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Jacob Sager

Top WordPress Plugins for Jewish Webpages

WordPress for the People of the Book

I bet you’re running your organization’s webpage on WordPress. I’m guessing this because 25% of the web is run on WordPress, including this very website. WordPress is a free content management system for websites.

WordPress offers its platform in one of two packages: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com offers free WordPress websites on their managed WordPress system; all upgrades are limited to what they offer. WordPress.org is the open-source side of WordPress, which allows you to run your own fully customizeable version of WordPress on your server.

Unless you’re running a very simple blog, I recommend you run your personal, communal, or organizational website on your on own hosting with WordPress.org. This allows you the ability to do some awesome things that we’ll discuss below.

The Plugins

Below I am going to discuss a few WordPress plugins that could help your organization’s site share your story, connect your tribes, and lead your people. The plugins range in price from free to freemium to straight up premium. Appropriate download links will be included, none of the premium or freemium products are affiliate links, I just believe in the value of the product itself.

WordPress Hebrew Date 

If you’re running a blog in Hebrew or your site maintains a Jewish or Israeli ambiance, you may want the dates on posts and comments to appear in Hebrew formatted dates.

WordPress Hebrew Date is a lightweight plugin that gives you a lot of choice in how the date is formatted. Choices include parallel English – Hebrew dates, simplified formatting, and long-hand hebrew date formatting.

The only downside is the plugin does not come with a shortcode, simply a php line to add the date in other places than posts, such as on a page or in a header or footer. This isn’t too complicated a task, but could be easier.

Signup Sheets Pro

You have people who want to help and you have things that need to get done. Signup Sheets Pro allows you to make simple sign-up sheets that can be nuanced to your needs and easily exported as an excel doc.

There is a free and premium version. The free version gets the job done, but the Premium version helps everyone get the job done through more automation, editing, and support features.

For a one time cost of $25, your organization can use this plugin not only to capture and manage sign ups, but to follow through with volunteers and managers automatically via email.

sign up sheet
This is a screen shot from the Sign-Up Sheets WordPress.org Plugin Page. This is what it would look like to a volunteer.

 

Learn more at their site : http://www.dlssoftwarestudios.com/sign-up-sheets-wordpress-plugin/ or visit their free download at https://wordpress.org/plugins/sign-up-sheets/

BuddyPress

It’s time to bring the Social back to our Social communities. BuddyPress is a WordPress Plugin that turns your site into a social network. Users can post status updates, find and friend other users, contribute to groups, message and so much more. There are a number of other BuddyPress plugins allowing for a more robust experience, including chat, document collaboration, and even private network settings.

A screenshot from jew.camp/staff, a BuddyPress Powered Website

https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress/

Events+ and Appointments+ by WPMUDev

These two plugins are worth recommending in tandem as they are similar and come from the same place. WPMUDev is a WordPress development powerhouse who designs robust plugins that work beautifully on any site.

Events+ allows you to create, manage, and present any event. It has an RSVP that can be integrated with Email or Social Media. The plugin features custom instertable maps and payment portals if you’re selling tickets.

https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/events-plus/
https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/events-plus/

https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/events-plus/

Appointments+ allows you to create and manage appointments from the front end of your site. Users and visitors can easily find an available time. You can easily list multiple services and service providers. This can also be used a great resource management tool.

A screenshot of the appointment booking on www.jew.camp
A screenshot of the appointment booking on www.jew.camp

https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/appointments-plus/

What Plugins are you using?

Well those are just some of the plugins I have been using recently on different projects. BuddyPress is by far my favorite plugin. Appointments+ is probably my most helpful. What Plugins are you using for your Jewish Websites?

 

About the Author
Jacob Sager is an entrepreneur, father of 4, and retired Camp Counselor. He's grew up on the internet and once made a Jewish Social Network. For now, he's imagining the Jewish future in virtual reality and in outer space. Follow him on Twitter or Linkedin for more content.
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