Webnames.ca Staffby Marko from Support
On a daily basis, we receive calls from customers asking about WordPress and a good portion of these questions are focused on useful plugins.
With millions of different plugins available on WordPress and thousands of popular plugins, I could have easily created a comprehensive list that included an SEO plugin like Yoast or a great and free form generator like Contact 7, but these plugins have already been reviewed and included in a number of review sites.
I picked four plugins because I found them to be useful for their utility and the functionality they offered.
I wanted to look for plugins that were off the beaten path but still served a purpose.
I believe that these relatively unknown plugins, given enough time will show their quality and gain more prominence in the WordPress community.
Listed below is exactly what the title implies; obscure but useful WordPress plugins.
Easy Restaurant Menu Manager:
Occasionally, we would receive calls from customers who run their own restaurants.
I found this nifty little plugin, which allows users to create their own online menu. It is both simple and elegant:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/easy-restaurant-menu-manager/screenshots/
Fancy Gallery:
This next plugin I found serves two purposes, creating albums and exporting those albums to an external website. This plugin is also great because of the flexibility it offers and design.
It was one of the first gallery plugins I look at and recommend for individuals that are in either the photography or interior design industries.
Why, you might ask?
Based on the examples on the plugin’s website, it provides both a sophisticated and clean layout.
Just take a look for yourself; you will see what I mean:
http://codecanyon.net/item/fancy-gallery-wordpress-plugin/400535
jTab Guitar Tab Shortcode:
I can only remember taking one or two calls from musicians, but being a budding guitarist, I was pleased to find an online chord diagram creator.
I thought this was a fantastic tool for both teachers and students:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/jtab-guitar-tab-shortcode/
IP Filter:
There are times when people just did not want to modify their host file on their local computer, or use the preview option in the hosting control panel, because they may find it too cumbersome. This plugin eliminates those added steps. With IP Filter you can designate who can see your page and when you are ready for it to go live for everyone to view:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ip-filter/