpose and amount of necessary content. It should be straightforward in presentation, and be clear is how to find whatever a target visitor (from one or more target audiences) might want to find. The CONTENT in its presentation and organization should be simple, but not necessarily the DESIGN. If someone says “the site is really simple and easy to use”, they are referring — whether they consciously know it or not — to the organization, not the design. So to keep it simple (in a positive way), that doesn’t mean the site should look by minimalist, or like a stick figure. A simple or complex design can be used with simple or complex content, and is dictated mostly by industry and expectation. A block club’s website shouldn’t look like the Smithsonian’s, and a bank shouldn’t look like a personal blog. In fact, some personal blogs look better than that of some institutions. And it’s embarrassing as hell, making people wonder if they are for real, or if they found the right site. When a company or organization — especially a large or prestigious one — does this, it says “we hired a relative to throw something together for us in exchange for a t-shirt.”
And I hate to bring it up, but there’s also the age issue. Some people old enough to have lived through the early stages of the web — especially those who don’t use the web as much as the rest of us — actually find comfort in sites that look like they were designed in 1997, no matter how bad they are. Like an oblivious friend wearing bell-bottoms or a really wide tie, you can’t tell them what year it is. Yes, web sites and the expectations of the public have changed drastically over the last 15 years. It’s no different than what we’ve seen with cell phones and computers, except a web site is a lot more public than what’s in your pocket or on your desk. Think of your brand. Think of the children.
More specifically, think of future customers or members. When you cater to the non-native web users or DOSosaurs (old-time technology users not up to speed on the present), you alienate everyone else out there — new generations of consumers and participants. It’s like only advertising in the phone book because your current customers all use it, even though most people toss it in the recycle bin before it reaches the front door.
Avoiding the Circus
A site should be clean, but not naked. But the other extreme is more design than content. If there’s hardly any text or images directly related to it, the more the window dressing, the more obvious they spent more money on image than substance. It cries out misplaced priorities at best, vanity at worst, either on the part of the designer or the company. A visual circus can detract from the information and even make the user feel like they are jumping through mental hoops to find nuggets of any value. So when is a visual circus acceptable? Well, if the web site is literally for a circus. Or a rock band. Or artist. In that case, it is all the more important to organize the content and navigation to be as simple as possible. But you can still end up with a circus in a simple design, with too many diverse things calling your attention on a front page (or even every page). Want to make sure something important can be seen on every page, reminding the viewer without getting in their way or reading the site? That’s what sidebars and footers are for. But too many “NEW!” graphics and promo boxes reduces the impact of everything instead of increasing it. There are a LOT of ways to screw this up on the designer’s end, so please don’t outright ask for it.
How to Choose and Handle a Web Developer
Every web guy is different. Some will do whatever you tell them because they don’t care or know any better. Some WON’T do what you want because they don’t care or know any better. But some of us may give you a hard time to save you from yourself. How do you know the difference?
Determine who they really are. Are they really a geek waiting to be given direction on every detail, or a marketing and communications consultant interested in the real-world result? Is there knowledge based primarily in technology or the process and psychology of the web? Are they focused too much on code or design, or use “form follows function”, focusing on content and functionality based on the purpose of the site? Do they pay any deliberate attention to fonts and colors specifically related to your industry? If they can’t give you advice (and a reasonable explanation) on the direction of your site in such details, it’s up to you to know all that and communicate it to them. More hand-holding will be required, versus them holding your hand, which is preferable in most cases.
What questions are they asking? I don’t mean technical questions you shouldn’t have to know about. I mean questions about that only you can answer: Who is your target audience(s)? What are your functions (products and service areas, etc.) and their priorities? For branding, they should ask to see what you’ve already done and if you continue to go in that direction. We’re talking logos, color schemes, fonts, everything. If they don’t have a plan, someone should create one. If you don’t, they will (or won’t). This is roulette, and you need to be clear if they have expertise in branding or are just “winging it” based on nothing in particular (because that’s what you gave them). If someone has an existing site, I start by replicating the content and may or may not change design based on the “interview” process. Then we have something to compare and contrast, decide what we like and don’t like.
But again, who is your developer? Are you the lead with them as a code horse, or are they an expert guiding you? Ideally, it’s a team process. If your web guy asks for direction on every little thing, or doesn’t ask anything and does what they want, that’s not a good sign. Look for the sweet spot in the middle.
How much is too much? Giving your web guy more information (including photos and files) and feedback is better than less, in my opinion, simple because you don’t have to use everything you have, but a web designer can’t use what you don’t give them. However, there are two pitfalls — Micromanagement and Design by Committee. The more specific you get about details, the more your designer has to work and you can’t expect them to do it for free. Sometimes even the simplest shift of a button is more trouble than you would think because of the nature of the code these days. Sometimes what may seem like a minor change to you means redeveloping the whole site in another format to accommodate some feature. Lastly, you can’t just “copy and paste” from Word documents or other websites, especially whole layouts. If you don’t know why, that’s a topic for another discussion, but you need to take our word for it.
But too many cooks in the kitchen is the worst. When you have disparate goals and expectations, with everyone throwing in their personal “requirements” (versus necessary information and functionality), the site will become a schizophrenic nightmare. It will look like a circus and likely not make anyone happy. Feedback and cooperative input is great, but there such a thing as too much. Someone has to take the responsibility and make the final calls, recognizing that nothing is written in stone.
This is also true of too many cooks one after another. Over time, new people may take the wheel — new designers, new project managers, new management — and add this or that, consistent or not with the branding of the past still visible. You end up with a Frankenstein site that looks equally fractured and unfocused. Sometimes a total redesign makes more sense than an umpteenth addition or partial change to get by.
Personality Matters
In the end, it’s really about getting along. You need to know when and how much to trust your developer, based on what their role is and their competency in and out of just keyboarding. You may need to let go of prejudices and preferences about what a site should look like for your purpose, keeping in mind the people using it may be very different from you in age, web literacy, and taste. You may need to hand-hold, but make sure if you do, it is only when necessary, letting the pro do their job. If you are giving them a lot of money and they are worth it, give them your ear and attention to the project as they request, in exchange for their counsel and an end result you can all be proud of.
Best. OCR. Evar. (And it’s Free)
I probably have OCR somewhere on my computer. It may be bundled with my Lexmark software, something that the very thought of getting to work makes me cringe given the unnecessary complexity of their printer-scanner-copier.
All I wanted to do was convert an image of a news article into text (pictured here). It was not a particularly high-res image, and had columns. I found all sorts of free online converters for other things so I figured I’d give it a Google.
I tried “Online OCR Service” (garbled), then “Free OCR” (quality of results as catchy as its name).
The third time was a charm: “Free Online OCR”
Free Online OCR
This is where I sound like an advertisement. When I went to use it, I uploaded the file and unlike the others, the next step was “preview”. Okay …
It showed me the image with a slide-able region to cordon off the text I wanted. I realized how important this was because like most OCR, the other services (and software I used over the years) adjoined text from columns. Heck, I couldn’t even copy-and-paste from many a PDF using Adobe without the same problem.
But I was wrong about “Free Online OCR”. I didn’t see the checkbox.
Yes, there is actually a checkbox if you want it to discern columns.
The result?
I still had to append the end of lines in Notepad (it preserved the line breaks like any other OCR), but the result was STELLAR. I had to change a period to a comma and add one period.
That’s all.
Seriously.
Two newspaper columns on a 72 dpi JPEG and I found two tiny errors to adjust.
Why would anyone pay money when something like this is free? I can’t imagine any software doing a better job, no matter how much it costs.
Visit. Bookmark. Use. Share on Facebook it’s awesomeness. Repeat.
Chrome Home Page Won’t Set? I Figured It Out.
Using Google Chrome yesterday, I clicked the “home” icon and was horrified that it took me to a hate site I inadvertently came across following a Facebook link. I couldn’t get rid of it. What I tried (solution at end of article if you don’t care):
1 – Change Settings

Yeah, right. Think again, suckas!
I went to the settings button on the right end of the toolbar (see image) and clicked on “Settings”. The only setting I could find was for “On startup”. I changed it. It didn’t work, and when I tried again, the setting said the correct startup page was now set, but the home icon didn’t change. Why are you lying to me, Chrome?
2 – Change Settings Different Ways
I added the correct homepage as an extra tab, then deleted the original one, even though it said it was the correct one. No dice. The setting listed the correct site, but it kept going back to the hate site. I was even sure to close and reopen immediately after changing settings in the hopes it would stick.
3 – Search for Help
I Googled the issue and came across plenty of similarly unresolved complaints. Official Google advice each time? Follow the steps outlined in #1 above. {sigh}
4 – Reinstall Chrome
So I took other people’s advice and re-installed Chrome. The page that first opens is still correct, but the moment I click the “Home” icon, the wrong site comes up.
5 – Consider Trashing Chrome
I was so appalled at seeing this abominable web page over and over, I almost decided to trash Chrome altogether. Seriously, it wasn’t worth the cringe or inability to use the home button.
6 – Figure It Out Myself
So I took a deep breath and retraced my steps. When I first visited the hate site, I saved the link because the information I wanted was actually on that site, even though I planned to check every detail since there is no trusting such things. Because there is no “Send > Shortcut to Desktop” in Chrome — a feature of Internet Explorer I have used for years — I drag and drop the [[favicon]] (page icon next to it’s address, usually a blank page with the corner folded) to a place on my desktop for later reading or archiving. Except my mouse was glitching and I couldn’t drag it more than a short distance before involuntarily un-clicking.
How I fixed it
I went to the page I wanted back as my home page and I dragged and dropped the [[favicon]] onto the home button of the toolbar. It worked!
Apparently, Google uses two alternate definitions of “home page”. There’s the page “On Startup” and then the page it takes you to when you click the home icon, for which there apparently is no setting.
Scam or Solicitation? You Decide.
Like Registry of America and Liberty Names, or perhaps more like RegistryDom or Domain Support Group, another local company, “Website Listing Service“, is sending out bill-like solicitations. They are less misleading than others, IMO, but I can only wonder how many people pay these fees not knowing what they are or if they need them.
In fact, I wonder if it can even be verified they do any work for what they get paid to do.
Funny WordPress Trackback
Funniest trackback excerpt yet, WhatIsFashion.Net:
I like your article.Your article is like a big tree, so that we can squat in your tree, feel yourself a real. I feel very moved, very eudaemonia….
3 Helpful Rules in Choosing WordPress Plugins
{Note: This articles pertains to installing plugins on private WordPress installations, not WordPress.Com}
I’ve always said there might be a thousand WordPress plugins for something you need to do … and they’re almost all cr@p. The main benefit of WordPress, being open source, is that anyone can make a plugin. The main problem is that anyone can make a plugin.
A simple search will yield a list of possibilities, some relevant to your particular need, many not. Some you won’t know for sure until/unless you can translate the description and other details from Russian. And whether or not it will do what you need it to do — without loosing your hair or mind making it work — is yet another story.
We’ve successfully implemented dozens and dozens of now tried and true solutions, often involving hours of research and testing. Our process has been fine-tuned to a few simple rules. So how does Kentropolis choose plugins for our clients?
Rule #1 – Take Advantage of WordPress.Org
First, we use the repository at WordPress.Org almost exclusively. These plugins (and themes), have been reasonably vetted to not contain malicious code. More importantly, they are rated by users to determine quality and compatibility.
The limitation is that they only list free plugins — sort of. Many of these plugins have premium versions with more features (and support). A few are not free at all after you install them, and some require subscribing to some service for them to actually work.
But what of paid plugins? In developing over a hundred WordPress sites in the last few years, we’ve never needed one, even for very complicated needs. The breadth of free plugins available is astounding if you are willing to take the time to search and test. Yes, most are cr@p, but if you can think of any possible functionality, there’s a good chance there’s at least ONE plugin that will do the job.
{There’s a lot to be said for paid plugins, however, but that could be left for another article.}
!["[A]nything you can imagine"? Well ... actually, yes.](http://geeksbearinggifts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/wordpress-plugins-anything-imagine.gif)
“[A]nything you can imagine”? Well … actually, yes.
Rule #2 – Analyze Ratings
If you search plugins from a WordPress dashboard, you’ll see a number of stars. If you place your cursor over these stars (in most browsers), it will tell you how many people rated it. This is important because if only a few people rated it, it’s not a wide enough sample to get an accurate idea. If it’s five stars and only a couple people rating it, there’s a good chance it’s the developer and their friends doing all the voting. Could a new plugin barely rated or not rated be the one for you? Sure, but the advantage of looking for one rated by many people is tried-ad-true use. Unless you have no deadline and nothing better to do, why be a BETA tester?
So it’s not only about stars. I’d rather take a four-star rated by many people than a 5-star rated by a few. On the other hand, I’ll only try a plugin with a three-star rating (rarely less) if there are few alternatives.
But what else can we know? If you click “details” in the search results under a particular plugin, it will give you additional information, such as the number of downloads, what minimum WordPress version it requires (or more accurately, what version it was designed for), and up to what version it is compatible.
To find even MORE information, “WordPress.org Plugin Page »” and it will take you to much of the same information, but a lot of extras.
Once you’re there, the rating curve off to the right gives further insight into user experience with the plugin. A few on the bottom end are to be expected — not everyone likes everything, no matter how good it is. Also, a million things can go wrong when it comes to software, and it may have nothing to do with the plugin. Incompatibility with other plugins, the version combination, even the web host’s server environment can cause a plugin to not be able to do its job.
“Last Updated” also gives you a hint if the plugin is actively being improves and bugs being fixed. But the proof in the pudding would be to see how the plugin’s author responds to tech support requests. Oh, wait, there’s a link for that!
Rule #3 – Look at the Support Forum
Toward the bottom right of the page, under the rating curve and list of the plugin’s developer authors, you’ll find sections titled “Support” and “Compatibility”.
Not all developers use WordPress.Org for their support forums, but the ones that do are visibly more accountable to the user community. Just keep in mind that being free plugins, these developers often cannot keep up on support requests all the time, indefinitely.
But once you click “View support forum”, you will have all he insight you need into the sort of problems other people are encountering. Any particular problem may not apply to you, but if you are looking for a specific feature, for example, and people are talking about wanting it to be added and the developer doesn’t respond or says it will be in the next version, there’s you’re answer. Even a quick glace of thread titles will tell you if some problems are particularly common, in which case you can decide if it’s something that would be a deal-killer or if it’s not important.
Under the compatibility section, you can select different combinations of WordPress and plugin versions. Ordinarily it lists the most recent version of each, which is what you should be using. Like ratings, remember that people reporting it doesn’t work could be their unique problem, but if most people say it doesn’t, it’s a good guess you’re ‘going to have a bad time’.
Conclusion
No quickly discernible factor will predict if a plugin will work for you, or even work at all. But using the above practices, we’ve found plenty of high-quality plugins that serve us and our clients well to provide all sorts of functionality.
Another thing I would add is if the plugin you choose turns into regret, no worries. Unless it’s a complicated plugin that messes with the database, plugins are meant to be installed and uninstalled without consequence, like changing the type of light-bulb you use in a lamp. Just don’t try more than one light-bulb at once for the same purpose — it can cause conflicts and you won’t know which one is or isn’t working.
Lastly, I encourage you to ‘pay it forward’ by creating an account on WordPress.Org (if you haven’t already) and rating plugins and reporting compatibility. Open Source works because of those who came before us and participate now. You can be one of those people, and in the process improve the world, one plugin choice at a time.
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