Recommended WordPress Plugins and Themes for Personal Use

Preface

The moment this post goes live, it means I’ve officially moved from WordPress to Hexo!

Hexo is a static blog framework that can be deployed to free code hosting platforms.

That alone is an absolute advantage for me! It also settled which blog framework I should use.

After all, who doesn’t love free stuff?

It took me over a month of tinkering, but Hexo is finally done, so WordPress can sit in the repo gathering dust.

To keep a record, I’ll recommend the WordPress plugins I’ve used.

Just in case I come back to WordPress someday and forget all the plugins.

Below are some of the plugins and themes I was using on WordPress.

Plugin Recommendations

Live2DWebCanvas (Live2D Mascot)

Official description: Mascot plugin

First up is the Live2D mascot — practically a must-have for veterans!!!

Those who know, know…

But there are quite a few compatibility issues, so if you’re worried about stability, consider it carefully…

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/live-2d/

Akismet (Anti-Spam Comments)

Official description: Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your site from spam comments. Your site is fully configured and gets uninterrupted protection.

As the name suggests, it’s mainly used to fight spam comments and bot-generated junk. I can’t really judge it…

After all, I abandoned WordPress not long after starting, so I never really experienced it.

If you’ve used it, feel free to leave a comment about your experience.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/

ProfilePress (Account Management)

Official description: The modern WordPress membership and user profile plugin.

Machine translation: A modern WordPress membership and user profile plugin.

This is…?

Seems to be some kind of account feature plugin, I forgot.

I remember it being useful, so I’ll note it down for now.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-user-avatar/

Redis Object Cache (Redis Object Cache)

Official description: A persistent object cache backend powered by Redis. Supports Predis, PhpRedis, Relay, replication, sentinels, clustering and WP-CLI.

Machine translation: A persistent object cache backend powered by Redis. Supports Predis, PhpRedis, Relay, replication, sentinels, clustering and WP-CLI.

Used to reduce load times and make refreshing feel smoother.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/redis-cache/

TablePress (Table Insertion)

Official description: Embed beautiful and feature-rich tables in your posts and pages without writing any code.

Lets you insert tables conveniently at any point while writing a post. Pretty handy.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/

WordPress Importer

Official description: Import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags and more from a WordPress export file.

Used for migrating the WordPress blog.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-importer/

WP Mail SMTP

Official description: Reconfigure the wp_mail() functionality to use Gmail/Mailgun/SendGrid/SMTP instead of the default mail() and create an options page to manage settings.

For configuring comment reply emails.

Mainly used so that when someone replies after a comment, you get notified by email. Quite convenient.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/

WP-China-Yes (Speeding Up WordPress in China)

Official description: Connect your WordPress to the local ecosystem, which will give you a WordPress that better fits Chinese usage habits.

It speeds up WordPress. Since WordPress is an overseas product, using it in China makes the admin dashboard rather laggy, so this plugin came about.

Official plugin link: https://litepress.cn/

Yoast SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Official description: The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and more.

This is a must-install plugin!

It improves your hit rate when users search for keywords and boosts indexing by search engines.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/

Health Check & Troubleshooting

Official description: Check the health of your WordPress installation.

Check the health status of WordPress at any time.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/health-check/

Small Tools

Official description: Quickly enable or disable some features.

We often need to add code to a theme’s functions.php file to enable/disable certain WordPress features. Not only is that inconvenient, but you have to add it all over again after switching themes, so this little tool was written to toggle them with one click. (Shamelessly lifted from the official description because theirs is better written…)

Official plugin link: https://gitee.com/beizigen/wordpress-smalltool

Classic Widgets

Official description: Enables the classic widgets settings screens in Appearance → Widgets and the Customizer. Disables the block editor from managing widgets.

Lets you customize some widgets quickly. Pretty handy.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/classic-widgets/

Classic Editor

Official description: Enables the classic WordPress editor and the old-style Edit Post screen, including TinyMCE, Meta Boxes and more. Supports old plugins that extend this page.

WordPress’s built-in post or page editor. Very classic.

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/

WP Super Cache

Official description: A fast caching plugin for WordPress.

Improves overall loading speed

WordPress plugin link: https://cn.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/

Theme Recommendations

Argon

Official description: A light, clean, and beautiful WordPress theme

This is the theme I’m using on my WordPress site.

It really is a fairly clean and simple theme.

Theme GitHub link: https://github.com/solstice23/argon-theme
Official theme demo site: https://solstice23.top/

GeneratePress

Official description: GeneratePress is a lightweight WordPress theme focused on speed and usability. Performance is our priority: a fresh install of GeneratePress adds less than 10kb to your page size (with gzip compression enabled). We make full use of the block editor (Gutenberg) so you can control the content you create more intuitively. If you use a page builder, GeneratePress is fully compatible with the popular ones, including Beaver Builder and Elementor, so it meets your requirements too. GeneratePress places great emphasis on WordPress coding standards, so it is fully compatible with all well-coded plugins (including WooCommerce). GeneratePress is fully responsive, uses valid HTML/CSS, and has been translated into at least 25 languages by our enthusiastic user community. GeneratePress has numerous features, including: over 60 color controls, a powerful dynamic typography system, 5 navigation locations, 5 sidebar layouts, dropdown menus (click or hover), and 9 widget areas. Learn more and check out our powerful premium version at https://generatepress.com.

One of the popular WordPress themes, with a high degree of customization openness,

but the default look is rather plain, so it takes some time to adjust.

Official theme website: https://generatepress.com/

Astra

Official description: Astra is a fast, customizable, and beautiful theme suitable for blogs, personal portfolios, business websites, and WooCommerce storefronts. It is extremely lightweight (under 50KB on the front end), bringing unparalleled speed to your website. Astra is built for SEO and integrates Schema.org code, which will make search engines love your site. It offers special features and templates that work perfectly with all page builders (such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin, Divi, etc.). Other features include: # WooCommerce support # Responsive design # RTL and translation support # Extendable via premium add-ons # Regular updates # Designed, developed, maintained, and supported by Brainstorm Force. Looking for the perfect base theme? Look no further. You can use Astra, this fast, customizable, WooCommerce-ready theme, to build any type of website!