Github Repositories
I wrote all of the plugins listed below; they’re all components of our internal toolset for building sites. They’re primarily intended for developer use, particularly with Genesis themes, but many of them are compatible with any WordPress theme. You’re welcome to use them! Over the last decade, I’ve created hundreds of private repos and contributed to a few as well. These are the ones I use over and over again.
Core Functionality
Each of the repositories below are key to building sites our way.
The basic setup of most of my sites is similar – we start with a vanilla Genesis starter theme, based on the Genesis Sample theme (but Sassified and with preconfigured taskrunner tooling via gulp to automate stylesheet compilation). We then give sites the ability to use consistent, simple shortcodes to pull in the various types of content you might want to display in structured ways with our Simple Query Shortcodes plugin.
Elodin TwentyNineteen
This is my starter theme (with continuing development since mid-2019). This was forked from the Genesis Sample theme and includes a ton of functionality that helps make things feel more automatic when I’m developing a new custom theme. This is the theme in use on this website (I’ve made a commitment to use my own vanilla starter theme long-term on this site). Likely I’ll restart this every 2-3 years.
Content types
Each of the plugins below do basic setup for a particular content type.
All of them include a content type, and most also set up a custom taxonomy (categories), custom meta information, etc. Where appropriate, some of these set up custom single or archive templates, and many of these register custom layouts for use in setting up grid-based displays through a shortcode (see also: my Simple Query Shortcodes plugin, which powers these sorts of layouts.)
Elodin Partners
Allows for simple display of sets of logos. Really, this is for use whether you’re showing client logos, vendor logos, or any other kind of logos – the goal here is a simple way of showing logos (with optional content lightbox and/or a link to a site) without having to crop anything, so it flexibly resizes the logos on your site.
Gutenberg blocks
Starting in late 2020, I made the choice to start creating some general-use Gutenberg blocks for my own use.
The reason is simple: I don’t like installing multiple block libraries on my sites. So, for example, background video functionality is available in the Gitwid library but not in the Atomic Blocks library, and I only want one plugin library per site. So, I’ll need to write a container block that has all of the capabilities I’d generally want (parallax images, background sliders, background video, etc.) and use that instead. I also like the checkerboard design pattern, which doesn’t really exist in any of these plugins.
Section Block
Similar to the GetWid or Atomic Blocks “container” block, this one is just called “section.” It allows for fullwidth backgrounds, adjusting the opacity and image saturation, and it also enables background video (with local hosting). Unlike either of the other two on this list, it helps me speed up development by not having to enter padding attributes for every section, working instead off of defaults that can be set inside the theme.
Overlap links block
A block that allows for the display of a few links next to each other, along with images and a bit of text, where this entire block is sandwiched between two section blocks. Shown on the home page of Brindle Digital’s Lola theme for apartments.
Utility
Plugins for a specific need – that many sites might have.
The plugins below meet a very specific need, but a need that can be generalized to the point where I’m likely to need the exact same feature set on a number of different sites.
Clipboard
A quick implementation of clipboard.js for WordPress. This simply enqueues and initiates the script, then sets up a capability, when an items is clicked, to copy that to the clipboard, briefly show the word “Copied” in place of the copied text, then flip back. Works multiple times on each page.
Elodin Notice Widget
This plugin has been helping me meet the needs of clients during COVID-19. It sets up a lightbox-style notice on every page of a site which can be minimized or dismissed and will retain state between pages and comes back to a user every six hours. Great for quickly posting urgent notices that you want every visitor to see.
Deprecated
Plugins that used to fill a vital role, but are no longer advisable to use on new installs.
Gutenberg Sections
An ACF-based page builder for Gutenberg. This was built in the window between the release of Gutenberg and native support for nesting blocks, filling a critical gap on a number of client sites. However, there are now better ways to build all of the same sorts of sections, and this plugin is no longer needed.