In order to make the best use of WordPress, it is necessary to use plugins. Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine. You can find see the full directory by clicking here, but I have listed below a number of the best and most useful:

Category Posts

This plugin allows you to show posts set to certain categories in a widget (eg. News posts in a sidebar). Read more about and download the plugin here.

Sub Pages

Using the Sub Pages widget, it is possible to display the child pages from the current root page in the sidebar. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Contact Form and Really Simple CAPTCHA

Rather than putting your email address live on your website, you can set up contact forms that require people to enter certain information before sending you a message. The plugin I suggest you use for this is Contact Form 7, which allows you to set up various contact forms easily and place them in your posts or pages with just one line of code. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Really Simple CAPTCHA allows you to used CAPTCHA in your contact forms and prevent spam messages. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Page Restrict

This plugin enables pages to be restricted to logged-in users only, so that private information could be put online but not be open to all and sundrym but just your leaders or parents. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Sitemap

Sitemaps are important parts of websites – they make it far easier for search engines to index your website and improve accessibility. The Dagon Design Sitemap Generator does pretty much all the work for you. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Access Keys

Accessibility something that all websites should attempt to increase wherever possible. The Access Keys widget is an easy way to enable users to navigate through using access keys. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Text size

Another part of improving accessibility is making it as easy as possible for users to read your content by changing the font size. The WP-chgFontSize plugin can be added to a sidebar as a widget. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Google Analytics for WordPress

Set up a Google Analytics profile for your website so that you can track the hits that come to your website. Using the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin removes the need to enter any HTML into the theme. Read more about and download the plugin here.

Flickr Feed Gallery

If you want to show off your Flickr photos, the Flickr Feed Gallery makes it easy. Read more about and download the plugin here.