Plugins Used with the UUA WordPress Theme

Part of Documentation

WordPress Plugins

Ask questions here about the recommended plugins for use with the UUA WordPress Theme for congregations, or about other plugins you are using.

WordPress Plugins

A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. (Read more about plugins on WPBeginner.com)

Recommended Plugins for the UUA Theme

These plugins are useful or provide features for the theme. When you download the Theme, you download some of them as well. Follow these instructions to install these plugins. Some aren't absolutely required; you can use an alternative plugin if you prefer to provide that functionality. The links below bring you to informational pages about each plugin.

Carousels or Sliders

Recommended starting with UUA theme version 1.3.0:

  • MetaSlider – A widely used and well-supported plugin with many options. The demo site includes a slider (a.k.a. carousel or slideshow) on the homepage. Here are instructions for creating a homepage slider.

No longer recommended, because of lack of support:

  • CPT Bootstrap Carousel – Powers the rotating display of images and text on the homepage. If you update to version 1.10 (released in March 2019), your captions may disappear. Here's the fix, from UU Jim Gasparini: The plugin developer suggests that the problem has to do with plugin settings, which you can find from the Dashboard under Carousel > Settings. Previously there was one option to show the title and the caption. Now there are two options, one for title, one for caption. If you had the previous version then you now need to explicitly turn on captions; otherwise they will be hidden. After re-updating, both "Show Slide Titles" and "Show Slide Captions" were set to Show, but neither displayed. Jim was able to get the titles to display by setting "Show Slide Captions" to Hide (leaving "Show Slide Titles" set to Show.)

Page Formatting

  • Custom Sidebars – Enables you to display different widgets on the sidebars or footers of any page of your site
  • List Category Posts – Allows you to list posts by category

Sunday Services

  • UUA Services – A custom-built plugin that comes installed with the UUA WordPress Theme for Congregations. It displays information about Sunday (or other) services: upcoming and past.

Events and Calendars

  • Events Manager – Fully featured event registration management including recurring events, locations management, calendar, Google map integration, booking management
  • WP FullCalendar - Formats your calendar nicely. Works with Events Manager. Once activated, you’ll see a new panel in the Settings section for editing the options for calendar display.

Testimonials/Member Stories

Recommended starting with UUA theme version 1.3.0:

  • Jetpack – Includes a testimonial feature. See these instructions for setting up testimonials, which usually appear in the About > Our Stories section of the site.

No longer recommended, because of lack of support:

Other

Additional Plugins Congregations Are Using

Follow the links below to learn more and download these plugins, which are do not come with the UUA Theme.

Pop-ups and Banners

Events and Calendars

Podcasting

Members-Only Section

Staff Listings

  • Staffer – Uses custom post types for people management, allowing you to create and manage an onsite directory of people (board, staff, etc.). This plugin was recommended with early versions of the theme, but unless you have a large staff, it's easier to create a page for each staff member and a page that lists everyone on the Minister and Staff page. Note: The last version that works well is version 2.0.2, available from Github. Don’t update to later versions.

If you have a plugin you recommend using with the UUA theme, let us know: app.support@uua.org.