If you did not know, the editor used in WordPress to create pages or posts is Gutenberg. This can be a very useful and powerful tool, but it has its limitations. The following plugins are helpful tools you can install on your domain to achieve more with your website.
Akismet
Now this plugin is actually installed to an instance of WordPress by default; however, it is not activated. I highly recommend activating it because helps prevent spam comments from appearing on your website. There is a premium version of this plugin, but if you are using it on a personal site, it is free.
Elementor
This is a great tool to have a better control with how a page is formatted. There are also added blocks and animations. In fact, most pages on our website have been created through Elementor. It also has templates which can be helpful when you do not want to start from scratch. There is a pro version, but the free version still has many neat features.
Elementor Essential Addons
This plugin helps to add blocks to Elementor while not having to pay for the pro version. My personal favorite would have to be the filterable gallery block.
Simple Lightbox
This plugin enables a lightbox viewer for single images on your site. While this feature is built in if you are using Elementor, not everyone needs to use that plugin. For example, the Tech Bar‘s homepage is created with Elementor, but this blog post is not. This plugin enables a lightbox viewer when linking a photo to its media file. Click on the logo to the left to see this plugin in action!
Jetpack
This plugin is adds many helpful tools to your site such as backups and aiding in security to name a few. Check out Jetpack’s website to view all its features.
Smash Balloon Instagram Feed
While Instagram does directly allow you to embed your profile on a website, this plugin can help with that! It has a very clean design with customizable photos shown, columns, and more. Here is an example of it on my site. (Note: This plugin works with the new API update to Instagram in June 2020)
Photo by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash
