Time for another batch of potentially useful Wordpress plugins that are new to the community.  I am currently testing the following items, and have had no major issues thus far, but I cannot yet fully state they are 100% stable.

That out of the way, let’s get to it.

Phpinclude

If you are a PHP developer, I’m guessing you have had the urge to execute code in Wordpress at one point or another.  You can user an iFrame and call your PHP code but that can get a bit… well, it can be a pain to do so over and over.  While other plugins have attempted to execute PHP in the past, they never seemed to work properly – not that they were bad – they just never work right all of the time.  

Enter phpinclude.  

Thus far the plugin has performed flawlessly, and I may finally be able to successfully include PHP into the blog.

WP Post Styling 

This is a very interesting concept, one that I was interested in doing myself, but Joe Dolson got there before I did.  This plugin allows users to add custom styles to be applied to specific pages or posts.  Sweet idea and good execution.

Check them out, give them a try and thank the creators for their efforts.

Wikinvest, an investment website run by “everyday” investors, has created a plugin for blogs that focus on financial information – the Wikinvest Stock Quotes Plugin.  

The plugin will search your post for keywords and suggest potential stock quotes you may want to include in your posts.  For those worried that the plugin will have a mind of its own, fear not, as the plugin does not include any information without your confirmation before the post goes live.

The one thing I do not care for is how the plugin will link back to the Wikinvest site in order to be “a resource of good quality and free content for your readers”  What they are really saying is the Plugin is a way for Wikinvest to create new sources of traffic.

It should would be nice if they had an option to turn that “feature” off.

Unfortunately I have no way of testing the plugin at this point.  When I try to download the file from Wikinvest I obtain an error. Makes me wonder what to expect of the service moving forward…

Quick question for StatsPress Reloaded users – do you find the plugin slows down/chews up CPU power if your log file get’s too large?

As the site contiunes to grow it seems the StatPress Reloaded plugin slows down significantly…

You a twitter addict?  

A self-proclaimed “microblogger” maybe?

Here are the top 3 Twitter tools I have/do use in order to integrate Wordpress and Twitter.  Why only three? Well, with so many plugins out there doing the same thing I focused on the “best of the best”.  I could have simply listed a number to Twitter/Wordpress plugins but what good would that do for you?

So, here we go..

Twitter Tools

This plugin alerts Twitter every time you update your Wordpress blog.  It’s a great tool if you only use Twitter for your microblogging.  If you use other networks I would suggest you look at the PingPressFM plugin.

TwitThis

Nice little plugin that allows your readers to create a Tweet of your posts and sends it off to their contact list.  Even takes care of creating the shorter URL.

Twitt-Twoo

An Ajax based plugin (Yay!  No page reloading) that shows your latest Twitter status right in your blog’s sidebar.  It’s nice to see someone developing in AJAX when it comes to Wordpress.

Please let me know if there are other Twitter related plugins I should be looking at… I’m always open to new things that could improve the blog.