Top 25 Plugins to Transform WordPress into a Powerful CMS
Wordpress is not just your friendly blogging program. It’s also, thanks to a suite of powerful plugins, a complete CMS. Let’s take a look at some of the best plugins around that will have you webmastering with the best of them in no time.
1. Simple Fields
This simple, yet useful, plugin acts as a replacement to custom fields and adds textboxes, text areas, checkboxes, radio buttons, and dropdowns. It also adds the ability to group fields together in easy-to-navigate groups. Useful little tool.
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2. Blog-in-Blog
Want to have the functionality of a CMS system but still be able to retain a little blog on the side? Then this is the plugin for you. This plugin lets you assign a specific category that will reroute content to a separate blog of your choosing. These are hidden from the main page so you can basically do anything you like.
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3. CMS Tree Page View
This plugin adds a CMS-like tree overview of all your pages to WordPress. This is just like the view afforded by a page-focused CMS. This plugin allows you to you can edit pages, view pages, add pages, search pages, and drag and drop pages to rearrange the order.
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4. Content Sort
This marvelous plugin adds a grid under “Posts” in the admin where users can use drag and drop to sort posts published on the first page. This functionality gives users more control over posts without having to write complicated custom loops.
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5. White Label CMS
This amazing plugin helps you brand Wordpress into your own fully-functioning CMS. It slices, it dices, it allows you to edit the navigation menus and dashboard to suit your site’s needs. Only only those last two.
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6. Inline Editor
Want to edit your content from the front end of your WordPress blog? Want to do this using the exact stylings of your blog or CMS? Then this is the plugin for you.
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7. CMS
This is more or less a collection of plugins that, used to together, will help your Wordpress give you the feel and usefulness of a true CMS. It includes multiple content blocks, Page manager, aFAQ plugin and more.
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8. Front Page Category
This plugin allows you to easily choose posts in any of your categories to appear on the front page. Also lets you exclude any categories so that they show up only in the archive pages and not on the front page.
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9. CMS Dashboard
This handly plugin creates a useful dashboard plugin. It features large and easily pushable buttons to make navigation a breeze. This is perfect for new Wordpress users who may not be well-versed with all of the functionality.
10. Page.ly MultiEdit
This plugin allows you to create multiple content blocks on page templates. These are fully editable and use custom fields to create simple tinyMCE regions on those page templates.
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11. Dashboard Heaven
Dashboard Heaven offers Widget to User-level/role customization. It lets you control which user levels see which widget. Pretty useful.
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12. Edit Flow
The Edit Flow plugin improves the WordPress Admin interface for a multi-user newsroom’s editorial workflow. It gives you the ability to perform custom post statuses, post metadata and editorial commenting, and editing user groups.
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13. CMS Press
Want to create and manage custom content types? This is your ticket. It adds the flexibility to have more than just posts and pages for content by allowing the user to register their own post types in whatever fashion they choose.
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14. Magic Fields
Magic Fields is a great little plugin. It focuses on simplified content management for the admin creating custom write panels.
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15. Multiple Content Blocks
This lets you use more than one content block on a template. You need only insert one tag inside the template. User-friendly is the name of the game here. It even allows you to specify content blocks on your pages that can be easily edited by clients.
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16. Core Tweaks WordPress Setup
This plugin automates the proper setup of your WordPress blog for SEO use. This handles just about every aspect, including changing the permalink structure to deleting the Hello World sample post and comment, and all the options are accessible from one single page.
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17. Pods CMS
This is another highly usable CMS framework. It allows you to easily add and display your own content types, among other things.
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18. Flutter
Flutter is a plugin that gives the admin the ability to write panels with radio buttons, file uploads, image uploads, checkboxes and more. It also features simplified templating.
19. WP-CMS Post Control
This gives you absolute control over the write options you use just about every user level and role. It even lets you hide unwanted items like custom fields, trackbacks and revisions.
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20. Menus Plus+
This plugin lets you create multiple customized menus with pages, posts, categories, and URLS. It lets you drag and drop to your heart’s content. A real time saver.
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21. PageMash
This plugin gives you an Ajax interface that also allows you drag-and-drop pages to place them in whatever configuration you like. This functionality also works toward modifying the page structure however you like.
22. Role Scoper
Role Scoper is gives users a useful access control solution. It gives you CMS-like control of reading and editing permissions. Assign restrictions and roles to pages, posts and categories.
23. CForms II
This is a powerful program that helps WordPress users get what they want out of their CMS. It offers convenient deployment of multiple Ajax driven contact forms throughout your blog or even on the same page.
24. Scissors
Scissors acts a sort of mini-Photoshop for your CMS, allowing you to crop, resize, and rotate images. This plugin also allows automatic resizing of images when they are uploaded and supports automatic and manual watermarking of images.
25. Multi-Level Navigation
This handy-dandy plugin adds an SEO friendly, accessible dropdown menu to your WordPress blog. It has a host of features and customization options.
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