We all have our own habits. Web designers and developers each take an individual approach when it comes to making websites, and that is why we call ourselves creatives. Countless resources are out in the open, and we need only reach out our hands to enlist the ones we need.
Using premium plugins is as vital today as it has ever been. However, if you could afford to take your time and inspect the market in its entirety, you would find that some plugins deserve more attention than what they have now. I recently took that feat upon myself, and came up with some interesting results. This is an account of my favorite premium plugins for designers and developers.
LayerSlider WP
LayerSlider is at the top of my list. It makes sense for creative professionals to crave this premium multi-purpose slider for each and every WordPress website, because it makes it a breeze to create eye-catching image galleries, content sliders, and slideshows. You may choose either of 13 skins to begin with, and then take your pick from myriads of options to set up every aspect related to the behavior and apparel of your sliders.
LayerSlider lays over 200 preset 2D and 3D slide transitions on the table, and you can use a transition builder to make up dazzling custom animations in no-time. The admin interface is no trouble at all, with a drag-and-drop builder, real-time previewing, and timeline view. In terms of content, you can easily add anything from text and Google Fonts, to images, HTML, videos from Youtube or Vimeo, and HTML5 self-hosted videos. Besides, LayerSlider is both SEO- and device-friendly.
Prestashop Short Code
It is known that shortcodes exist in order to help us convey information better and generally make our work easier. I would like to introduce you to the Bootstrap Shortcode Extension for Prestashop, a decent little plugin that I happened to stumble upon recently.
You will discover that, if you use this plugin, it will enable you to easily add anything from portfolio, to grids, Font Awesome icons, alerts, buttons, tabs, toggle, Accordion, thumbnails , sliders , site base url, etc. The list of shortcodes that you can use with the help of Bootstrap Shortcode 2.0 is actually much greater. Go on, see for yourself what lies in store.
Create Multiple Forms
Are you overly familiarized with Opencart, and have so far created a series of e-commerce websites on this platform? Then, you must have noticed that it couldn’t hurt if you had a drag-and-drop form system to begin with. Luckily, I have only just found out about a great plugin, Create Multiple Forms.
The plugin helps professionals give shape to flawless advertising forms, contact forms, support forms, ticket forms, and forms for any other purpose that they can possibly fathom. And the best part is that these forms are mercifully easy to finalize, and they come with clean code. Needless to say, they are also compatible with all popular browsers.
BackupBreeze
You could make do with a premium plugin to use for backing up, cloning, and restoring your projects. After all, you never know when you might need the recovery function. BackupBreeze presents you with a simple, one-click solution.
It’s quite friendly, not to mention automatic. You need only tell this plugin the minimum number of backups it should make locally. Or, perhaps you wish to make those one-click backups on Dropbox. No problem, BackupBreeze has this integration.
Frontend Administrator Menu
If you’re used to building websites with the magnificent Joomla Administrator, then you are aware of the necessity to keep many tabs open to keep both the front-end and back-end within your reach. Frontend Administrator Menu permits you to access those Joomla Administrator pages much easier, right from the front-end. In fact, it shows specific menu items that each user has access to manage, and you decide the involvement of each user group.
Finally, you should know that this plugin for Joomla 2.5 is complete with multilingual support, since not everyone on the planet was born a native English speaker.
CSV to WordPress Import Plugin
At times, you may wish to bulk import data from CSV file to WordPress. If you worked with one of the AIT WordPress themes on a previous occasion to build websites, then you have nothing to worry about.
AIT has also released a plugin to cover this demand, CSV to WordPress Import Plugin, but only for the themes it released from Creator to Business Finder. In other words, it just won’t do for third-party themes. However, you can also trust the CSV to WordPress Import Plugin in order to upload pages and posts.
Chimpy – MailChimp WordPress Plugin
How well do you want your websites to be integrated with MailChimp? The answer is obvious: all the way. In that case, no one ever went wrong with Chimpy, a proficient and all-in-one MailChimp WordPress plugin.
With this able plugin, you can create enticing sign up forms, and display them in pop-ups, or disclose the best content to your subscribers alone. Even more, Chimpy can also be used to synchronize all WordPress users with MailChimp, and display comment forms.
Lizatom Shortcodes Plugin
If you could avoid the burden of repetitive codes day in and day out, would you? Well, who wouldn’t? Try Lizatom Shortcodes Plugin, as it comes with 5K shortcodes that will make your job so much more enjoyable and straightforward, with the help of CSS3 buttons, tooltips, pricing tables, and info boxes. I particularly recommend it for blogs and E-commerce websites, because you could customize ordered lists fashionably, and use a 3D shadow effect for images.
UserPro
You may also feel the need to include a solution that accelerates your website’s user interaction. UserPro is a first-rate user profile management plugin, and a very popular one at that.
You can use it to set up member directories with many display options, include one-click social connections to networks like Facebook or Twitter, as well as craft beautiful registration forms and assign roles to them. It’s possible to opt for 5 more add-ons to this premium plugin, and I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface.
Monarch
If people spread news of your website, more will come. Augment traffic by letting your audience know that the coast is clear to share on social networks. Monarch is a WordPress plugin engineered by Elegant Themes, which can be used to create a proper social sharing experience.
Choose from 40 social networks, design the buttons, and put them on display in either of 8 locations on your website. Many automatic features at at your service, like image detection and generating shortcodes to share them easily. Plus, Monarch is responsive, and also lets you monitor user engagement in time.
Advanced Layered Navigation Extension for Magento
If you’re forging a Magento store, nothing would complement it better than layered navigation capabilities. Potential clients who inquire about your products could filter selections immediately, without having to wait for the web page to refresh. The Advanced Layered Navigation Extension for Magento installs fast and works like a charm.
Content Timeline
Timelines make website content very easy to follow in your readers’ eyes. Therefore, you might also like to consider acquiring a premium plugin for this purpose. Content Timeline, for instance, is a flexible and responsive solution that pulls it off with flying colors.
You can activate 30 elements places on the left side of your timeline, and 30 on the right. Naturally, you can add as many groups and numbers as you need. On the whole, there are 11 customizing options.
FrontEnd Page Builder
When you want to create a WordPress website, the options are manifold. However, my choice would be to side-step coding altogether, and still come up with an original result. FrontEnd Page Builder allows you to do just that, and more.
This resourceful plugin offers pre-made elements that can be tweaked in any direction, and so give shape to a unique website in a very short space of time. Besides, the support team is famous for answering distress calls really well, and really fast.
iMapper
The images in your content may be eye-catching, but your public won’t be hooked on them for too long – unless you add some pins and spark their curiosity. Then, your visitors will stay longer, and become increasingly more interested in the content of your page.
iMapper is easy to use, responsive on all known devices, and stacked with many useful features. You can use it to pin any part of an image in pre-designed styles, or in some of your own making.
Subscriptio
When it comes to online stores of every imaginable nature, properly made subscriptions have the potential to ensnare loads of clients. So, if you want to get your Woocommerce subscriptions right, turn your attention to Subscriptio.
This premium extension enables you to configure and sell subscriptions through a powerful admin interface that is equipped with filters and hooks for developers – but does not come across as cumbersome. Feel free to set the frequency of reminders, how long suspension periods ought to be, and so on, and so forth.
Mega Slider
As an end note, I am suggesting a premium module for creating slides via an intuitive admin interface. You probably heard about Mega Slider by now.
It’s a great way to add text, image, or video to your slider. In addition, this plugin is utterly prepped for touch-swipe navigation.
Conclusion
Without any further ado, I now bring my humble selection of premium plugins to a close. I wonder if you’ll find it meaningful in the context of your own client projects. My sincere hope is that this article proves of use for all you creative professionals out there. This has been an account of my own personal views on the subject of premium plugins, and you are more than welcome to comment on it.
The post Must-Have Premium Plugins for Designers and Developers appeared first on Speckyboy Web Design Magazine.
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