Available Plugins
Plugins are tool that add custom features and functions to your site. Below is a list of all the plugins installed on the OpenLab. These are available to activate on any Course, Project, Club, or Portfolio site.
Admin Commenters Comments Count
“Next to all appearances of each commenter’s name in the admin, this plugin shows a comments bubble identical to the one shown for posts in the admin listing of posts. The comments bubble shows the number of approved comments for that person….The comment counts are linked to listings of comments associated solely with that particular commenter.”
Advanced Editor Tools (previously TinyMCE Advanced)
“Advanced Editor Tools (previously TinyMCE Advanced) introduces a “Classic Paragraph” block for the block editor (Gutenberg). If you are not quite ready to switch to the block editor, or have plugins that cannot be used there (yet), using the Classic Paragraph block is your best option. It lets you to continue to use the familiar TinyMCE editor for most tasks, and at the same time gives you full access to all blocks and new features in the block editor.”
Advanced Excerpt
This plugin allows you to customize the way WordPress displays post excerpts. It: “Trims the excerpt to a given length using either character count or word count; Customizes the excerpt length and the ellipsis character that are used; Completes the last word or sentence in an excerpt (no weird cuts); Adds a read-more link to the text.”
Advanced Sidebar Menu
“Uses the parent/child relationship of your pages or categories to generate menus in the sidebar based on the current section of your site. Assign a page or category to a parent and this will do the rest for you.”
Anthologize
“Anthologize is a free, open-source, plugin that transforms WordPress into a platform for publishing electronic texts. Grab posts from your WordPress blog, import feeds from external sites, or create new content directly within Anthologize. Then outline, order, and edit your work, crafting it into a single volume for export in several formats, including—in this release—PDF, ePUB, TEI.”
Block Navigation
“Block Navigation provides a sidebar with the current post/page’s blocks and some tools to facilitate the editing process in the new Gutenberg editor” including: “Dragging blocks to a different location; Moving blocks by click; Selecting blocks.”
Breadcrumb
Allows you to add breadcrumb navigation to your site. You can add to any page or post and customize the display and options for the breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumb NavXT
This plugin adds breadcrumb navigation to your site, if you’re using either the OpenLab Twenty Sixteen or OpenLab Twenty Thirteen theme. The breadcrumb navigation will automatically be added to all pages in these themes.
Category Sticky Post
Allows you to create sticky posts that appear at the top of category archive pages.
Category Tag Pages
Allows you to add categories and tags to pages. Usually these can only be added to posts.
CM Tooltip Glossary
This plugin allows you to create a glossary of terms from your site and show the definition when users hover over a word.
Contact Form 7
This plugin allows you to create a contact form (or multiple forms) to add to your site. You can also easily customize the forms, as well as use CAPTCHA and Akismet for simple spam prevention.
DCO Comment Attachment
Allows site visitors to attach files to their comments, with settings to allow only certain types of files.
Download Monitor
Provides extra options for managing and tracking file downloads on your site.
Easy Custom Sidebars
This plugin allows you to create and add custom sidebars that display only on specific pages or post archives.
Easy Table of Contents
This plugin allows you to create a table of contents (TOC) for pages and posts on your OpenLab site. Visitors to your site can click a link in the TOC, which allows them to jump down to that section on the page.
Edge Suite
Edge Suite allows you to manage and view Adobe Edge Animate compositions on your site.
Embed Calendly
Allows you to add Calendly scheduling functionality to your site. This requires a Calendly account to use.
Event Organiser
This plugin allows you to create events on your site, which you can organize in various ways. If you’re looking for a more full-featured calendar plugin, there’s one called The Events Calendar.
Expire Sticky Posts
This plugin allows you to set an expiration date on sticky posts so you don’t have to go back and “unstick” posts. They’ll simply become “unstuck” on the date you set.
FeedWordPress
This plugin pulls the posts from a site or multiple sites (using the RSS feed), and aggregates them on another site so that they appear on that site’s main blog page.
Folders
Allows you to create folders to organize your pages, posts, and media library files.
Gravity Forms
Allows you to create forms that can do many different things, from polling users, collecting contact information, to organizing reservations for events, and more. It can also be used as a way for site members to submit files.
Gravity Forms Dropbox Add-On
This plugin allows you to automatically send files uploaded with Gravity Forms to your Dropbox account.
Gravity Forms Image Choices Add-On
Allows you to add images as choices in a Gravity Forms quiz or poll.
Gravity Forms Quiz Add-On
This plugin allows you to quickly create Quizzes that are automatically graded or scored when the form is submitted.
Gravity Forms Survey Add-On
This adds a Survey field to the form editor, which includes eight different types of survey questions, such as Likert Scale, Rank, Rating, and more.
Gravity Forms Zapier Add-On
Allows you to connect your forms to many different online apps and services, to add additional functionality.
Google Docs Shortcode
This plugin allows you to embed a Google Doc into a post or page on your site.
Gutenberg
Activating this plugin enables the latest beta version of the Block Editor on your site. It will allow you to see what the bleeding edge Block Editor development looks like, but know that it may not work perfectly, and may cause issues with other plugins activated on your site.
Text highlighter for the Block Editor
Highlighter Pro
This plugin allows you to highlight text in a page or post, as well as to add inline notes with your highlights.
Hypothesis
This plugin integrates your site with Hypothesis, a web annotation tool that allows users to provide commentary on top of a site. You can highlight words, phrases, or other elements on your site with commentary that becomes visible when you hover over the elements. You can find out more at http://hypothes.is/
Jetpack
A plugin created by WordPress.com that adds many different enhancements to your site, including stats, image optimization, custom CSS, contact forms, image galleries and carousels, and more.
Link Library
This plugin allows you to add a list of links and link categories to your site. You can also include notes and descriptions of all the links. The links and categories are those that you’ve defined inside the Links section of your Site Dashboard.
OpenLab Attributions
This plugin allows anyone to add attributions for Creative Commons licensed content they’re using on an OpenLab site. Each attribution will add a superscript number that links to a reference list at the bottom of a page or post.
OpenLab Gradebook
Provides faculty with a simple and secure way to keep track of and share assignments and grades for a course. When logged into the OpenLab, faculty, as admin of their course site, will be able to enter and view all grades for their course via their course site dashboard, and each student will be able to see only their own grades.
OSM – OpenStreetMap
This plugin allows users to embed OpenStreetMaps in their posts or pages. Features include ability to display different open map types (such as OpenStreetMap, OpenWeatherMap, BaseMap), display maps with markers, geotag posts, display photos on the map, and more.
Papercite
Papercite formats BibTeX entries to display a bibliography or citations in posts and pages.
Prezi WP
This plugin allows users to embed Prezi presentations into posts and pages using a simple shortcode. Prezi is a “cloud-based presentation software” that allows users to create presentations with different animated effects. Since it is web-based, the presentation is available anywhere you have an internet connection. Click here for a longer tutorial.
Really Simple CAPTCHA
This plugin works with Contact Form 7, and can be used to add a simple CAPTCHA to the form submission to prevent spam.
Require Post Category
This very simple plugin can do wonders to organize a site with multiple users, just by making sure users can’t post without choosing a category first.
ShareThis
ShareThis adds a social media bar to all posts and pages, allowing your followers, members, or readers to easily share posts or pages from your site on other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Click here for a longer tutorial.
Subscribe2
This plugin allows “comprehensive email subscription management.” Many of its features overlap with existing email members settings on the OpenLab. But it also provides a number of things you might find valuable, including customizable unsubscribe messages. It might be particularly useful for those sites that have or hope to have a non-City Tech readership and want to make it easy for non-City Tech readers to follow your site. If they subscribe through this plugin, which will accept any valid email address, they will get a message anytime you add a new post.
Text Hover
This plugin allows users to add hover text to specific terms included on posts or pages. When site visitors hover their mouse over the word or phrase, they’ll see additional text, such as definitions or additional information.
The Events Calendar
This plugin adds a customizable events calendar, which can be embedded in a page, post, or sidebar widget.
Ultimate Category Excluder
With this plugin, users can choose categories to exclude from the site home page, archives, feeds, or search results. Posts in those categories will not appear on those pages, if chosen.
WP Accessibility
This plugin helps correct a number of common WordPress accessibility issues.
WP Grade Comments
The WP Grade Comments plugin is very simple to use, and it has an easy interface for privately leaving grades only the post creator and administrator can see. You can also leave private comments.
WP-Polls
This plugin allows you to add polls to your site, on a post, page, or in your sidebar. It includes the ability to customize different options and styles.
WP Broken Link Status Checker
This plugin allows you to check your site for any broken links. It works on both pages and posts. Each time you launch a new scan, something called a crawler is run to check for broken links.
WP Document Revisions
This is document management and version control plugin allows multiple site members to collaboratively edit and track versions of files uploaded to the site, such as text documents, spreadsheets, images, and many others. It also allows site members to securely upload and download password protected documents that are available only to site members.
WP QuickLaTeX
This plugin allows site members to use LaTeX code in posts, pages, and comments to display mathematical equations and formulas.
WTI Like Post
“WTI Like Post is a plugin for adding like (thumbs up) and unlike (thumbs down) functionality for wordpress posts/pages….[I]t will show a maximum of the 10 most liked posts/pages….It comes with a widget to display the most liked posts/pages which you can place in any widget area. It has live updates of the like count on the widget if you like or unlike any post/page.” Once you activate the plugin, you’ll see the like icon appear at the bottom of your post.
Yoast Duplicate Post
This plugin allows you to clone an existing post or page on your site, or edit it as a new draft.
*Descriptions for many of the plugins taken from the WordPress.org Plugin Directory.
