Actually, because I had a little time to spend surfing over the New Year period, I came across these excellent suggestions “Check your Plugins this New Year“.

While WordPress is self sufficient to run as a system for a novice blogger, the more advanced bloggers like to enhance its functionality using Plugins. There are already a few hundred, if not thousand plugins … This wide choice of plugins can be very “tempting” and we end up installing a lot of plugins without giving a second thought; many of these we rarely use. … This post will stress on the importance of regular and continuous plugin maintenance.

While I won’t summarize the article here, I would like to say that some of the tips are quite handy, esp.

• 1. Install basic and necessary plugins first
• 2. Only install a plugin if you need it
• 3. Find a better alternative
• 4. Embed code in the template if possible instead of using a plugin
• 5. Remove files of deactivated plugins
• 6. Check regularly for updates. Security upgrades are mandatory

I do think that tips #2, #5 and #6 are quite within the realms of even the more basic users. If you know how to upload a plugin, I think you can manage #5 and #6. Tip #2 is quite difficult for beginners and even more experienced bloggers because we want to try everything! Tips #3 and #6 might require more effort and distract bloggers from getting their blogging done. But Tip #4 might be the MOST challenging even for experienced bloggers. And so I think perhaps #5 had best be done by those familiar with PHP to some extent, and who can understand that messing with PHP in their blogs can seriously damage the blog.

In general, I think that the best plugins are ones that enhance the reader’s experience either directly or indirectly. Indirectly might include making things easier for the writers/administrators of the blogs! After all, what is a blog without readers? Right?