If you have a blog with a lot of users, from admins to authors to editors, sometimes you just need a little more control over certain things in WordPress.
Yes, roles have things they can and can’t do, but what if you need something more specific, or a way to share information with everyone?
Here are 4 great plugins that, well, give you the control you might need:
1. WPHelp
This plugin was just updated and is so very cool. Can you imagine creating your own, personal help documents that your authors and editors can access? Maybe there some specific posting rules, or an area of WordPress that constantly baffles your crew.
This plugin allows you to create custom help docs that will be at their fingertips. And you can focus their attention on what you need to tell them
2. WP Image Size Limit
Not everyone knows how to optimize a photo before they upload it to their post. And with the ease of taking hi res images via your smartphone, these oversized photos can wreak havoc. Even if the image is resized by the theme, it doesn’t optimize the image and can cause some unneeded processing time when loading the page.
This plugin will come to the rescue. You can now set the default limit size for images uploaded to the media library and into posts and pages. For example, you could set your maximum size at 500K.
3. Audit Trail
Okay, we are not talking Big Brother here, but maybe a hint of it. This plugin, in simple terms, keeps track of what the heck is going on inside your blog.
For example, it will give you an idea if any of your authors are spending an unusual amount of time in the backend. Or maybe you wondered which admin mucked up the theme. It will record the action they took. Kind of spooky, but could come in real handy for certain situations.
4. Bainternet Posts Creation Limits
I just had to include this one, as you are probably wondering, “Why the hell would I want to limit how many posts a certain user role is limited to?” Good question, and I’m sure if we all think hard enough, we could find a reason.
Here’s a example. Let’s say I have several authors. I am using the plugin Contest Domination, which helps me create and run contests and I want to give each author a maximum of four contests they can run.
With this plugin, I will not have to monitor it.
Knowing that there are many more plugins out there, how do you herd your cats?
Herding the Cats In Your WordPress Dashboard originally appeared on For Bloggers By Bloggers - Blogging Tips | Blog Design | Blog Themes | Grow Your Blog under a Creative Commons license.