The Objectives:
My objective is to find a WordPress plugin that will allow me to at least do:
- display in a post a download (link, picture) to an arbitrary file type
- to have the link to the download be neat and nice e.g. /download/filename.type
- provide a nice upload tool
Furthermore, it would be nice if added the download code to a post provided nice options like a picture or number of hits…
The Search:
So the hunt begins. I went searching through the plugins and I found the following ones a possible candidates.
- Wordpress Download Monitor 2.2.3
- Attachment Manager 2.0.1
- WP-DownloadManager 1.40
Wordpress Download Monitor
Pros: The plugin has a nice admin download page. It does support nice URLs. It also has a very nice integration with the edit post page.
Cons: It seems to require one to list the acceptable file types. It also puts the download admin page under tools, I would have preferred it under Media.
Attachment Manager
Pros: Nice icons to go with the download files.
Cons: Opps, it appears that this one should not have been a candidate for comparison. This one is focused on icons and not really file upload and download.
WP-DownloadManager
Pros: It places the admin pages under a new Download section. Not bad but I would still have preferred under Media. It has many nice options under the admin pages and a nice focus on download listing and stats. I however will probably have little download listing pages.
Cons: The download URLis tied to a number and not a title. Who wants a download url to be /download/1231 and not /download/filename.type?
The Find:
In conclusion I have found that Wordpress Download Monitor to be the plugin to best match my objectives. If your objectives are the same as mine, then I would recommend using this plugin for your file management needs.