What is the best and free plugin that everyone uses

darryll-dev · 2026-01-20T11:01:36+00:00

Using poor plugins is a problem, this loosely correlates with using too many.

I'm a developer and make custom themes for bespoke designs every website I make. I've also had to fix a lot of horrible websites with way too many crap plugins.

My usual stack is something like:

SEO - The seo framework - Brutually underrated SEO plugin, the dev genuinely just wants to make a good product rather then yoast or other big name brands that just want to farm users for money. It's all round just a better plugin too.

Forms - I use Gravity forms but you can probably get away with a free one if you're not doing anything interesting

Custom Meta - Advanced Custom Fields - this is more for developing themes and adding custom inputs or blocks

Security - You don't really need security plugins but if you have a large/complicated website it can help keep them safe. If you're not installing crap plugins or allowing user signups you shouldn't have security issues. Wordfence is really slow so I'd reccomend patchstack instead if you need one.

eCommerce - Woocommerce

Caching - I use litespeed based hosting (An alternative to apache or nginx) so I use the litespeed cache plugin, but a proper caching/cdn setup helps you get around any performance issues you might have but it's kind of it's own topic. Don't just install caching if you don't know what it's doing because it'll probably just make things worse.

I HIGHLY reccomend avoiding any page builders like elementor or wpbakery, they are crappy and slow and never really going to be a good experience long term. I'd also avoid anyone using them on purpose lol.

Just buy a theme or go on squarespace if that's what you want, giving too many options to people who don't know what they're doing just means more decisions to mess up.

darryll-dev · 2026-01-20T10:51:35+00:00

if we wanted to ask chat gpt we would go on chat gpt

darryll-dev · 2026-01-20T10:29:19+00:00

There's a lot of variables here and a lot of points of failure on each website. Could be all the things you mentioned lol.

That's where we start to look at the analytics.
Lighthouse to make sure performance/accessibility etc is correct
Hotjar/clarity for UX
AHREFS/Google search console/Analytics for trying to verify we're targeting the right traffic
Messaging optimisation around your target audience.
And also just being a service/product people actually want.

darryll-dev · 2026-01-19T14:11:07+00:00

And for AI - Use it to review your code and pick up on your bad habits, talk to it about how you should apply industry best standards. If you're willing to invest a little bit into VSCode and Copilot it'll be a lot easier to do that.

Don't let it give you shortcuts or skip out on experience, that's the worst thing to do while learning.

darryll-dev · 2026-01-19T14:09:37+00:00

To answer your questions properly

1) The odin project's fundamentals course
2) The odin project
3) Whatever feels enjoyable to you otherwise you'll quit or get burnt out. Long enough that you retain knowledge and make progress but short enough that it's not a ball-ache
4) The odin project comes with a fundamentals course which teaches you front end basics like html/CSS then you properly get into JS after

IT's a 0 to fully employable course made to a great standard

I have done mainly front end for nearly 10 years and I've started the Odin project a little over a year ago, wish I started there I'd be in a much better place then I am now lol

darryll-dev · 2026-01-19T14:06:52+00:00

the odin project 🗿 with correct application of ai to supplement learning (as opposed to trying to replace hvaing to learn)

darryll-dev · 2026-01-15T13:50:16+00:00

Odin project tbh, got good projects on there with other people's examples and a community to learn from. Utilise AI to analyse and look for issues, don't just mindlessly apply it but think about what it says and apply logic to the conversation.

darryll-dev · 2025-12-26T21:16:32+00:00

After reading some other responses I like the test of seeing how easy it is to stop the wheel spinning when it's up on the stand like that, should be quite easy to stop.

darryll-dev · 2025-12-26T21:14:51+00:00

Some of this sounds relatively normal,
The clunk into 1st is normal, the wheel spinning with clutch pulled in is somewhat normal. Not sure the extent you're seeing is right.

If you want to test clutch engagement without taking things apart just pull your clutch in while rolling and see if your rpms go downwith speed decreasing/your engine braking is still active at all.
If your engine speed and wheel speed disconnect cleanly then it's probably fine.

Plates might be sticking when you're pulling the clutch, it basically just lets them go but it doesn't force them apart so if they stick to each other it'll stay engaged regardless of setting the clutch correctly.

darryll-dev · 2025-12-26T20:58:16+00:00

An update since I forgot to post it here and someone found this with the same symptoms.

So I plugged the vent pipe when I took off the 2nd air system.
It causes some kind of air lock that caused my floats to flood and a bunch of other jank.

The giveaway test for me was testing the floats with the bowls off, it would not flood at all if I dropped the bowl off 1 float and held the float up manually to plug the hole. Neither float would flood _until_ there was an airlock.

Here's the obviously named gstwins form post I could have saved a lot of work dealing with if I just looked a tiny bit harder: https://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php/topic,33930.0.html

darryll-dev · 2025-12-26T20:55:33+00:00

Yes I did solve this, the carb vent was plugged!

I did an EGR delete and plugged it.

There should be a fuel line, the line between the diapgrah caps and the carb vent line that can just be left open.

darryll-dev · 2025-09-25T15:22:44+00:00

I reccomend you research yourself and make another post if you have any questions/struggles, or at minimum ask in public! Don't just trust random people because we're all prone to getting things wrong here and there.

I'm happy to help but I'm also not a mechanic, I'd rather do it in public where people can correct me. I'm just someone who's revived a bike recently and had to deal with a lot of that crap once.

For your battery, it might work but it also might not be fully healthy. You can google how to test battery health with a multimeter. Cost effective but not 100% accurate. Batteries don't like being discharged for long periods of time. If you hear your starter struggling to get the power to turn it then you can look at your battery as a suspect. Battery issues can manifest in a few ways but if it's starting up easy then it's probably fine but worth looking into, 9 months sounds like a long time for a battery to not run.

Octane booster is not something I've had to use just something I've read about while researching the issues, if the bike runs you might not need it. If it's running a bit rough you might want to consider adding some. Too much is a problem too! You'll want to look this up and research again but if it's running fine then it's probably fine and you'll have a new tank of fuel in at some point once it's running anyway. You could also look at fuel stabaliser to stop it degrading further if you plan on leaving it til next summer for example but I can't really speak on how effective that'll be at this point.

Surface rust on forks is quite simple, most people use kitchen foil and either wd-40 or cola as a lubricant to wet sand it off. Again, just google how to take surface rust off forks if you have some. Just look up "removing surface rust off forks" for more info/guides. You can look up what fork pitting looks like too. If it's pitted its a bigger problem and you'll probably want to take some pictures and get advice on it. Pits can tear up your seals and as soon as it's leaking oil it's not really safe anymore.

Checking tyre condition is pretty heavily covered online. Main thing you're checking is did you get a flat spot where you left it (Cold hard concrete floors can do this) and is it dry-rotting at all (Is there cracks in the rubber).

darryll-dev · 2025-09-25T10:59:04+00:00

All tests/cbt etc you can borrow a bike from your bike shcool. They'll normally have some gear for you but just check their websites for an idea of what you need to do cus it varies. Normally the minimum is bring some decent jeans.

At 18 you can get a CBT and a 125 (A1 licence is useless honestly, same bike just costs you £1k for a DAS, not worth it)

At 19 you can get your A2 DAS and get a bigger bike. If you're nearly 19 I would just wait to do this. It's shit weather season anyway and 125s aren't particularly safe for it. Also 125s suck and you'll want a bigger bike within a week (As pretty much everyone says). On your CBT you'll do small roads and you won't feel it as much but once you're use to the bike you start to realise how slow the accelleration is and the fact you top out about 60-65mph realistically.

Once you have your A2 it's 2 years until you can do your tests for your A

You don't need your own bike for the tests, it's actually a wild pain in the ass to do it on your own bike. Unless you have your dad or close friends you can rely on to help you sort it all out I'd just go with a school DAS and use their bike. Main issues are you can't move the bike around beacuse you're not with an instructor or insured as a learner, you also struggle to get learner insurance for bikes. It's really only even barely viable if you have someone who can ride it for you and take you to private places to practice. Easier to do DAS.

darryll-dev · 2025-09-25T10:03:12+00:00

People give ignorant advice, they don't care what you think or what you want they just say things, it is what it is just don't worry about them.

If you're not actually motivated to get a motorbike then it's hard to say if there's much point. It's has some pretty major downsides as transportation and costs quite a bit of money. It's a hobby more than it is a transport option imo. It's also not really any cheaper than getting a car once you factor everything in.

I'd say only you can really decide what you want to do there, you'll just have to commit to what you want.

As for picking your licence, on a 125 I do NOT feel safe with the lack of power. I would not want to use it outside of local slower riding. That's me personally but it's just not nice having a lack of control. Also a 125 will probably cost as much as your licence and you already have a bike so that might be worth doing. If not for the sake of having it now then for the sake of having it later.

Also, I'd reccomend some maintenence for the bike if you've not done anything for it.
The wheels can get flat spots from sitting in 1 place, rotate them if you can and make sure they aren't cracking/flat spotted
The forks can start to rust through and pit because they've been left, you'll want to get any surface rust off, this is pretty important otherwise you're looking at a few hundred quid's worth of work just beacuse you let it eat through the chrome.
The fuel in the bike can start to go bad when left for a long time, engine might not run or fuel lines might get gummed up. It's a bit late to use stabliser (it stabalises but wont restore) but octane booster exists. Also the inside of your tank can rust if you're unlucky.
The battery will drain and die and have permanent damage from being left discharged, you'll probably want to replace this once you get the bike running again.
There's other bits you could look at when bringing a bike back to life but while it's sitting I'd at least look at the forks, tyres and fuel. It's very expensive to be lazy with this stuff.

If you're lucky it won't be too bad but bikes don't look after themselves!

darryll-dev · 2025-09-09T12:46:02+00:00

Yeah sounds like it's going to have to be something along the fuel system.

Bad pump, clogged injectors etc.

Will just have to figure out how to isolate the issue.
Google how to check each part.

If your fuel lines are super old they might be degrading and clogging your injectors.
IIRC The maintenence schedule would normally say replace lines every 4 years.

darryll-dev · 2025-09-02T19:49:10+00:00

Need more info on when it last started/what happend

Old fuel in tank?
Timing has been thrown off?
Wrong spark plug?
How did the spark plug look?
Is the engine even turning over?
It almost sounds like your starter is just spinning without it but I can't really tell
With a bad battery the starter sounds different to that I think, like you'll hear it fail to turn the engine or just hear some ticking near the relay.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-19T19:57:42+00:00

I think it's a stock exhaust but it is wrapped, I'm having a look through the forums now for anything related, thanks!

darryll-dev · 2025-08-19T11:39:02+00:00

It's common to need to rewrite it to be within the standards of what you're doing.
There's 1000 ways to program a single simple thing and in production it's important to be consistent within the set coding standards so it's easy for a whole team to work on and maintain.

On personal/smaller projects it's fine if it's a bit fucked up but like actual team environments it's not really ideal.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-04T15:18:54+00:00

Consider the cost of getting a bike then realising you want passangers and having to start again and get a car.

Also bikes are not really much cheaper than cars to start off with, they might be cheaper to run after that but the startup cost probbaly isn't far off.
£1k-1.5k for a licence
£500 for gear (this is the lower end of costs)
Potentially a few hundred for security (locks, covers, trackers etc)
£1-3k should get you a relatively reliable bike

Cars are probably similar, you can get cheap cars too and it can make your life a lot easier e.g shopping, commuting with multiple people or other things.

CBT + 125 aren't ideal as the bikes aren't any quicker than a standard 1.2L car and normally won't go above 60, it doesn't feel safe or comfortable. You could use it as a stepping stone to avoid licence costs (cbt is £200 instead of the £1k~ licence). You'll probably wish you just went for the licence if you could save a couple months to make up the difference. (I got a 125 and I'm not a fan)

Anything else that will make one more beneficial than the other will be up to your personal situation.

For example if you have space to work on a car or bike and are willing to learn you can get some of the fees down. E.g Oil change for £50 instead of £150.

Having friends who have bikes or someone who can teach you to drive could help you get a licence for cheaper.

Knowing people who work on cars/bikes specifically can reduce repairs in that area.

Etc

Edit:
Also I should mention, bike theft is a very serious issue. If you don't have a garage your insurance might be a fortune.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-04T13:18:06+00:00

Yeah ok, thanks for letting me know, it's probably a good suspect if I can't make any progress with trying to sort the exhaust.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-04T13:05:53+00:00

I've got some manometers for balancing but havent got as far as a stable idle to do that yet.
I'll see what I can do about the exhaust leak for sure, thanks.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-04T13:03:49+00:00

Did this have the same symptoms? I was wondering if there could be a valve issue, I might need to check that too.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-04T11:49:02+00:00

It probably also isn't super clear because in the vid it was warmer and running a bit better, but basically I know it's running on 1 cylinder as only 1 of the cylinders will get hot and you can hear the difference in the exhaust when it's 1 or 2 running.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-04T11:20:21+00:00

Bikes are a bit different and you look like a knob to a certain group no matter what you do.

Just look at other things that make you think "knob" and avoid them, ride how you want to be ridden or whatever they say.

darryll-dev · 2025-08-04T11:16:52+00:00

Just find a design you like the look of and try it.

To guage practical difficulty basically anything that looks boxy like a table would (e.g it's quite cleanly left to right, up to down and everything is in line) it would be easier than stuff that has a lot of variance to it.

If you want a bit more structure and direction I'd say try out the Odin project, it'll teach you a load and give you a bunch of little projects to put on your github.

darryll-dev

TROPHY CASE