December 2015: Ten Free WordPress Plugins to Revamp Your Blog
This monthly article on new free WordPress plugins is always fascinating to me. More often than not, there are absorbing plugins among them. I have found exciting features since I run this series. You can revamp your blog in no time and offer functionality to your readers (and yourself) that make your blog stick out of the thousands of others. That's why I dug deep into the newest plugins of this month to present you the ten most interesting ones.
Output Desk Live Chat is a feature-rich plugin to create a live chat. This can be useful for online shops, but is generally usable for all types of websites that offer support in any way, for example, premium WordPress theme developers, software developers with their own sale sites or something similar.
The plugin adds the browser name and the operating system to the <body> element as a class. That is useful for developers when, for example, a responsive website doesn't look the way it is supposed to on some devices. That allows you to directly address these devices or operating systems.
EU Cookie Consent fulfills the minimum standards of the EU data protection law. A plugin of that kind is mandatory when using Google Adsense ads. The shown message can be edited, the colors chosen and the position on which the message will appear can also be adjusted.
iMinify is another plugin to compress HTML source code, CSS, and JavaScript files. The settings are rudimentary. A thorough test will have to show how good this plugin really is. It's a good thing that there is another plugin of this kind now, as not every plugin that compresses HTML and other data works well with every website.
Responsive Embed Videos assures a responsive integration of videos in an article or a page. It only works well on websites that don't already have such an integration of videos. Using shortcodes, every video on YouTube or Vimeo can be turned responsive.
Another plugin to display the popular »Follow us on« buttons. It creates a widget for the sidebar, in which the social networks that the reader can follow the website owner on will be presented. You can choose between four different types of buttons.
This plugin allows you to position HTML of any kind over a video before playing it. You could either deposit HTML based ads or implement a Like button for your Facebook page. Or you could come up with even more ideas.
Sticky Admin is a plugin that allows you to adjust the WordPress admin area to your needs both visually and functionally. The surface can be edited using 25 preset themes. Furthermore, the colors can also be altered so that the admin surface is adjusted to fit the color scheme of the used theme. The navigation can also be edited in type and position. An Ajax search feature is available, and the surface is prepared for the plugins bbPress, buddyPress, MultiSite, WPML, and WPMU.
1 - Contact Us Page
Creating an appealing contact page is easy using the Contact Us Page plugin. The generated page contains a map presentation, social media buttons, and a contact form. Via shortcode, the contact area can be integrated anywhere.
- Developer: devmatte
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 15.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
2 - Output Desk Live Chat
Output Desk Live Chat is a feature-rich plugin to create a live chat. This can be useful for online shops, but is generally usable for all types of websites that offer support in any way, for example, premium WordPress theme developers, software developers with their own sale sites or something similar.
- Developer: Srimax
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 15.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
3 - Browser and Operating System Finder
The plugin adds the browser name and the operating system to the <body> element as a class. That is useful for developers when, for example, a responsive website doesn't look the way it is supposed to on some devices. That allows you to directly address these devices or operating systems.
- Developer: aftabmuni
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 15.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
4 - EU Cookie Consent
EU Cookie Consent fulfills the minimum standards of the EU data protection law. A plugin of that kind is mandatory when using Google Adsense ads. The shown message can be edited, the colors chosen and the position on which the message will appear can also be adjusted.
- Developer: Robert Simpson
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 15.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
5 - AmpedSense - AdSense Split Tester
This plugin is great for people that use Google Adsense ads on their website. Often, Google ads don't lead to the desired results. AmpedSense can potentially improve the financial results significantly, as you can test where the ads should be placed for optimum results. Split tests allow for the best possible placement of ads on your website.
- Developer: Shane Labs
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 15.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
6 - iMinify
iMinify is another plugin to compress HTML source code, CSS, and JavaScript files. The settings are rudimentary. A thorough test will have to show how good this plugin really is. It's a good thing that there is another plugin of this kind now, as not every plugin that compresses HTML and other data works well with every website.
- Developer: iLen
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 14.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
7 - Responsive Embed Videos
Responsive Embed Videos assures a responsive integration of videos in an article or a page. It only works well on websites that don't already have such an integration of videos. Using shortcodes, every video on YouTube or Vimeo can be turned responsive.
- Developer: Thomas K
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest video from: 14.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
8 - Social Icons
Another plugin to display the popular »Follow us on« buttons. It creates a widget for the sidebar, in which the social networks that the reader can follow the website owner on will be presented. You can choose between four different types of buttons.
- Developer: ThemeGrill
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 14.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: Social Icons Demo
- Download on WordPress.org
9 - WordPress Video Overlay Ads
This plugin allows you to position HTML of any kind over a video before playing it. You could either deposit HTML based ads or implement a Like button for your Facebook page. Or you could come up with even more ideas.
- Developer: ensar
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 14.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
10 - StickyAdmin
Sticky Admin is a plugin that allows you to adjust the WordPress admin area to your needs both visually and functionally. The surface can be edited using 25 preset themes. Furthermore, the colors can also be altered so that the admin surface is adjusted to fit the color scheme of the used theme. The navigation can also be edited in type and position. An Ajax search feature is available, and the surface is prepared for the plugins bbPress, buddyPress, MultiSite, WPML, and WPMU.
- Developer: dorian.tudorache
- Work in progress: Yes
- Latest version from: 14.12.2015
- Costs: free on WordPress.org
- License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
- Compatibility problems with other plugins: unknown
- Developer Homepage: unknown
- Download on WordPress.org
‘social icons’ and ‘stickyadmin’ are quite nice just installed and using them
They are looking nice, but I’m definitely gonna try Sticky-Admin, it looks like a great product!
Nice list, thanks. I am going to try iMinify as I am currently using WP super minify and Google’s pagespeed program doesn’t seem to think it is doing a great job.
These all are new for me. I will definitely try them to see which works best for me.
Hey Andreas, really helpful post. Previously I have installed contact form 7 for one of my blog but it is too complicated to use. The new WPForms lite is much better. You should check it out:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpforms-lite/