With so many articles about not using WordPress plugins, it just begs the question: “What’s wrong with WordPress plugins in the first place?”

I personally love my installed plugins. I have 25 installed on my personal blog, and I couldn’t live without a single one of them. If you venture off to Jeff Chandler’s site, he has 31 installed. Are we freakin’ nuts, or what?

So what’s the deal with all these “without a plugin” posts? I mean, you don’t see plugin authors posting, “How to accomplish ‘xyz’ without a WordPress theme” do you?

Okay, I’m slightly kidding, but this question needs to be asked: “What benefit is there to integrating a plugin into a theme?”

Does the theme load faster? Will there be support for the extra functionality? Will the plugin be better integrated as far as appearance?

Granted, there are many good reasons to integrate some plugin functionality as part of a WordPress theme (breadcrumbs anybody?).

The problem I foresee cropping up, however, is the user becoming too reliant on the theme for functionality that a WordPress plugin should ideally provide. As a result, that user may be ‘locked in’ to using the theme, whereas others can easily change out their theme without sacrificing functionality (if you’re like me, you go through 2-3 themes a year).

An argument for plugin integration is that of WordPress frameworks. Since frameworks typically rely on child themes for the appearance, the user doesn’t need to change the theme; The user is afforded the functionality of built-in plugins, and the flexibility of changing out themes.

An Exercise for the Reader

Okay, you’ve heard my spill on plugin integration. As an exercise for the reader, please consider the following and join me in the comments section:

• What types of plugins should be built into themes?
• What benefits do built-in plugins provide for you?
• How far should theme frameworks go to limit the need for plugins?

And lastly, are plugins evil?

Over the holidays, Dreamhost encountered a fairly large network failure. This happened just before they conducted their largest data center move to date. The network failure caused a number of sites to go offline, including a number of Dreamhost official sites. However, as mentioned in a recent ZDNet article, the nightmare is still ongoing for a few customers, especially those running WordPress who are running into 500 errors. ZDNet published a list of directions from a Dreamhost customer service rep that should get your site back online.

Were you affected by either of these mishaps during Thanksgiving?

Now, I don’t mean plugins, or themes, or anything external like that. I mean the core of WordPress itself. Sometimes it seems WordPress just comes up short. It can be anything from a simple little inconvenience to a total show-stopper.

I think hearing peoples gripes about WordPress would be a nice contrast to the almost constant good things you hear about it. It might also help to get more attention on the issues. Don’t forget that someone may come across this post, read a gripe, and possibly provide a solution. We can all help each other!

So, lets get it started…

One of the issues I always seem to run into has to do with the way some core functions output their code. A lot of the functions in WordPress provide a method for either outputting the code (echo) or returning it for you to handle and probably eventually echo yourself.

Unfortunately not all functions currently in WordPress are like this. Some only allow for echoing the code. This can be quite the inconvenience for some of us. The only way to usually get around this is to capture the output with a buffering function (ick!) or to copy what the function does into a function of our own to do what we need. However, this is less than ideal. What if the core version of that function changes some time in the future? That leaves us in a situation where we have to also update our version of the function. That’s not very nice…

An easy fix? Probably… Will it be addressed in future versions of WordPress? I hope so! Is it a critical issue? No. But, not all WordPress gripes are. This is just one of those things that has bugged me for some time.

So, how about you? What bugs you about WordPress?

From the list of sponsors, the list of attendees and the list of speakers, the enthusiasm for blogging and WordPress in India is not lost on me. If you have not checked out the Delhi Bloggers Group or one of the many other blogging groups and partnerships mentioned and you are an Indian blogger, you might be missing out. I am hopeful that the turnout will be fantastic and I hope to see some of the presentations on WordPress.tv

I am jealous that Matt and Om were able to visit the Taj Mahal because it appears that parts of the Taj might be restricted to visitors. Om has an interesting take on the Taj and Apple Computers and Matt has some nice pictures posted.

A few things are still broken (find any?) and the internal code and the SQL queries that run the plugins are still being tweaked. We might end up re-writing a few of the plugins to make them more efficient and introduce caching. Our overall goal was to make the blog feel fresh and be able to highlight the various aspects of our community that helps generate and produce and news and the articles for this blog. Needless to say, we stuck to our basic tenets of minimal advertising and ease of use while sticking with a light (on the eyes and on the bandwidth) and minimalist theme.

If you only read this blog in a news reader, I welcome you to check it out on a browser. A lot has changed and there are a lot of new features. Since themes and plugins form a large portion of what this blog is all about, there are theme and plugin news sections now on the front page. We also highlight the most visited posts of the day at the top of the blog. We have also added lists from WordPress Jobs, General WordPress News, PressItFor.me and Weblog Tools Videos. The single page design is cleaner with emphasis on the actual content of the article and the comment threading (which form the meat and potatoes of any blog). The advertising has been spread around and neatly tucked away to not be obtrusive and yet provide a good value to the advertiser. Regular visitors see fewer ads and never see AdSense ads.

The change has not gone unnoticed and reactions have ranged from absolute distaste to glorious commendations, with the meter tilting towards the latter. The one browser bug with the search form is really bugging me (try visiting this blog in IE or in Safari) but overall I am pleased with the result.

What are your impressions?

Our little blog grew slowly but steadily in the last year and our editors, authors and well wishers have made it possible for us to not only provide you with the most useful and up to date WordPress news, but we have been able to organize and support our Annual WordPress Plugin Competition, have been able to visit a couple of WordCamps around the US and have started a couple of new services around WordPress. If you want to know what the team is up to, be sure to check out the Weblog Tools Collection Crew LifeStream.

As always, we have been trying to improve our content, add more features and services, be good citizens of the WordPress world, all the while trying to increase our readership and our distribution.

• We have brought back the Spanish Version of this blog. It was originally started as a small side project along with a German version but we found it difficult to find human translators for them. This new version is translated by a paid translation service called ICanLocalize and is using their custom designed WordPress plugin which we helped test and implement. I have to say that after having had such a hard time with translators in the past, I was very apprehensive of any such relationship. But Amir Helzer and his team of translators have not only been helpful, but they have shown dedication and care that is rare in this world of online business. The service is completely automatic and both comments and posts are automagically submitted for human translation through the plugin. Though the service is not cheap, it gives our blog a nice edge. So if you would like to read this blog in Spanish, please head over to WeblogToolsCollection Español and subscribe.
• We have made some changes to the advertiser requirements on this blog, much of which drastically reduces our revenue. We now require that all our advertisers who want to promote WordPress plugins and themes, release their themes and plugins under the GPL or a GPL compatible license to be eligible to advertise on Weblog Tools Collection and related properties. Existing ads will be forced to expire and will not be renewed. We will also not link to any work from Premium Theme and Plugin authors that do not release their themes and/or plugins under a GPL or compatible license.
• Jeff Chandler has restarted his WordPress Weekly podcast under the auspices of Weblog Tools Collection and judging from the download numbers and the listener particpation numbers, it has been a resounding success. You can subscribe to WordPress Weekly via iTunes. Jeff has had put together some fantastic shows for us already and we are excited to see what the new year holds in store.
• Ajay is re-starting his “A Plugin A Day” or APAD WordPress Plugin Reviews which is always a lot of fun and is received well by our readers. We have received hundreds of applications to be considered for APAD and will be starting to publish them very soon.
• We will hold another WordPress Plugin Competition this year. But in addition to the Plugin Competition, if advertising picks up, we would also like to start a Weblog Tools Collection College Scholarship to promote WordPress development and help students dip their toe in WordPress. Stay tuned for further details.

For all of us here at Weblog Tools Collection, our little endeavor is a painstaking labor of love. We love the attention but also love to receive feedback. To all of you who have sent us your comments and suggestions, we say thank you. We have paid close attention to all the suggestions and have tried to incorporate them into our world as best we can.

We would also like to say thanks to our readers for making us your Number One source for WordPress and blogging news and to the WordPress team for producing this fantastic tool for us to use and enjoy.

We raise our imaginary glasses in a toast to another great year of blogging with WordPress.

Here are the results from the survey

1. Where did you first hear about Weblog Tools Collection?
   1. WordPress Dashboard 76.2%
   2. WordPress Planet 4.8%
   3. Google Search 11.9%
   4. Link from Another site 4.8%
   5. User Suggestions/Discussions 2.4%
   6. Other (please specify) 0.0%
2. Are you subscribed to Weblog Tools Collection to receive daily updates?
   1. Subscribed via RSS 25.0%
   2. Subscribed via Email 0.0%
   3. Already on Dashboard 50.0%
   4. Read it on the web 23.8%
   5. Subscribed via other means 0.0%
   6. Other (please specify) 1.2%
3. Satisfaction ratings for Weblog Tools Collection
   1. Overall satisfaction: 60% voted satisfied, 26% very satisfied
   2. Content: 50% voted satisfied, 35% very satisfied
   3. Design: 35% voted somewhat satisfied, 28% satisfied
   4. Format: 45% voted satisfied, 35% somewhat satisfied (leaning towards somewhat satisfied)
   5. Frequency of posts: 50% voted satisfied, 35% very satisfied
   6. Features of blog: 65% voted satisfied, 20% somewhat satisfied
4. Advertisements
   1. Are they usable? 45% Undecided, 35% No
   2. Have you ever clicked on any of them? 65% No, 35% Yes
   3. Are there too many ads? 45% No, 35% Undecided
   4. Are you an advertiser? 95% No
5. Site Features
   1. Did you know that we offer a news forum? 55% No, 40% Yes
   2. Did you know that we have a video site? 50% No, 40% Yes
   3. Did you know that we have offer translations in 9 languages? 50% Yes, 35% No
   4. Would you participate in future surveys to help us make the site better? 90% Yes
   5. Did you know that registered users see far fewer ads? 80% No, 13% Not Important

The final question asked how we could improve the user experience on Weblog Tools Collection and about a quarter of the respondents sent us comments. Many of the answers were critical of our design. One simile in particular to a web 0.1 site made me shiver. There were comments on removing some of the ads and suggestions on how to make our posts better with more plugin reviews and more articles on design, development and WordPress technology. The primary sentiments expressed in the polls were also reflected in the detailed comments. We appreciate your feedback. Your opinion matters to us and helps us make the right decisions.

Now where is that designer?

Just send me an email or a twit or use the Contact Form above if you would like to get together.

[EDIT] Suggestions and SF advice much appreciated.

WordPress Search as a custom Google Search without addition page or post: Add a custom Google Search to your WordPress blog (and make search advertising dollars?) without too much of a hassle. Complete instructions and examples are included in the post.

Create a Flash Arcade site using WordPress: This set of instructions will help you convert a simple WordPress blog into a Flash arcade site. Pretty cool with detailed instructions on the transition.

Here is a tip which I stumbled upon accidentally, that is somewhat unrelated to WordPress. Visit a NYTimes page such as a news item and double click on a single word. You will need a free registration to view that page or have to be logged in if you are registered already. The javascript file that adds the functionality in question is copyrighted to Answers.com and I wonder if a WordPress plugin exists for the same.

Check out this awesome line up prizes:

4th Place: WordPress mug and WordPress T-shirt

3rd Place: WordPress mug, WordPress T-shirt and Lijit T-Shirt

2nd Place: WordPress mug, WordPress T-shirt, Lijit T-Shirt, signed copy of Blogging Tips: What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging, and one single-user Revolution theme license of the winners’ choice

1st Place: WordPress mug, WordPress T-shirt, Lijit T-Shirt, signed copy of Blogging Tips: What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging, one TV.Elements theme license, one single-user Revolution theme license of the winners’ choice, a free copy of The Secret to Writing a Successful and Outstanding Blog, and an (optional) free 30 minute consultation with Liz Strauss.

The contest is still going on with no clear indication as to when the final images will be accepted. Please check out their contest page to discover the rules of the contest as well as how to enter.

Weblog Tools Collection uses a lot of plugins and is very query heavy but the in spite of that, the front page uses 59 queries to generate itself. I think the default (on a vanilla WordPress install on the default theme) is 27 or something of that nature. The larger the number of queries, the slower the page is going to load and the more load you are going to put on your MySql server. All of the above is true if you do not use inline or regenerative caching mechanisms. The caveat on this blog is that its plugins and its MySql server are highly optimized (via inline caching mechanisms) to reduce load.

Larger number of queries on a WordPress blog are probably caused by plugins that have been installed. Plugin authors can have non-optimized and useless queries that either take a long time to execute or need a large(r) number of queries to acheive a simple(r) result. I suspect that one could follow the 80-20 rule with 80% of the queries on your blog being generated by 20% of the plugins. If you can identify the top hitters and either optimize or replace them, you will have a happier blog and a happier MySql server.

It is also important to remember that the number of queries might not be the only straw that is breaking the camel’s back. SQL queries can be poorly constructed and can put a tremendous drain on resources. I remember a certain recent comments plugin that made queries which scanned entire tables before producing a result. If you are concerned about the speed of you blog or the number of queries, start disabling plugins. You might be pleasantly surprised to find that a few plugins might be causing most of your headaches. Once you identify the suspect plugins, you can then either find replacements that are more oprtimized or find other ways of obtaining the same result.

How many queries does your font page generate? If you find efficiencies by disabling plugins, please tell us about the results.

On completely unrelated news, I found a WordPress Theme Design Book by Tessa Blakeley Silver that might be of interest to theme designers. Looks like the book is also available as an eBook. She has also authored a Joomla design book. If any of you own this book, please provide some feedback.

WP-Cron is a tangle of black magic that allows a plugin developer or a user to schedule commands to be executed. WP-Crontrol is a plugin that lets a blog owner see through that magic and figure out what’s actually going on

If you want a detailed introduction to this plugin as well as an explanation as to how to use this plugin in conjunction with WP Database Backup to create backups when you want them, be sure to check out this article: Add a new WordPress backup schedule with WP-Crontrol

Also on the radar today is a quick fix for the WordPress 2.5.x image uploader. Awsom.org is reporting that there is a no-flash plugin that is available which returns the previous image upload function from earlier versions of WordPress.