Tag Archives: plugin

20 simple, light but cool JavaScript plugins

October 21, 2014 ThemeSquirrel

People are terribly wrong thinking that a website is a static entity. Many consider that once a website is made online, it doesn’t need maintenance. The reality proves that the situation is very different; in fact keeping a website updated requires many constant endeavors. Much more, the small tweaks seem to be part of the multitude of factors that massively contribute to the success of a website.
The design world is very dynamic and the designers hardly manage to resist in this climate. However, the final outcome is a bigger number of better websites and this is very beneficial for Internet users. In this context, we may conclude that anyone willing to have a heavily visited website must take care of each aspect and correct any downside. It’s not simple at all, but there are some modalities to constantly improve a website. One of the simplest, but effective ways to do so consists in adding various JavaScript plugins. Some of these are very common, while others are less used, but the results may be very appreciated by users.
On the other hand, it’s not simple to search for various plugins…or maybe it’s not that complicated, one thing we know for sure, this is definitely a time consuming activity. As usual, because we care about your time we have established a list of 20 simple, light and cool JavaScript plugins for your website that will surely delight the visitors.

Background Colorful Generator

Any website owner wants to bring something new to his/her online presence on a daily basis, but it’s pretty impossible and maybe the changes will put the users in difficulty. This plugin offers the perfect balance: it allows adding, on a daily basis, something new without negatively affecting the user experience. Background Colorful Generator as the name already says it, is responsible for creating background colors. With just few tweaks, a new background may be added daily.

Progress of Page Reading

More and more websites have included a blog. Something that will be great for the users is to have an indicator showing how much they read from a blog post. Content Progress is a light JavaScript plugin that brilliantly does this job and it may be tailored to perfectly fit the website design.

Super Dialog

A dialog modal window is a subtle and neglected website component. Altogether, if other webmasters neglect it, you shouldn’t make the same mistake. This JavaScript plugin allows creating a wonderful flow dialog window that will captivate the mind of the viewers. The small details make the big difference.

Swirl Slider

A modern website must be very dynamic and the best solution to improve the dynamism of a website is the use of images sliders. Swirl Slider not only substantially improves the dynamism, but due to the interesting sliding effects it offers a very original touch. Check the effects in the preview page and please let me know if you agree with me!

Expander

Of course, a slider has its contribution to the dynamism of a website, but it’s not enough. This plugin is very useful, but it also impresses with the nice dynamic effects. Its aim is to better visualize the images: the user clicks on a thumbnail and immediately a larger image is revealed. It’s responsive and the transition effects are really cool, therefore it’s the best plugin for a portfolio or an image gallery.

Morphing Slogan

Another modality of making a website more dynamic and original is the use of Slogan Morphing JavaScript plugin. It creates dynamic images from the words of a certain text. However, since words can’t fully explain the beauty of the effects, I advise you to check the previews and you will definitely understand what I mean!

Arkansas

We are daily assaulted with tons of information and the brain has a limited capacity of processing. As a result, a plugin that better structures the information is always welcomed. Arkansas is doing it very well and it deserves a place into this list.

alBox

alBox is a JavaScript plugin that is very light, but its effects over the user experience are very powerful. The best thing about alBox is the fact that it contains tons of different variants of images that are based on CSS3 transitions.

Magic Tweets

Social media has been here for many years and it was integrated not only in the online environment, but in our lives, too. This plugin has a limited area where it may be used, but in some situations it’s pure gold. It creates a Twitter timeline; so for the ones that are very involved in social media it’s very useful. Taking into account that it is touch enabled, this plugin becomes more and more attractive for every webmaster.

Metro Sidebar

A sidebar is a good thing that one could use to impress his / her potential viewers. Metro Sidebar is a great plugin that it’s aimed to create stunning sidebars. The modality of displaying the information into the sidebar is very customizable and it won’t take more than some minutes.

Google Maps with Infowindow

Each and one of us used Google Maps and we all know that it sometimes doesn’t assure the best user experience. This helpful plugin was created, in order to help people search for a place, let’s say a restaurant. It creates info windows on the maps, so it will be way easier for the user to identify the local they want to visit.

Rating Plugin

A modality of having a stronger relationship with the website visitors and keep them loyal is to interact with them and heed their requirements. This plugin is very useful for blogs or for written content centered websites because it allows the users to rate their impressions. It’s simple and effective, isn’t it?

Auto Menu

The navigational menu is a capital part of any website. Auto Menu is a plugin that is able to create a wonderful menu. Definitely, many other plugins can do the same thing, but this one creates stunning menus in just few minutes. Beside these, the ones using this plugin have tons of options and it’s not required for them to know HTML or CSS.

Select Text

Social media buttons are a constant presence for almost all the websites. Altogether, this plugin offers a more interesting possibility of interacting via Twitter. The idea is simple: the user selects a text, a phrase or just few words and all he / she will have to do is to click on the Twitter icon that appears once the selection is made. In this way, the Twitterverse is richer with a new interesting tweet!

HTML5 Scratch Card

If you want to create some buzz around your blog, then this plugin may be a good solution. HTML5 Scratch Card allows creating cards that should be scratched by the users to see if they gained a prize. It’s enjoyable and funny, so it will relax the users.

Clarity

A music player becomes something usual for the newest online presence. I hate the automatic music players, but there are many cases when a good one is needed. Clarity is a very interesting music player that without any doubt, will delight the users.

Page Loader

Some potential visitors doesn’t have a strong Internet connection or some webpages are heavier and need much to time to load. The Internet users doesn’t have patience and they will search for other websites unless they aren’t captivated with something cool. An interesting pre-loader is a good solution and this plugin will do this job wonderfully.

Flat Modern Notifications

Another modality of making a website more attractive and personal with the user is the use of notifications. Taking into account that flat design is everywhere, the notifications must be in accordance with this approach. It’s the case of this wonderful plugin that gives to the user a high degree of customization.

Image Gallery

The Internet is full of plugins to create stunning image galleries but still not many allow creating impressive 3D galleries. The ones interested in having a great 3D visualization of the image should use this plugin. Beside these, it’s very light and the user doesn’t need to know any coding in order to install it.

Check Plagiarism

We know that Google hates plagiarism and it’s a disaster to be penalized by them. This plugin helps a lot in fighting against duplicated content. In some situations, it may prove being a one of the best purchasing, so check it and eventually buy it.
I hope that all the above plugins to help the readers to make more attractive their websites. It will be great to know which one was more helpful and the most useful reward for our team is to share the post with your friends.

Plugins, WordPress

20 themes, templates and plugins for a creative agency website

July 25, 2014 ThemeSquirrel

Internet is no longer a place for information exchange, even though this was the initial purpose of the Internet creators. Nowadays, the online environment is turning, more and more, into a realm of entrepreneurs. Altogether, the Internet is an unlimited informational resource and all of us are free to use it. The huge Internet growing positively affects our daily life and we should be thankful to the ones that realized this fact: the web designers.
The websites wouldn’t look so beautiful unless the web designers worked hard to satisfy the client’s requirements. People constantly need more and better websites, which means that the designers work under huge pressure, almost on a daily basis. The competition amongst web designers is pretty harsh and it determines that only the best to survive in this field.
A capital reference for any designer or creative agency is the portfolio. It’s a website or a social media account where only the best works created are showcased. In fact, a portfolio is the identity card of the designer/creative agency. No doubt, a single modest item added into the portfolio has the potential to “convince” people to search for other solutions.
If you want to create a portfolio or the actual one doesn’t look good then we have good news for you. We created a list of 20 themes, templates and plugins that may be used for a portfolio. Each item from this list was carefully analyzed; therefore here is the crème de la crème!

Vesa

One single page websites are very appreciated by the average Internet users, so having a portfolio based on this idea sounds as a good solution. Vesa is a great WordPress theme, Bootstrap based, retina ready that is very customizable. It’s suitable for modern creative agencies and personally, I think that is one of the most attractive theme released this year. What do you think? Am I right?

Strap

Strap is a WordPress theme designed for creative agencies, too. This theme is very nice and funny, therefore it’s recommended using it only if the core values of the agencies don’t require a more formal approach. Even though the theme is funny, it doesn’t mean that the team that developed it isn’t serious. They fully deserve our prides because the theme is very complex and good looking.

Lion

Lion is a WordPress theme that comes in seven different skins and I’m sure that its features will convince anyone that it is a very reliable solution for a good portfolio: drag & drop builder, normal or one page format, vertical or horizontal header, full width or boxed design, many cool sliders etc.

Brackets

A good portfolio should let the user focus on the items showcased rather than impress with its various effects and animations. The ones that embrace these ideas must look closer to Brackets – a WordPress theme that is discrete and simple.

Studio9

Studio9 is the prototype of a good looking complete portfolio. The cool flat design reveals the modern approach of the team while the “About us” page creates a more personal relationship with the potential customers.

Metroid

Metroid is a very simple Metro style based WordPress theme. It’s more suitable for freelance web designers because it’s extremely simple and it looks very similar to a v-card. In spite of its simplicity, any potential customer may have a clear idea about the skills of the designers in just few seconds.

One

One is a very modern and elegant website template. In addition to a good looking layout, there are other features as HTML5 video sliders and full screen players, Google Maps API support, Font-awesome icons that made it stand apart from other templates.

Xstream

Xstream is another modern website template. Its customization options are endless, the creators presenting five different versions of this template. The landing page is Metro inspired and it definitely gets a good mark at the originality chapter.

Superme

Superme is a website template created for the ones that don’t have web design skills or/and don’t have too much time to create and maintain their portfolio. The landing page is a huge grid of images featuring the previous works. Simple, but effective, isn’t it?

Jolly Folio

This website template impressed me due to the smart use of negative space and the big, bold and readable typography. The template may be used for multiple purposes, but it’s the most suitable for creative agencies.

Jana

Jana is an example of good design. This template is made of the “classic” components of a portfolio, so you may think that it has nothing special. Altogether, if you choose to see the life preview, you will be amazed by the design aesthetics. In conclusion, I added it here!

Eshra

Eshra is an Adobe Muse template that is more suitable for freelancers that are passionate about photography. The black and white color combination creates a special atmosphere that will impress the customers. It comes in three versions: Static, Fullscreen Video and Fullscreen Slider Background and all of them look pretty good.

Portfolio Muse

Portfolio Muse is a very standard, but pleasant portfolio that seems more suitable for individual freelancers. The flat design and the parallax effect create a modern and dynamic approach while the simplicity of the template will create the idea of a pragmatic and efficient freelancer. Under these circumstances, it’s almost sure that the clients will contact the respective freelancer.

CCSlider

A good modality of impressing the potential customers is the use of an attractive slider. CCSlider is a really stunning plugin that provides the user with a huge array of sliding options. You may check the demo to see the effects and I am sure that you will be fascinated by it!

Cube Slider

Cube Slider is a plugin that creates a 3D sliding effect. By installing this plugin you will add a plus of dynamism and originality to the website. Let’s hope that the customers will resist to the sliding temptations and will focus on the items exposed.

Contact Form

Let’s suppose that the works showcased in the portfolio convinced the potential customers to ask for your services. Don’t you think it would be a pity if they changed their mind due to a poor contact form? It won’t ever happen if you install this plugin; it creates a beautiful contact form that is connected with Google Maps.

Premium SEO Pack

No matter how visually appealing a portfolio is or how well done are the projects exhibited, without being on the first positions in the search of the clients everything is in vain. SEO Pack is a complete plugin that will help in making your portfolio way “friendlier” with the spiders of the search engines.

SEO Studio

SEO Study is another plugin that helps the users to obtain a better search engine positioning. It contains 32 tools for better optimization as Estimate PageRank, Analyze Links, Website Speed Test, and Check Headers so it’s obvious that it’s a powerful plugin that shouldn’t be missed.

MyMail

In order to let people know the latest offers & news, it’s a good idea, from time to time, to send them an email. A newsletter plugin may resolve this fact and MyMail is one of the best solutions. It has tons of options, including a complete analyze of the newsletters sent.

Social Media Tabs

Finally, the last item from this list is a plugin that will help the portfolio owners to have a solid social media presence. It’s one of the most complete plugins that is very customizable and no doubt, it manages to satisfy everyone’s tastes.
If you want to create a stunning portfolio, I hope that these themes, templates and plugins will be useful for you. It will be great to know if any of the above items helped you in creating a new one or if they have improved your existing portfolio.

Plugins

20 extremely useful plugins for an online store

July 16, 2014 ThemeSquirrel

Creating and maintaining an online store is a common but challenging activity. The Internet is a place for businesses and the online stores are the most obvious evidences. The statistics reveal that more and more entrepreneurs will invest in various online affairs. It means that the web designers must treat more seriously how to design websites particularized for e-commerce activities. Even though the ecommerce is a pretty new area, the www is full of online stores. The competition is very harsh and it’s extremely difficult to resist in such a “digital jungle”. Altogether, there are many entrepreneurs that have made substantial profits.
The success of an online store is dependent on two major facts: the prices & quality of the products sold and the design of the selling platform. While the prices and the quality of the products sold are the decision of the store owner, the design of the platform is debatable. A good design is subliminally associated with a reliable store and it significantly affects the profitability of it.
Of course, the design of any website must always be tweaked and we propose you 20 useful plugins for an online store that will enhance the experience of the potential buyers. No doubt, by installing these the profits will grew, therefore look closer to them!

Zetta

First of all, a profitable online store must assure a pleasant environment for purchasers; they must have at hand every product. A good navigational menu is one of the most important factors that contributes to the easiness of finding the desired product. Zetta Menu is a great plugin that allows creating a mega menu that will be very useful for the clients.

FH Mega Menu

FH Mega Menu is another option for creating a complex navigational menu. The specificity of it is the concept behind- it’s created for handheld devices. It’s useless to mention that nowadays more and more people use handheld devices to access Internet, including online stores.

Percentage preloaders

All the buyers have a common feature: the lack of patience. In many cases, a single second makes a huge difference. Altogether, in order to convince people about the quality of the products are required high quality images which implies a longer uploading time. A good compromise solution is the use of creative preloaders as this plugin does.

Paypal Shopping Cart

An attractive shopping cart will make people use it, therefore the chances of having profits are increased. I appreciated very much this shopping cart, it’s simple, discrete and good looking!

Latest News

Latest News is a plugin that will help very much the store owners to display the latest discounts and offers. Definitely, it won’t annoy the viewers, because the animation options are truly eye-catching. In this way, even the more distracted users will notice the news and discounts.

JNewsbar

Another modality of letting people finding out latest offers and discounts is the use of a news bar. JNewsbar is the perfect plugin for this thing and it may be fully tailored to the store owner requirements.

Glass Case

Glass Case is a very useful plugin for any type of online store. It offers tons of solutions for zooming the images. I recommend checking the preview offered by the creators to make your own opinion. It’s useless to mention how important is for a customer to have good zooming options- it’s an option that demonstrate the quality of the products.

Dramatic Zoom

This plugin is dedicated to create a better zooming experience too. Altogether, it stands apart comparing with other plugins; the zooming effects are really cool adding a plus of dynamism to the website.

Speedo Slider

Speedo Slider is a plugin that will captivate the attention of the purchasers. Once installed this plugin, the admin have the possibility of showcasing a collection of images (new products, discounted items, various news). The sliding effects are very interesting, so you should try it!

Pieces

An original design for an online store is almost mandatory. If you want to have an original slider, then Pieces is a good solution. It contains tons of effects and all of them very original. I consider that this plugin is very suitable for stores selling tech products, auto items or gadgets.

Pinch Zoomer

The mobile users shouldn’t be ignored and this plugin is specially created for them. It’s touch enabled, but it also works when scrolling, so it may be used by the desktop users.

Countdowns

Making people curious is a trick that works in the area of ecommerce. This plugin creates a nice countdown and it may be used to inform people about your new promotional campaign. It’s good looking and surely some visitors will come back to see what’s new.

Led Time Panel

Led Time Panel is another countdown that will delight the viewers. It reminds of the huge neon banners from the cities. It’s a subtle effect that may subliminally influence the purchasers. Anyway, the overall design of the countdown is attractive!

Sky Forms Pro

Personally, I think that the users are afraid of completing forms. These items are “innocent” but make people run away. The main problem is that the user must take action to complete a form. It might be the laziness, the lack of trust or the designers must create better forms. A single thing is sure: by using this plugin, all your forms would look impressive.

Smart Forms

An online store owner must constantly impress the customers. Flat design is the hottest trend and it’s recommended adapting the online affair to this trend. Consequently, this plugin create wonderful flat forms. It has tons of options and surely some of the forms may be suitable for your store!

Sign In / Registration Form

This plugin creates very discrete and pleasant flat sign in/registration forms. These comes in two versions: normal and pop up. In fact, the forms has nothing special, but the good aesthetic and the discretion convinced me to add into this list.

Album Grid

Some entrepreneurs are more extravagant and prefer expressing their ideas into the design of the online stores. This plugin may be used to create an album grid with the images of the products. Check the preview offered by the plugin developer to see it in action!

Accordion slider

Accordion Slider is a plugin that without any doubt will impress the customers. The accordion sliders are modern and people like them, therefore this plugin is perfect for a modern store.

Hotspot Map

Hotspot Map is a plugin that may improve the relationship seller-client. By installing it, the user adds various notifications that are displayed when the client is hovering a specific zone of an image. It’s simple and effective!

Super Social Share

Super Social Share is a plugin that let the customer to share a specific page or a product. Social media and ecommerce are interconnected entities and any successful online store has a strong social media presence.

I hope that all these plugins will help you becoming more profitable; give them a try and you won’t waste your money. Do you have other plugins useful for online stores to share with us? Please let us know which your favorites are!

Javascript, Plugins

20 stunning sliders to impress your visitors

July 10, 2014 ThemeSquirrel

The huge endeavors of the web design community sometimes act as a boomerang for its members. The websites are looking good and are satisfying the highest demands, therefore any new website should be crafted, at least, at the same standards. Under these circumstances the role of a web designer is pretty ingrate, he must always work better and better. Taking into account that the competition is really fierce, I guess that no one should envy a designer.
Altogether, maintaining the high standards might not be enough! It sounds crazy, but it’s true! The Internet is full of quality websites and people consider these being the norm and not the exception! As a result, a website must be original. The next logical question is to ask yourself how to create an original website.
Unfortunately, no designer or blogger may provide a solution to create an original website; there are only generalities and nothing more. The single resource of originality is the mind of the designer. In conclusion, only you are responsible for the originality of the website freshly launched.
Because I believe I might have disappointed you, I have created something that will make you a little happier. I made a list of 20 stunning sliders that aren’t totally unseen, but yet these are rarely used in spite of their top quality. It’s enough to install these and the chances of having a more standing apart website are considerable higher!

Gold Slider

Gold Slider is a responsive slider that is suitable for blogs. It handles four articles in a sliding area but it might be customized to slide more posts. Personally, I think that the variant with four post is the best solution. It adds a high level of dynamism and I think that the viewers will be impressed by the dynamic effects of the slider.

Layer Slider

It was aforementioned that the sliders from this list aren’t very popular, but Layer Slider is really famous. Still I added it here because it has so many impressive sliding effects, that are hardly used. Practically, this slider offers hundreds of impressive effects to a website owner. I tried various solutions for some minutes and I didn’t finish all the possibilities. (Warning, it’s addictive!)

Seria

Seria is a jQuery vertical slideshow plugin that is very discrete, simple and pleasant. It may be used for displaying products, photos, news or blog posts. It’s responsive and retina ready, therefore your mobile visitors won’t encounter any issue.

Background Pro

Making frequent design changes isn’t a very good idea, but from time to time is better to bring something fresh. This plugin is the perfect solution: it creates a slideshow of images that may work as a background. Once these images are wisely chosen, the activation of this plugin will really enhance a website.

Skew Slider

Skewslider is a plugin that will surely make your website stand apart. The images showcased are skewed and it also adds a plus of dynamism. The plugin may be easily customized according to the website owner’s needs; so you have all the reasons to try it.

Infinity Slider

A part of the sliders aren’t fully responsive and this fact affects negatively the mobile users. Infinity Slider is specially created for the mobile users and in addition to that it works perfectly for desktop users, too. Besides that, it has tons of effects to select from and the custom possibilities are endless.

Fullscreen Background Slider

Fullscreen Background Slider is a very powerful plugin that helps the webmasters to make the websites backgrounds more attractive. There are some solid reasons to add it in this list: 36 animation effects, 20 build-in patterns, customizable animation time, responsive and mobile friendly…Pretty convincing, isn’t it?

Storyline 3D

Storyline 3D Slider is relatively new to the market, but I am sure that it will be a big hit. It’s one of the best plugins that create 3D effects and beside that, the customization options are endless. 19 color schemes, 8 scroll and 6 slide effects are enough to offer tons of standing apart sliding effects.

Mighty slider

Mighty Slider is very complex, before finding out about it I was not aware of the fact that there are so many sliding possibilities. It works even with videos, YouTube and Vimeo, it is device friendly & cross browser and it’s fully responsive. Check all its sliding options and surely it will be your next acquisition.

Banner Rotator

This plugin is perfect for the situations when the webmaster wants to display quotes or testimonials, at the same time it’s also suitable for images. It’s simple, discrete, responsive, and it has the potential to enhance a website.

jQuerry Banner Rotator

jQuerry Banner Rotator is a plugin that impresses due to the nice transitional effects and due to the powerful customization system. The user has the possibility of setting a timer, a different transition per slide and many other features that will make the website stand apart.

Filter Slider

This plugin was added into this list because of the cool effects – it displays when hovering the image. The idea is simple and pleasant: when the user hover an image, it’s rendered a sepia, grayscale, light saturate etc. version of it.

Rollbar

Rollbar is a very discrete but effective plugin. Once installed, it replaces the standard browser scrollbar. It sounds strange, but it’s very efficient. Instead of scrolling an entire webpage, the user just scrolls a couple of images or slides. The plugin is responsive and for small displays it may represent a very efficient solution.

iCarousel

The plugin is very suitable for modern and tech inspired websites. iCarousel is a lightweight jQuery plugin that creates wonderful carousel showcasing images. It has touch, mouse and keyboard support, it’s responsive, it works perfectly both on iOS and Android and it’s extremely easy to customize. I think that by checking the live preview you will be captivated by the effects.

Melon HTML5

This plugin works as an emulator; if you need to display images as an iMac, Mac Cinema, iPad or iPhone then it’s the best tool. It may be tailored to the user’s needs, including the effects of the images displayed.

3D slider

The entire web design community considers that the dynamism is a feature that will be dramatically improved in the next years. An important role in making more dynamic websites is reserved for sliders. Featured 3D Slider is a slider that will surely improve the dynamism of the website…please check it yourself!

Feature Slider Plugin

Feature Slider Plugin is another slider that obtains a good mark at the originality and dynamism chapter. I think that is suitable for tech related websites or for the situations when the main public target is constituted from young people.

Blades 3D

Blades 3D is another very original plugin. The images are flipped using 3D effects, but it may be available in the “classic format”, too. The flipping effects are very attractive and surely the viewers will be captivated by these.

Super 7

I purposely let at the end of the post the most impressive slider. Super 7 is a much appreciated plugin and it has the “power” to considerably improve the layout of a website. The huge advantage of this plugin is that the customization options are unlimited.

I hope that those needing a sliding plugin will find this post very useful. The sliders may significantly improve a website and it’s a big mistake to neglect them.

WordPress

20 must have WordPress plugins for your cool blog

June 16, 2014 ThemeSquirrel

Maintaining a blog, no matter the traffic received, isn’t only about writing and publishing articles. No doubt, the quality of the posts is capital, but a good looking design is also very important. It’s said that the small details make the big difference and this statement is valid regarding the existence of a blog. The competition is very harsh amongst bloggers and each aspect must be treated seriously in order to have a decent number of visitors.
WordPress is the leading platform for blogging and it seems that its supremacy will last, at least, in the near future. The WordPress developers created amazing themes and plugins that allow enhancing any type of website. Practically, a theme and some plugins may completely change the destination and the functionality of a website.
Ironically, the huge number of themes and plugins put in trouble the WordPress users because it’s impossible to make a decent selection of the most beautiful and efficient solutions. Fortunately, we are aware about this situation and as a result we have published articles exhibiting the best themes, templates or plugins.
In this post we searched for various plugins that may be useful for maintaining a blog. These plugins are ideal for different issues, from search engine optimisation to adding nice image sliders. Definitely, the developers created more than 20 plugins for blog owners so we might have missed your favourite one. Please let us know which your favourites are and we will take this into consideration for a new article!

Monetize Now

It’s not shameful to recognize that many blogs are created to bring an extra income to the owner. The monetization of a blog is a very complex and challenging task. Affiliate marketing is an attractive solution to monetize the blog and this plugin is the perfect solution for this activity. By installing it, the blog will become part of Envato Affiliate program and I guess that there is no need to mention what a huge brand Envato is.

nBar

The Internet users developed a special sense; they may scan a website extremely fast. In this context, grabbing the attention of the users is mostly an art. This plugin helps the bloggers to add various notification bars into the headers/footers. Of course, the notification bars are very customisable.

Ad Flap Pro

Another modality of obtaining the attention of the blog visitors is to use this interesting plugin, which is actually in charge with creating cool animated adverts. I really appreciate it because the messages aren’t obtrusive unlike other plugins that „intoxicate” the readers with huge pop up messages.

Mine Flip Book

Some people are still very much in love with the classic format of a book and hate the digital format. This plugin is created in order to satisfy all the tastes: it creates a „book” and it has a feature that people will love: the files may be flipped similarly to a classic manuscript. It’s a really interesting experience and it will surely make the blog stand apart from other competitors.

LoopPress

Almost every blogger adds various videos to his / her posts. Handling these is pretty difficult, but Looppress is a great plugin that makes this job simpler. If you are used to adding videos into your blog, then this plugin is ideal for you!

Fast Gallery

Handling the images is another challenging task for a blog owner. Fast Gallery is a plugin that helps very much the blogger to arrange the images into galleries. The huge advantage of this plugin is the fact that it’s extremely simple to use…you can configure a gallery in less than a minute!

Buzzcomi

Making people curious is another technique of obtaining traffic. This plugin is able to create a coming soon page with a very interesting countdown timer. The design is very pleasant and it’s very probable that it will make people interested in what is behind the countdown.

Nex

Forms are apparently not very important items, but an experienced blogger knows that these are vital for the success of the blog. If you want to create your own cool forms, then this plugin is exactly what you need. It creates tons of form versions and it’s impossible not to be satisfied with a variant. I fell in love with the modern design of the forms. If I were a user, I would definitely spend some time just to complete such a wonderful form.

Premium SEO Pack

A very interesting blog that isn’t search engine optimised is a lost project. Like it or not, the number of the visitors is very important; so a SEO plugin is mandatory for any blog. The market is full of various SEO plugins, but only a few of them are really useful. SEO Pack is one of these useful plugins and you shouldn’t miss it!

Smart SEO

The previous plugin is a very powerful one, but it might happen not to satisfy your tastes. Smart SEO is another solution that should be taken into account!

Keyword Finder

Finding the right keywords isn’t a very difficult task, but it takes valuable time that may be used for other more important activities. Keyword Finder is a plugin that should be used by the entire blogging community. As long as you post a title in the dashboard area, it will provide unlimited potential keywords; therefore your time is saved.

Uber Audio

Many bloggers are writing about music topics and a good and reliable audio plugin is golden for their blogs. Uber Audio may be a solution because it allows people to listen to music from the post, page or sidebar. The playlists may be very easily customised and there is no limit regarding the number of tracks that may added into a playlist.

Calendarize

A calendar is very important because it helps people get a constant flow of published articles. Calendarize is a great plugin that will simplify the work of an admin very much.

Banner Rotator

Nowadays, the developers created amazing sliders that simply delight the users. Altogether, it’s quite difficult to find a standing apart slider. Banner Rotator is an original and customisable slider that will surely impress any user.

Posts Slider

Posts Slider is another plugin that is created for adding sliders. The same as the previous one, it has many useful features and no doubt, it will add a high level of dynamism.

Share Locker

Social media can’t be ignored by a serious blogger. The different social media appreciations (likes, tweets, shares, pins) are taken into account for the ranking of a website. This plugin hides the content of a post until the users share/like/tweet the respective post.

Social Box

Social Box is another plugin almost mandatory for a modern blog. It allows the admin to add a social widget, which will let the visitors make an idea about the social media presence of the blog. Its sleek design will attract the eyes of the visitors; so you have all the reasons to use it.

About Me

People prefer to engage with the ones that provide them interesting information. Having an „About me” section is highly recommended for any blogger – in this way the curious readers may find out who is behind the blog. Luckily, we have this plugin that creates a widget displaying an „About me” section and the latest tweets.

M7 Accordion Menus

By installing this plugin, the admin has the possibility to create accordion menus in the widget area. As far as the admin is concerned, this is simple to install and use, while the users will have more possibilities to access the content- it’s a win-win situation and everyone should profit from it.

Tabs Widget

This plugin creates a widget consisting of a tabbed panel that displays various types of content, from tweets to recent posts. It’s a simple method of showcasing a lot of information without annoying the visitors.
I hope that these plugins will be really helpful for the bloggers. Anyway, it will be great to share your favourite ones (from this list or from WordPress Repository) with us.

Plugins, WordPress

20 WordPress plugins to improve your social media presence

May 12, 2014 ThemeSquirrel

Social media was a big hit two years ago but nowadays it seems that people have lost their enthusiasm. Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest still attract new users, but definitely the climax of social media was overtaken.
On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that neglecting social media is a good choice…by far, it’s a huge mistake. The social networks are inestimable for the huge brands because they help them stay connected with people. Being active on various social networks isn’t mandatory only for huge brands, but a good social presence is recommended for local businesses, bloggers or entrepreneurs also. In fact, websites without various social media buttons are very rare. Obviously, the content is the one that determines people to distribute it on social networks but an important role is played by the design. As a result, many designers spend much time searching for the best plugins and methods to improve the social media presence.
Luckily for you, we have collected 20 impressive WordPress plugins that will help you improve your social media presence. The selection was very time-consuming because many talented WordPress developers create brilliant plugins.

Social Fans

Social Counter plugin lets the viewers make a brief opinion about the number of friends/followers/subscribers. The buttons are retina ready, based on Bootstrap. The plugin contains 21 buttons and four skins (Light, Dark, Colored, and Transparent) that may be customized for everybody’s needs and preferences.

Social Sidebar

The huge majority of the WordPress plugins are very customizable, but very few ones benefit from a very clear explanation about how to do it. The developers of Social Sidebar noticed this fact and have created a wonderful and very clear preview. I think that it is better to visit it yourself and play around with the various customization options.

YouTube Grid Video Gallery

If a good image is worth 100 or 1000 words, how many words is good video worth? Definitely, a lot! In conclusion, it’s highly recommendable to pay attention at the manner in which one can display videos and maintain a YouTube account. This plugin will help in handling the YouTube videos, so if you are in need YouTube Grid Video Gallery is a good solution.

Facebook Albums Grid

The previous plugin was responsible for creating a video gallery; this one does the same, but it handles Facebook albums. Of course, it provides the same quality and easiness to install and use it.

Easy Facebook Contest

The social networks are very dynamic and are famous for the high level of interactivity. Facebook contests are very much appreciated and they may produce a lot of buzz around the contest holder. This plugin will help in creating Facebook contests directly from the WordPress website and it may bring a considerable traffic increase.

Easy Social Locker

The monetization of written content is a long and unresolved story. It’s improbable that people will pay for articles as long as the same ideas will appear few minutes later. Still, there is a solution to satisfy the readers and reward the writers/bloggers. A “Like”, “Tweet” or any other form of social media compensation may be the perfect reward for these people. Easy Social Locker is a plugin that once installed will lock the website and it will became accessible only by giving a social media reward.

Twitter Slider

Twitter is a social network that can’t be neglected. This plugin is a great tool for displaying the Twitter feed; it allows displaying the feed in vertical or horizontal position.

Supercharged Twitter Card Management

This plugin is another one that helps people manage their Twitter presence better. I think that it is more powerful than the precedent one so don’t ignore it!

SelectNShare

SelectNShare is a great and very original plugin. I think that this plugin is very useful for blogs because once you install it the user will have the possibility to select a phrase/part of a text and share it via social networks. It is not a very used plugin, but it surely is a very interesting one. Don’t you think?

Twitter Timeline

Sometimes, the social networks buttons are obtrusive and annoying. Altogether, it’s a huge mistake not to insert some of them. This plugin is a very good middle way solution- it hides the latest tweets into a slider. It’s very discrete and anyone that is interested in checking the Twitter activity is just a single click away.

Tweetdis

Tweetdis is another WordPress plugin that helps the owner to improve his / her Twitter presence. It’s simple and useful- it allows the editor to select a phrase and make it “tweetable”. Actually it creates a “tweet” call to action: this means that the user will just have to click the button and voila, here is a new tweet in Twitterverse.

WP Smart Like

WP Smart like is a plugin that consists in displaying the Facebook “likes” into very discrete but visually appealing buttons. At the same time it has inserted a “likes” counter and it’s very customizable, so you have all the reasons to consider adding it into your blog.

Instagram Photo Video

I guess that a very small percentage of the overall number of websites don’t have photos inserted into the layouts. Displaying photos is a very challenging web design issue: these must be high quality, but their size must be very small not to negatively affect the loading time and of course, the images should be well rendered no matter the device used to navigate. Fortunately, this plugin is inestimable in managing the Instagram images.

My Social Counter

This plugin makes a great job- it offers a counter for all the major social networks. My Social Counter plugin offers various schemes of displaying social network buttons in order to fit them better to the website design. Every button looks great, which means that the visitors will be delighted with them!

Facebook Likebox Slider

If the previous plugin offered a bird view over the social media numerical situation, this one is useful in having a complete overview of the social media stream. More exactly, the plugin adds the website a discrete slider that presents the latest actions on the major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Vimeo, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram).

Social Stream

WordPress Social Stream is a very original plugin. It takes various social media streams and incorporates them all into a single WordPress powered website. The plugin is extremely customizable and it allows selecting any type of feeds from multiple networks into a layout that may be modified according to the user’s needs.

Twit Lite

Usually, the bloggers and the website owners are very busy people and they are not able to handle their social presence well, since it is well known that maintaining a coherent social media stream is a time consuming activity. This plugin saves the time and automatically tweets any new post published. It is simple, but effective, isn’t it?

Ring Share

Ring Share isn’t a very used plugin, but it must be treated seriously by the WordPress users. It gives the user the possibility to create a ring of social media icons on various areas on the layout while the visitors may share the page/image/text paragraph via various social networks.

Social Status

This plugin doesn’t enhance the user experience, but it shouldn’t be missing from the arsenal of a serious WordPress user. It offers a very detailed situation of the social media hits and the dates are showcased using beautifully designed graphics.

WP Social RSS

It was impossible not to mention a plugin that will allow you to better handle the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) options. It’s simple to use and it allows customizing the RSS buttons in order to attract more and more visitors.

The social networks are very important and either if you are willing or not, these will be very appreciated in the next years. These plugins are very efficient and any owner of a WordPress powered website must consider installing some of them. If you appreciate this post, don’t forget to share it with your friends!

Uncategorized

20 most popular and efficient WordPress plugins

February 5, 2014 ThemeSquirrel

A WordPress plugin is the perfect solution to extent the powers of this impressive content management system. If a theme is usually “responsible” for the design of the website, then a plugin is “responsible” for making it more suitable for various purposes or to cover some in the red aspects. By using various plugins, a WordPress powered website may be used for blogging (as it was the initial purpose of it) but also for ecommerce or business solutions. Practically, a WordPress based website may be used for any type of project by using the proper plugins and themes.
The developers created tons of plugins; some of them top quality while others mediocre. We, the incumbents, should be grateful to them and respect their work. Altogether, the best plugins creators deserve to be praised and their works showcased to the users. As a result, we present here 20 very popular WordPress plugins. All of them are very useful and efficient; therefore use them to enhance your website!

Ubermenu

Ubermenu is the perfect solution for complex websites. It’s recommended to use it when the navigational menu contains many options. By using it, the many sections of the menu are beautifully displayed and the overall navigation is much improved. In addition, the plugin is light weight, extremely customisable and fully responsive- pretty convincing, isn’t it?

Royal Slider

Nowadays is mandatory to prepare the websites for mobile users and a good method of making the navigation a real pleasure is the use of a good image slider. Royal Slider is a very good solution for sliding images because it’s created for swipe navigation – an “exclusive” possibility of the handheld devices’ users. Also, this plugin is SEO optimised, may work with videos and the user has four different skins to select from.

Slider Pro

Unless you aren’t content with the previous plugin, then this one surely will captivate your attention. Slider Pro is very customisable- more than 150 customisation options and 15 slide skins, fully responsive and the slides may be shuffled. I think that it’s a must have plugin, isn’t it?

Responsive web pricing tables

By using this plugin, the user has the possibility of adding into his website some amazing pricing tables. The features of this plugin are really impressive: unlimited rows and columns, responsive design, two styles and the creators offer a very good and detailed support.

Media Grid

No matter the high quality of the items exposed into a portfolio, unless it’s well-rendered for any type of visitor, it won’t bring many advantages to the owner. Media grid is a cool plugin: it helps the user to tailor the layout of a website according to his needs. Practically, it’s a responsive grid builder. If you have a portfolio, then this plugin is a must have one!

Facebook Likebox Slider

It’s crystal clear for any website owner that neglecting the social media presence, it’s wasted a great source of traffic. This plugin is very fast and easy configurable and it allows adding social media buttons into a website. Much more, the type and the number of social networks included are customisable; the same, the position and the size of the buttons may be tailored to the user needs.

Foobar

It is another very powerful plugin; Foobar is a WordPress plugin that gives special powers to the user that is enabled to add stunning notifications bars. The latest tweets, RSS feeds or social media may be added into the notification bar, therefore it’s attractive for every blogger.

uSquare

uSquare is a great plugin that will transform any website into a very original and modern one. This plugin is very useful for blog posts,staff or products presentations. It’s very intuitive, the effects are very interesting (I strongly recommend enjoying the preview) and of course, it’s responsive and customisable.

Eventon

If you need to provide clear temporal checkpoints (events, meetings, festivities) then Eventon is the best solution for it. A common calendar is boring while this plugin is making the calendar of events extremely attractive. The default design of the plugin is very nice. Anyway, the user may have different tastes, but there is no problem because everything is very customisable.

Hide My WP

We all know that the Internet is full of hackers, but very few people have taken any actions against them. The common mentality that it can’t happen to me is wrong! This plugin is very cheap, but its effects are very important. The most important is that hacking your website is almost impossible!

Booking System Pro

This WordPress plugin is one of the most complex ones. By installing this, you have a wonderfully booking system. It comes into four versions (default, with hours intervals enabled, with morning checkout and with hours enabled). The documentation of this plugin is very detailed, so you have all the reasons to take into consideration this plugin.

Sidebar and Widget Manager

As the name itself is self-describing, Sidebar and Widget Manager helps the user to customize the sidebar and the widget area more efficiently. In fact, this WordPress plugin gives to the user the unlimited power to modify the widget area and the sidebar according to the needs. Besides that, it’s responsive and no coding is required.

Live Chat Plugin

Nowadays, the customer support is very important and it may make the difference between a good online store and a highly profitable one. Still, getting in touch with the clients shouldn’t be obtrusive. This WordPress plugin is the ideal approach: it’s visible no matter the webpages accessed, but at the same time is very discreet. I consider it a common, but efficient plugin that should be installed on the majority of the WordPress powered websites.

Security Ninja

Flip Book

Many Internet users are still madly in love with the format of a book. They shouldn’t be neglected and this plugin is a great tool to help them. By using this amazing WordPress plugin you may add a “digital book” into the website. The design is impressive and of course, it’s responsive!

Ubermenu Flat Skin Pack

Ubermenu is another plugin that will impress the users. In fact, once installed, the user has the possibility of customizing the menu as he/she wish, especially from the chromatic view point.

Vision

I think that Vision is a dangerous plugin: it may create addictiveness. The purpose of it is to give the user a large pallet of shortcodes to add into the website. Well, there are so many shortcodes and options that a talented user may radically change a website. If you want to merely adjust your website layout, then Vision should be on your acquisition list.

Hotspot Map

Hotspot is a plugin that makes the difference between good and awesome. This WordPress plugin lets the user to add hotspots to various images and the effects are very cool. I consider that is way better to test yourself by using the simulator. It’s simple and effective, therefore is recommended to pay closer attention to it.

Modern Admin

I guess that I am not the only one that must admin a website and sometimes (I am not in the mood for/. This WordPress plugin won’t do the job for you, but at least it will stimulate you to handle the website. It turns the dashboard into a nicer one and maybe in this way, you will spend more by improving the website.

Uber Audio

Everyone is listening to music and of course, there are design projects that need a good audio player. If you are working for such a website, or you want to modernize your „old audio player”, then Uber Audio is for you. The design is very modern, there can be played an unlimited number of melodies, the playlists may be easily customised and it is cross-browser compatible. It sounds pretty interesting, isn’t it?
I hope that from these wonderful and useful WordPress plugins you will find one that may enhance your website. Also, it will be great to share with us your favourite plugin, we will post sooner another post showcasing the preferences of the readers regarding the plugins.

Making the net better – one nut at a time.