There are plenty of roundup posts about social bookmark plugins for WordPress. However, I have to ask: have you really tried them out before settling on the best, or did you pick the first one you found?

I am a real stickler when it comes to using plugins, especially social bookmark plugins. Why?

For several reasons:

1. Design – It looks good.
2. Convenience – Cuts my time down from hard coding social networking and social bookmarking icons into a layout.
3. It works. There are plugins that I have had to hard code around to get it to look right.

So, here is my list of social bookmarking plugins for WordPress sites.

Sociable

http://blogplay.com/
I use this plugin and regularly include it on all of my clients’ websites. It is easy to implement and includes a lot of selections to display. It also leaves room in case I want to customize my plugin later on without having to alter the plugin files directly.

Digg Digg

http://www.mkyong.com/blog/digg-digg-wordpress-plugin
I use the manual code for Digg Digg in my own websites. However, Digg Digg applies a floating Ajax powered plugin that kind of works like a fixed background- when you scroll down, the social bookmark area travels down. This is something that a lot of people saw first on Mashable.

Share This

http://sharethis.com/
Share This allows users to social bookmark to over 40+ websites.

Sexy Bookmarks

http://www.shareaholic.com/
This little social bookmark has some very cute icons that have a peek-a-boo effect when you hover over.

I Love Social Bookmarking plugin

http://www.milienzo.com/wordpress-plugins/i-love-social-bookmarking/
Provides a little drop down menu . Very simple plugin.

AddtoAny

http://www.addtoany.com/
This social bookmark plugin display a drop down menu that is clean and has many services to choose from. For some, it might be overwhelming. Others… well, they might just select them all.

Because of services like Add to Any and Share This, be aware that they could go down. You might want to avoid that. On the other hand, those services have been around for a while and are quite popular.

Another caution is Digg Digg. This plugin is update often and it is not unusual for the next update to be incomplete – does not display properly. It is a great plugin, but with this one, hold off a week. Typically the developer is pretty good at updating after people point out the bugs.

In using these types of plugins, select the services that are most relevant to your site. Some of the social bookmarking sites are focused on certain niches, so it would be pointless to include every single site.

What social bookmarking plugins do you use for your website?

So, you made a plugin, submitted the plugin to be hosted at the WordPress Plugin Repository and got approved. So now what? All those directions are easily understandable by the geek gods, but you are like – huh?

You are going to need to upload your plugin using SubVersion.

So, for those who need the simple and “Dummy” version, I use TortoiseSVN. It is free and for those who use PC. There are some others, including Adobe Dreamweaver – I think CS4… not sure on earlier versions.

So, if you are going the easy way and using TortoiseSVN, here is a simple tutorial on how to upload your files to the repository.

1. WordPress will give you a URL to your plugin’s location in the subversion repository. You will need your WordPress.org/ bbpress (what you use to log into the WordPress Support Forum) and your password.

2. Go to your folder with your files. If you have followed directions, you should have put your plugin files in a folder named trunk. Side Note: You do not have to have your files in a zip folder at all.

3. Right click in your screen and look in the dropdown for TortoiseSVN. There will be an arrow next to it. Hover over and select “Repo-browser”.

4. A little box will show up and ask you for a URL. Add your URL to your plugin’s subversion instance. You may be prompted to put your username and password in.

5. After this, you will see a window that will show the folders:

• /branch
• /tags
• /trunk

6. Right click on the trunks folder and select “Add File” from the drop down. Your computer will prompt you to find and select the files of your plugin – kind of like when you use FTP.

7. The files should add successfully. You may even have to tell your computer that you are allowing TortoiseSVN to operate depending on your security settings and anti-virus software.

8. Wait a few moments and it should appear in the WordPress Plugin Directory.

What other subversion control software are really handy for plugin developers?

For those who are in love with plugins, that is fine, but they are not always the solution. Some of those plugins are bulky and not just for the files, but the database request connections they produce. For some web hosts, they crack down hard on people who use more resources than allotted, and that could even be suspension or asking the user to upgrade to a far more expensive package. Of course, a few of them are absolute necessities like Askimet for spam, and FeedBurner FeedSmith for your RSS feeds, Google XML Sitemaps for your sitemap and All-In-One-SEO Pack for adding meta to your posts and pages. (search engine optimization.)

Sometimes you can apply a filter to your site theme instead of download a plugin and this will save some space. Though the number of plugins that are reasonable to have on a WordPress blog are questionable, you have to think about several things.

1. How fast is your site loading for your visitors, even those who have dial-up because they live in places too far out for any choices for good connection?
2. How much resources are your blog using including bandwidth?
3. Do you really need some of the plugins you currently have?
4. Is there an alternate way other than installing a plugin to do the same job?

Outside the fact of the number of plugins, with each upgrade of WordPress, plugin developers have to keep up in order to make sure plugins are compatible, so you must watch your plugins. Some may stop functioning, or even create errors on your site. If you visit your blog daily and see that there is a plugin upgrade available, hold off for a couple days before upgrading. Some developers accidentally load up incomplete plugins (missing files or code… and yes, it does happen), or the code still does not work for many users. This saves the headache of scrambling to fix your site when a plugin messes it up.

With this being said, just because I or anyone else might write a plugin review on WP Addict, it does not necessarily mean you should go and download it. Of course, I love plugin and theme developers, but these are reviews meant to inform people considering the usage of them, rather than say “Hey, download it now!”

What are your views on the usage of plugins? Which ones do you deem most necessary? How many plugins should a WordPress user have installed?