We often get asked for theme and plugin recommendations. It can be difficult to make such recommendations because the theme or plugins you need will depend on what you are trying to accomplish on your site. Below are some suggestions based on what we’ve seen and used, but by no means are these the only good choices and some may not be appropriate or useful for your site. If you have questions about themes and plugins we recommend you book an appointment with the Digital Knowledge Center.
Themes #
An important note about the default theme in WordPress. When you install WordPress on Domain of One’s Own it will install and activate the latest theme made available by WordPress. The newest themes being released by WordPress are block themes and they are a radically different customization experience than classic themes. For beginners we highly recommend changing the default theme and picking a classic theme instead. The classic themes listed below are a good place to start but there are thousands more to choose from. Unfortunately at this time there isn’t an easy way in the theme repository to filter for just classic themes. Our guide on classic vs block themes can help you figure out how to spot the difference between these kinds of themes.
Classic Themes #
- Twenty Seventeen: A perennial favorite of those who are beginning to dabble in customization. It has limited options, but sometimes that is a nice place to start.
- Twenty Nineteen: Another easy to get started with theme. It has a few more features than Twenty Seventeen but lacks a header image option.
- Go: A theme that lets you customize quite a few things while still maintaining a simple look.
- Rams: Default sidebar makes this a simple to use option for a portfolio look with a static sidebar for navigation
- Ashe: Super customizable and features a moving carousel for recent posts and a featured links section also make this a good option for portfolios
- Astra: This fully customizable theme makes it easy to use for any site. It includes lots of color options, many different fonts, and works well with most page builder plugins.
- OceanWP: This multipurpose theme includes many features you would often find with a premium theme. Some features include full-width pages, image galleries, and various sidebar areas.
- Sydney: This website has a modern design, making it great for a professional-looking site.
- Signify: This theme is perfect if you want a simple and chic website, but also allows for more advanced customization.
Block Themes #
- Beaumont: Simple block theme with clean layout
- Abisko: Theme with a heavy emphasis on bold typography and generous amounts of whitespace
- Oaknut: Block theme designed to help you create Linktree-esque profile pages
- FSE Eleven: A visually exciting design ensuring to catch users’ attention
- BizBoost: Dark, minimalistic theme perfect for blogs and businesses
For more information on managing themes, check out this WordPress Guide on Using Themes.
Plugins #
Plugins add additional functionality and extend the capabilities of your site. There are many different types including: site building, accessibility, security, analytics plugins, SEO plugins and so much more. Below are ones that we have some experience with, but there may be others out there that also accomplish the same goals. You should only install plugins if they are necessary for your accomplishing your for your site goals.
Site Building #
- Stackable: Adds additional blocks to the content editing experience
- PDF Embedder: Upload PDF files and embed them directly into your site’s posts and pages.
- Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons: Social media plugin which let’s you add share icons for RSS, Email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, ‘Share’ (covering 200+ other social media platforms) and upload custom share icons of your choice.
- Contact Form by WPForms: WPForms allows you to create contact forms, feedback forms, subscription forms, and other types of forms for your site.
- Elementor Website Builder: A more advanced plugin, this page builder tool changes the way you customize pages on your site from the default interface. It includes drag-and-drop page-building features like adding buttons, icons, and page dividers.
Security #
- Akismet Anti-Spam**: If you are experiencing spam issues on your site this plugin enhances the spam protection. This is only really necessary if you have comments open on posts.
- Note: After activating this plugin requires users to create a WordPress.com account in order for the plugin to function.
- Limit Login Attempts Reloaded**: Limit the number of login attempts for each IP address. Helps prevent brute force attacks on your site.
- Wordfence Security: Provides security tools and an easy to understand dashboard to help manage your sites security. It can be helpful for cleaning up a site that has been hacked.
** These plugins are installed by default on Domain of One’s Own.
Accessibility #
- Accessibility Checker: A plugin designed to help you more easily identify accessibility issues on your site.
- All in One Accessibility: A plugin that adds a widget that improves WordPress website ADA compliance and browser experience.
- One Click Accessibility: While most accessibility issues can’t be addressed without directly changing your content, One Click Accessibility adds a number of helpful accessibility features with the minimum amount of setup and without the need for expert knowledge.
Site Optimization #
- Smush: An image optimization plugin that can help image heavy sites by reducing the amount of space taken up by images.
- WP Super Cache: Caching plugins can help speed up the loading time for WordPress sites considerably. The cache will store a temporary version of the site that all site visitors will load, instead of querying the database each time a page is requested.
- If you do use this plugin we recommend you follow this guide for setting up WP Super Cache caching plugin.
- Jetpack Boost: Jetpack Boost makes small changes to the way that data is sent from your WordPress site to your users’ browser, to enable the browser to display your site faster.
- Note: This requires users to create a WordPress.com account in order for the plugin to function.
Analytics #
- Koko Analytics: Koko Analytics is a privacy-friendly, simple and lightweight analytics plugin for WordPress. It does not use any external services, so data about your visitors is never shared with any third-party. No visitor specific data is collected, only aggregated counts.
- There are many plugins that help you integrate Google Analytics into your site, but you must have a Google Analytics account to utilize them.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) #
- Yoast SEO: Yoast has a step-by-step first-time configuration walks you through the essentials, helping you get your SEO up and running quickly.
For more information on working with plugins, check out this guide on Managing Plugins.
Updated by Haley Gosman 10/24/24
