When you install a WordPress blog on your own server, you can install plugins to enhance the functionality and improve security. These are some of my favorites:

• Maintenance Mode - Nice plugin for displaying a maintenance message when you’re working on the site.
• Twitter Tools - for integration between your WordPress blog and Twitter account
• WP-SpamFree - Terrific anti-spam plugin
• Contact Form 7 - simple, flexible contact form plugin
• Platinum SEO Pack - Good search engine optimization plugin
• ThickBox - Add ThickBox galleries to your blog
• Multi-level Navigation - for accessible dropdown/flyout/slider navigation
• Google Sitemaps - Creates a Google Sitemaps compliant XML-Sitemap of your WordPress blog
• Image Widget - Image widget for sidebar so clients can easily update images
• Rich Text Widget - Adds a rich text editor widget so your client won’t have to work with code in a text widget.

These are just some of the plugins I use most frequently. There are many more available. If you can think of something that you’d like to do in WordPress, the odds are good that there’s a plugin for it. When you download plugins, there should be a readme.txt file with installation instructions and notes, but generally you can just add the folder to your plugins directory and activate it through the admin panel. Remember to deactivate plugins when upgrading WordPress and check to make sure that the ones you’re using are compatible with the version you’re upgrading to.

Well…I’m no longer on the fence. I’m really enjoying Twitter. I’ve made some great work connections and gotten to know some genuinely nice people. For anyone who freelances or works alone most of the time, it’s a fun way to feel connected to everyone out there. I’ve  received lots of useful, time-saving info from fellow designers and developers, and I’ve been able to quickly share info that helped other designers out of a bind or pointed them in the right direction. I’ve never been one to network too actively, but Twitter is, in my opinion, the most effective tool for networking and sharing information I’ve seen yet. Want to know more about how it all works? Check out The Twitter Book  by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein.

Since my last post, I’ve discovered a few tools that make “tweeting” a little easier:

Twhirl - a desktop client for Twitter powered by Adobe AIR that allows you to quickly view and post updates, retweet, send direct messages and @replies, post images to TwitPic, search tweets and more…

TweetDeck - Another Adobe AIR app, TweetDeck is also a desktop client that integrates with Twitter and Facebook. It allows you to manage messages, create groups, shorten URLs, record video clips and more…

TwitPic - Lets you share photos to Twitter from your phone or through the website

TweetPhoto - Another good photo sharing tool

WordPress Plugin - For self-hosted WordPress blogs, this plugin will allow you to integrate your Twitter account with your blog.

Ping - A service that allows you to post to all your social networking sites at the same time

Twinkle - A nice app for the iPhone and iPod Touch

I’m sure there are many more. Please post a comment and share your favorite Twitter apps with other readers.

I’ve been on the fence about Twitter. At first I didn’t see any value in it. I thought it was a way to spread a huge amount of useless, narcissistic information. However, I decided I’d better try it out before passing judgment. Now, I’m intrigued - still uncertain, but curious. I’m finding it very useful for getting and sharing good information about design and development. I’ve gotten some great tips and discovered good resources through the designers I’m following. I’m still not interested in finding out where they’re eating dinner or what kind of coffee they’re drinking, but I don’t mind sifting through those posts to get to the good stuff. Sometimes a quick glimpse into someone else’s life provides a smile and a little break from the work day. That’s not a bad thing.

I’m steadily learning more about how it works. For example, you can use hash marks (#) to tag keywords in posts. Here’s a great explanation from Kristine Wirth: http://kristinewirth.com/that-mysterious-sign-in-twitterwhat-does-it-mean/. You can also “retweet” other user’s posts to share good info with your followers. You can address a post to another user by putting @username before your post (these are called “at replies”). It’s a nice way to quickly send a message to someone or reply to one of their posts.

The following video talks about the value of Twitter’s search engine. This is an aspect I hadn’t considered until I saw this video. I like the idea of “the most contemporary thought stream humanity has ever seen.” Check it out:

So, my advice is this: try it out. Experiment, play, figure out if there’s a place for it in your life. At the least, we humans keep trying to connect with each other. That’s what it’s all about, right?

By the way, if you want to follow me on Twitter, I’m @dgraydesign. Happy tweeting!