The goal in building Bootplate was to keep it simple, fast, and extendable. The primary way to extend and add functionalities to Bootplate is through the use of plugins.
Some of these plugins were built specifically for Bootplate (and other Bootstrap-based WordPress themes). Some are just wonderfully-written plugins we’ve already tested and built-in automatic detection and use for you so you don’t have to mess around with so much scary PHP and template files.
If you want something done right, write the plugin yourself. Here are a few plugins built specifically for Bootplate, but they would work on any other (well-built) Bootstrap-based WordPress theme.
Bootplate Shortcodes
There are several wonderful plugins out there that handle shortcodes for Bootstrap-based themes, like Bootplate. However, we had a few ideas of our own, so we created another one called Bootplate Shortcodes.
Bootplate Call-to-Action
Based on the JDM CTA plugin, this plugin is used for large CTA sections in this theme preview as well as on the home page. We think it’s pretty awesome, but you certainly don’t have to install it.
Here are a few plugins we’re using for this preview–just in case you’re wondering.
oEmbed Gist
We’re using the oEmbed Gist plugin in this theme preview for embedding gist into WordPress easily. If you’re interested in using it too, it’s pretty darn easy.
Bootplate Shortcodes
There are several wonderful plugins out there that handle shortcodes for Bootstrap-based themes, like Bootplate. However, we had a few ideas of our own, so we created another one called Bootplate Shortcodes.
Bootplate Call-to-Action
Based on the JDM CTA plugin, this plugin is used for large CTA sections in this theme preview as well as on the home page. We think it’s pretty awesome, but you certainly don’t have to install it.
GitHub Updater
Since some of the plugins and certainly the Bootplate theme itself are not yet released on WordPress.org, we recommend installing them using a plugin that allows for easy installation and secure automatic updates using GitHub. Introducing the GitHub Updater plugin.
Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator
It’s important these days your site has a favicon–the little icon that shows in your browser tab. As of WordPress 4.3, you’ll see a built-in option for this under Site Identity. Unfortunately, it only outputs the most basic code and favicon variations. We recommend looking into a plugin like Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator.
JDM Frontend Admin Buttons (Production-ready v1)
JDM Frontend Admin Buttons is a lightweight WordPress plugin that hides the default Admin Bar and replaces it with out of the way, contextually-aware, floating buttons for basic admin tasks. It’s not available on the WordPress Repo yet. You’ll need to use the GitHub Updater if you want it.
The following plugins are just wonderfully-written and well-tested. We’ve taken the liberty of pre-integrating these for you to use without messing around with PHP and template files.
Yoast SEO
Improve your WordPress SEO: Write better content and have a fully optimized WordPress site using Yoast SEO plugin.
SEO Ultimate
This all-in-one SEO plugin gives you control over meta titles & descriptions, open graph, auto-linking, rich-snippets, 404 monitoring, and more.
SEO Wizard
SEO Wizard helps you write better content, write optimized meta titles and descriptions, integrate social media, view post/page analysis and much more
Subtitle Plugins (all three of these)
There are actually three different plugins we’ve pre-integrated for adding subtitles. We’ve got our own documentation page listing all three.
AMP
Bootplate is all about speed so we can’t ignore projects like Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages project (AMP). This pre-tested plugin enables Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) on your WordPress site and it’s already been tested and (slightly) customized for use with Bootplate. See for yourself.
Bootstrap Shortcodes
Sleek, fairly intuitive and handy WordPress plugin to add shortcodes for Bootstrap 3.3.x components.
Bootplate Call-to-Action
Based on the JDM CTA plugin, this plugin is used for large CTA sections in this theme preview as well as on the home page. We think it’s pretty awesome, but you certainly don’t have to install it.
JDM Frontend Admin Buttons (v0.6-beta)
JDM Frontend Admin Buttons is a lightweight WordPress plugin that hides the default Admin Bar and replaces it with out of the way, contextually-aware, floating buttons for basic admin tasks. It’s not available on the WordPress Repo yet. You’ll need to use the GitHub Updater if you want it.
Custom Sidebars
Bootplate comes with just a handful of Widget areas used in sidebars and footers. If you’d like a heck of a lot more widget areas than that, we recommend installing the Custom Sidebars plugin.
Bootstrap Shortcodes for WordPress
Another, fairly similar plugin for adding Bootstrap v3 shortcodes to WordPress. We prefer this plugin because it’s so lightweight and, with 30,000+ active installs, it’s well-tested and stable.
Contact Form 7
With over a million active installs, Contact Form 7 is perhaps the most popular free WordPress plugin in the repo. For that reason, we chose to pre-integrate it into the Bootplate core. Check out an example.