Dagon design’s sitemap generator plugin for WordPress - WordPress Plugins

So, what am I doing talking about plugins at wordpress.com? Well, a lot of us here also have the full install of WordPress and are allowed to use plugins, themes, edit as we like, etc…..

I have this site here because. . . well, I’m lazy and this is just a nice place for me to babble

However, this is not a place to have a site that you want to modify, even a little.

So….I like to put all the @#@$@ here that just doesn’t belong on one of my other sites and that people might actually get a kick out of….

OK….onto the review!

I usually make my sitemaps the old fashioned way–code the html right into the page. Well, that gets a little tiresome, especially when you start having multiple web sites. Well, I was checking out JT Pratt’s blogging mistakes today and a commenter posted something about Dagon Design’s sitemap generator for wordpress. I thought, what the heck I’ll take a look at it. After trying it out on my hard drive I decided I like it. Now I had seen it before but being so anti-plugin I felt I could do it the hard way. You can also find many other ideas for sitemap generators out there. Most all use plugins or are templates and have only the category or a list of posts. I like my posts listed under the category. Just do a search for wordpress sitemap or sitemap generator.

Back to the plugin. . . it makes a very straight forward sitemap. You get your pages and categories. The categories are listed with the posts for each category under them. I like that. A lot of archives and sitemaps in WordPress have just the categories, months, years, etc…..hell, I don’t want to go to the category! I want to go right to a post, that’s why I’m at the sitemap!

Well, Dagon Design’s sitemap generator plugin for WordPress does what I need and in a very easy and simple fashion! The install instructions are simple–put it into your plugins and activate it! Then you put a little code into the html source view of the page you want the site map on, <!- - ddsitemapgen - -> (please note that there is no space between the dashes, there is here because WordPress will make it an m-dash. You need two dashes just like other quick tags in wordpress). That’s about as easy as you can get. Now, if you want it to be in a page template….oh, lets say the archives or better yet, the 404 error page just put the following code in the template file, <?php echo ddsg_create_sitemap(); ?> where you want the sitemap to show. Now that is simple and clear instructions that even a noob like me can follow

Make sure you put the correct permalink addresss for the sitemap page in the setting if you are using permalinks. That may cause a problem, but other than that the instructions are easy peasy.

There are two things I’m not to fond about with plugins. First, so many want to put so much @$@# on your page and as remarks (ok, that’s both of them). You will get those plugins insisting on site wide links, tons of remarks show up in your code with links and who knows what else. Well, this plugin puts a link on the pages you use it on and that is as fair as you can get! However, there are a couple remarks that show up in the code. you can open the php file and change those remarks to reflect your site better. Just look for <!– in the php file of the plugin. Change the remark to something closer to your site if you care at all. The second thing about plugins I don’t like…..well, I just covered it. The remarks.

I believe in giving notice where it is due but I really hate themes and plugins that put #$@#$ everywhere. I’m more than happy to write a review and even put a great site or plugin on my recommended links for site wide, but don’t insist on it. I would rather pay for the plugin at that point. Yes, I do understand that the reason people make plugins and themes is not just for pay but to get links and I think the best link is that of a good review, don’t you? And that is why I have this review and I will have more on plugins I use. . . which are few