Starting Point: My List of Default ExpressionEngine Extensions, Modules and Plugins

I start each ExpressionEngine site with a much larger bank of add-ons than most (if not all) of the blog posts you have read along this topic.  My point of view is that it doesn’t hurt to have them in place in the file system of a website, and if I need them, it’s much quicker to just enable them and get back to work.

I used to keep a fresh ExpressionEngine website install on my machine, with all my favorite add-ons in place in the correct system folders, ready to FTP up to a new dev site.  But each time EllisLab updated the ExpressionEngine build, I’d have to build the fresh install all over again.

These days, I keep a folder called ee_files on my system, and in that folder I have these subfolders:

• english
• extensions
• icons
• js
• modules
• plugins
• themes

Discussing the icons and js folders is outside the scope of this article, suffice to say that I use a common set of icons on most sites and drop that folder into the /images/ folder, and the js folder houses jquery plugins that I commonly use.

The english folder holds the english language localization files for all of the ExpressionEngine add-ons that offer them, so there isn’t much to tell about that.  This leaves us with extensions, plugins and modules. Below, I’ll list each that I install by default and why.

Extensions

Accessible Captcha - This simple extension transforms the standard ExpressionEngine captcha into a more accessible version in that screen readers and low vision users can process it more easily.  As of this writing, this type of captcha is also a little harder to crack than the default one, as the type of Q&A it involves is typically something a bot can’t process.  The extension allows you to enter up to 8 questions and answers for use in the captcha.  A good example that I typically use is “The colors of the American Flag are red, white and ?”.

Advanced Captcha - I leave this in my default install for times when the client doesn’t want the above Q&A type captcha.  This makes the default ExpressionEngine captcha a little more spam proof by adding in more numbers and letters.

Akismet - Akismet is one of the longest running spam prevention tools, and I think it still works pretty well.  This will check comments left in your ExpressionEngine install against the Akismet spam algorithms and automatically hold any suspected spam comments in quarantine for approval.

Cloner - This extension comes in handy when you need to fill in a lot of demo entries in a development site.  Simply install Cloner and you’ll see a new column in the Edit entries list.  Click the ‘clone’ link for the appropriate entry and it gets cloned and you are taken right to the edit screen for the new version.  A quick way to make dozens of dummy entries to test with.

Comment Spam Prevention - Like Akismet above, this extension helps to quell comment spam on an ExpressionEngine site.

DC Required Category - Forces the user to select at least one category for every new entry in a given weblog.  Very useful!

DC URL Field - A nice little tool that creates a URL text field.  It will validate the field as a URL on submission.  Also links an icon next to the field to the URL for easy link checking.

Disable News Feed - In the never ending quest to simplify the CP, this extension automatically hides the EllisLab newsfeed on the CP homepage from any user who has CP access.

Edit Tab Ajax - A true must-have.  Uses ajax to quickly reload the list of entries on the Edit tab whenever the filters at the top of the page are changed.  Really speeds up your time finding entries in the CP.

Entry Notifications - Solspace made a gem with this one.  Allows granular customization of email notifications sent out when entries are added or updated in any given weblog.  I don’t need it often but its really useful when required.

EZ Category Checkboxes - Turns the category list into one with checkboxes to select each category rather than a multi-select list.  Much more user friendly.

Edit Menu - Adds a javascript drop down menu to the Edit tab allowing you to enter the Edit screen already filtered into a specific weblog.

Fieldframe - Brandon Kelly’s killer custom field wrapper.  Includes quite a few default field types like radio group, checkbox group and checkbox, and allows people like us to make new fields really easily.

File - Mark Huot’s File extension is probably Titanic of ExpressionEngine- some people love it, some hate it.  Me?  I love it most of the time.  I build a lot of sites with stand alone entry forms and it is still the best choice for file uploads in that situation.

Hidden Weblogs - Allows you to hide certain weblogs from the Edit menu.  This can help keep some users from seeing specific weblogs in the CP.

LG Add Sitename - Clients always like to see their name in lights.

LG Htaccess Generator - Automates the process of removing index.php from your URLs.  Also allows you to insert other custom htaccess rules.

Low Seg2Cat - Loops through the segments of the current URI, matches them against existing categories, and registers the matching categories as global variables, which you can use in your templates.  On a site where you need this, you can’t get by without it.

MD Character Count - Allows you to limit textarea fields in the CP to a specific number of characters.  Provides a counter next to the appropriate textarea as well.

MD Dulee Noted - Place informational text and images into a non-editable field within your weblog entry/edit form.  Allows you to add any CSS formatting to the field and really works well to divide up long forms into sections.

MD Live Search - Places an ajax search box in the upper right corner of the CP that searches entries.

MD Simple Relation - As opposed to Playa (below), this is the most simple entry relationship tool out there.  Just places the entry_id of the related entry into the database, skipping the relationship lookup table.

Playa - The mother of relationship extensions.  I think this one is certified to marry you.

Publish Improve - Another extension that allows you to simplify the CP for your clients.  Includes quite a few options.

SAEF Enctype - Used in combination with MH File or another SAEF file upload extension, this changes the form attributes to multipart so that file uploads can occur.  Don’t forget to make it smarter using Masuga’s modification.

Simplify Edit Table - Another way to simplify the CP.  If your site doesn’t use comments, this will hide a few columns on the Edit tab.

SL Freshview Subscribe - If you are a Campaign Monitor fan, this ingenious extension allows you to subscribe new members to a CM subscriber list when they sign up on your ExpressionEngine site.

Plugins

Form Helper - Solspace’s brilliant (and free) Form Helper is your best friend if you are working on a site with stand alone entry forms.  It allows you to grab information from existing entries in the database for use in SAEF edit forms, as well as other handy functions.

ImgSizer - Possibly the best add-on around.  Resizes and caches images on the fly throughout your site.  Once an image is cached, that version is used in the future when the page is loaded, cutting down on load times.  The beauty is, your client can upload images as large as they want in the CP, and they always look perfect on the front end thanks to ImgSizer.

LG Replace - I used Reeposition for quite a while, until I ran into a situation where it wouldn’t move the data for me.  Luckily LG Replace does exactly the same thing, but a little bit better.  This allow you to grab data from the database and store it in one or more variables, and then place it anywhere you want farther down the page (after you have closed out your weblog tag).  Extremely useful!

MD Detect Page Type - Analyzes the URL structure to decide if the page is a category list, a non-category list, or a single entry page.  Then, show specific content based on what type of page it is.

Pops - I bet most of you have never seen this one.  Its a beaut!  If you create stand alone entry forms, this allows you to easily grab data from your custom fields and display it in your forms.  Some of the functionality overlaps with Form Helper, but Pops is simple and quick to use.

Title - Another hidden gem! Place this on a single entry page and specify which weblog you want, and this plugin grabs the title of the entry with a minimum of overhead.

Modules

Deeploy Helper - Places most of the configuration options for your ExpressionEngine install on a single page where you can easily and quickly edit them without clicking around.

Freeform - A versatile form collection tool that allows you to take forms on your site above and beyond what ExpressionEngine provides in its default system forms.

Fresh Variables - A nice tool where you can store snippets of content for use on your site.  These variables are parsed early so they can be used on weblog tags and other functions of your templates.

Reeorder - Allows you to specify a field (and hide it from CP users) that holds the entry ordering data for any given weblog.  Then, just enter the Reeorder screen and move entries up and down to create a custom order for them.  In your templates, you can now sort the entries by your custom field.

Sitemap - A great tool for automatically generating an XML sitemap of your website whenever entries are added to the system.  Also allows you to add static pages to the sitemap.

User - If you need to allow members of a site to add or edit profile information, email addresses, passwords, etc, this is the only way to go.  It makes child’s play of allowing members to edit their own information on the front end.

Had Enough?

I’ll reiterate that having all these add-ons in place on a site doesn’t add any overhead to the site’s processing.  If you leave them disabled, they don’t hurt the site performance in any way.  So there is no reason, if you use an add-on relatively frequently, not to have its files in place on every site you start.  It really does save time.

Since Devot:ee launched, I’ve uncovered a few more add-ons that I haven’t placed into my fresh files pile yet, so I’ll probably revisit this post in a little while and add a few more to it. 

Until then, I hope you find something new here that helps you get your job done faster and better.  I tell everyone who will listen that ExpressionEngine has the most solid and knowledgeable community of developers in the industry, and there is some fine peace of mind knowing that when I turn to these add-ons to extend ExpressionEngine, that they will work well, and that the people behind them will be there to help out if necessary.  So, thanks EE community… they can’t stop the bum rush!