You can read blog posts about WordPress, or you may enjoy the following plugins and themes...
Secure Files
This WordPress plugin allows you to upload and download documents that are stored outside of your web document root for security purposes.
This is great for people using plugins like Registered Only that secure your WordPress blog (Posts, Pages, etc). The problem with these plugins is that your loose files aren't protected - only the contents of your WordPress database. So, any images or other documents you've uploaded are easily accessible to those who aren't authenticated via a plugin like Registered Only. This plugin aims to solve this problem.
Secure Files works by allowing you to create a directory that is outside of your web document root and to upload/download files from that directory - all from within the WordPress Administrative Interface. You can upload files from the admin menu, or you can FTP your files up there in one step. The plugin will recognize those files, and you will be able to download them from within your WordPress Posts and Pages using a customizable prefix, such as file_id.
Best of all, this plugin has a one-click install, does not effect any "core" WordPress files or require anything crazy like a new database table, and everything can be configured from within the admin interface.
The image above, for example, can be accessed via Secure Files using the following code:
You can link to it like so:
<a href="?file_id=secure-files-screenshot-sma.png">secure-files-screenshot-sma.png</a>
To display this as an image:
<img src="?file_id=secure-files-screenshot-sma.png" alt="secure-files-screenshot-sma.png" />
Download
Download the Secure Files plugin »
Installation
First, download the plugin by clicking the link above. Then, unzip and upload the plugin to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder and activate it on the Plugins page.
Next, go to the Manage -> Secure Files page that has been added, and carefully read the Options section to configure things. There are detailed instructions on that page - but the basic idea is that you'll need to make a directory outside of your web document root and tell Secure Files where that is. Please note that your files will NOT be protected unless you choose a directory outside of your web root.
Important: Unless you are running the Registered Only plugin, your files will be still accessible to users who aren't logged into your site. Also, the Registered only plugin does NOT protect your feeds. You can disable your feeds, or set the number of items to show in your feeds to 0 via Options -> Reading in the WordPPress admin area. If you want real security, you should also disable the ability for users to register themselves on that same options page.
Force SSL
For those will an SSL certificate, the Force SSL plugin for Wordpress forces for an HTTPS connection for security purposes. This is useful for those who with to enforce a higher level of security regarding the delivery of Wordpress content to the browser.
This plugin works by redirecting any requests for pages via plain old http into requests for pages via https. This means that someone can't just remove the "s" from "https" and get their content from outside of a secure SSL connection. It's that simple.
You can read about the general technique on the announcement page, but here's the code snippet that does all the work, in case you're looking to implement this outside of Wordpress:
if($_SERVER["HTTPS"] != "on") { $newurl = "https://" . $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"] . $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]; header("Location: $newurl"); exit(); }
Download
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/force-ssl/
Installation
This plugin requires that you already have an SSL certificate purchased and installed on your site. If you can't browse your site by using a URL similar to "https://www.example.com/" - note the s after the "http" - then this plugin is not for you.
First, set your Wordpress address and Blog address to being with https, if you haven't done so already.
Then, download the plugin by saving the file above, and then renaming it to secure-files.php. You shouldn't need to rename the file if you downloaded the zip file.
Finally, upload the plugin to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder and activate it on the Plugins page. You're all set!
Mass Edit Pages
This Wordpress plugin will come in handy for those using their Wordpress install less as a Blog, and more as a CMS (Content Management System). The Mass Edit Pages plugin allows you to edit the Page Parent (post_parent) and Menu Order (menu_order) of many pages, on a single page.
Thus, instead of clicking through each page (page after page after page) to change their order or parentage, you can get at all of the pages from one simple interface.
Download
Download the Mass Edit Pages plugin »
Installation
Simply upload the plugin to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder and activate it on the Plugins page. Then, click Manage => Mass Edit Pages. That's it!
Older Versions
Versions of this plugin for older WordPress installations are available here. You can also download the German version for Wordpress 2.0.x or 2.1.x. Thanks to Jan and Gunnar for their updates, internationalization, and translation!
k2 lite for Sandbox
This is a port of the fabulous k2 for the wonderful Sandbox. The idea behind this theme was to make a version of k2 without any of advanced features - a version of k2 that maintains the look and feel without suffering from the overhead. To put it into perspective, I was able to trim down the 1153 lines of CSS in the fully loaded k2 theme to 349 lines for k2 lite.
Download
Download the k2 lite for Sandbox theme »
Current Version: 1.2 (August 22, 2006)
Warning: The k2lite theme is only compatible with Sandbox version 0.6.1. If you're interested in porting k2lite to the latest version of Sandbox, please let me know.
Installation
First, download the theme by saving the zip file above. If you don't have the Sandbox theme installed already, you'll have to download it here and install it as you would any other theme.
Next, unzip the file and upload the CSS file and PNG image into your /wp-content/themes/sandbox/skins/ folder.
Finally, go to the Presentation -> Sandbox Skins admin area and active the theme.
Page Dump
If you happen to have been using Wordpress as a CMS, as you happen to have been asked to provide all of the content on your WP-powered site in a single web page or Word Document, then this plugin is for you.
Simply put, it dumps the content of your Wordpress pages onto a single page. The bonus is that providing your client with a Word DOC version of your site is as easy as opening your the page dump in Word and clicking Save As Word Doc.
The order of your pages is preserved, and sub-pages are shown with "—" characters in front of the titles, so they are easily recognizable. It's not the most beautiful presentation, but I think it makes is easy to re-pupose the content to your liking. Enjoy!
Download
Download the Page Dump plugin »
Installation
Download the plugin by saving the file above, and then renaming it to page_dump.php. You shouldn't need to rename the file if you downloaded the zip file. Then, upload the plugin to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder and activate it on the Plugins page.
Finally, visit your Wordpress-powered site's home page and append ?page_dump=1 to the URL like so: http://www.example.com/?page_dump=1. Click here for an example »
Support
Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Please visit the Forum »
