Three WordPress plugins for Mormon bloggers

December 19th, 2006 by Richard K Miller | Filed under Cool Sites, Mormon.

If you're new here, read more about the More Good Foundation. We help members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) share their beliefs on the Internet. Learn more about what Mormons believe or talk with Mormons at LDS.net.

Many blogs around the Bloggernacle are powered by WordPress. For example, LDS News Watch, LDS Web Guy, LDS CIO, and Ask Gramps (and this blog!) all run on WordPress software.

WordPress can be customized through a variety of “plugins”. Here are three WordPress plugins that might be helpful to Mormon bloggers:

  • LDS Linker — When you type a scripture reference like Moroni 10:3-5, LDS Linker automatically links to the appropriate verse at scriptures.lds.org.
  • LDSlinks — Powered by LDSsearch.com, LDSlinks automatically adds related links to any blog post. For example, if you indicate that your blog post is about Gordon B. Hinckley, LDSlinks will automatically add links to other pages about President Hinckley.
  • WWSGD — I blogged previously about the importance of giving context and background to visitors to your site. This plugin, by yours truly, lets new visitors to your blog see a customized message, perfect for explaining which Church you belong to and what your basic beliefs are before you expound on the mysteries of the Kingdom.
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7 Responses to “Three WordPress plugins for Mormon bloggers”

  1. J. Stapley | 19/12/06

    Richard, I’m intrigued by your wwsgd plugin and it’s potential application (especially in the Mormon blogosphere). Do you have any working examples you could point me too?

  2. Richard | 19/12/06

    Jonathan: I installed WWSGD on this blog today. First time visitors should see the message “If you’re new here, read more about the More Good Foundation….” above the first post. It disappears after 3 page loads (or if you clear the cookie.) Did it work for you?

  3. J. Stapley | 19/12/06

    Cool. Definitely some interesting potential there. Thanks.

  4. Jacob | 19/12/06

    I just wanted to note that the LDSlinks plugin can display a variable number of links in two different formats. The example page with Hinckley quotes uses a numbered list at the bottom of the post. The default action, however, is to display the links in a box which floats to the right of the post.

    The link home page describes how to do all of this.

  5. Jacob | 20/12/06

    Also, if you like the LDSlinks plugin, or you have comments or suggestions, I welcome those comments on my post about the plugin.

  6. Richard | 20/12/06

    Jonathan: Let me know if you have any suggestions for the plugin that will help it be adopted by Mormon bloggers.

  7. Jacob Durrant | 8/01/07

    I’ve created a resource that may also help bloggers/webmasters provide background information for their readers. My page, AllAboutMormons.com, provides basic information about the Church, largely geared towards those who are unfamiliar with our beliefs. I’ve set up a web form at http://www.allaboutmormons.com/linkto.php. Users need only type in any text (be it blog comments, blog entries, or webpage text), and the resource automatically identifies key words and inserts links to explanations offered on my site. Users can review the inserted links to accept/reject them before posting to blogs or web pages. Hopefully this resource will help the community! (I’ve used it on this very comment as a demonstration.)

    See AllAboutMormons.com for more information.

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