Perhaps one of the most beautiful things about ExpressionEngine is the fact that it can be extended with custom plugins, modules, and extensions. There is an extremely talented and passionate developer community that creates some great addons to make this fantastic piece of software even better. If you're new to ExpressionEngine (or even if you're a seasoned veteran), you may want to check out these sites so that you can avoid those head slapping moments of "I just wasted 10 hours trying to do that, and there was already a plugin that does it for me!"
Solspace
Solspace is probably one of the most famous ExpressionEngine developers out there, and for good reason. Perhaps the most famous of these addons is the Freeform module, which allows you to create contact/registration/whatever forms and have your EE install keep track of the entries, and send notification e-mails. It's like having your own mini Wufoo running on your own site!
Leevi Graham
Where to begin? Leevi's addons are wonderful, and there are tons of them! Does your site need polls, an easier way to handle meta information, or multi-language entries? You're covered. How about if you want to post to Twitter when you publish a new entry, or if you want to give your non-Web-saavy clients the option to use TinyMCE? You got it. Oh, and he even provides an addon that will inform you when there are new version of his addons available. Genius? Yes, I think so.
Mark Huot
Personally, I feel like most of Mark's addons should just be included in EE by default. There are some nice addons here, and Mark is really great about supporting them. Some of my favorites include Pages - Nested Menu and File. Keep up the great work!
Structure
Perhaps the biggest complaint I hear from people trying to learn ExpressionEngine is that they don't understand how the static pages system works. Structure aims to make it a bit more intuitive, and it does the job well. Not only do you get a pretty slick page tree to help you organize your content, but it also helps you with the dynamic menus, sitemaps, breadcrumbs, etc. It's also compatible with EE's Core version, though there is an extra step to do so.
Experience Internet
I just came across Experience Internet randomly the other day, but I definitely liked what I saw. There aren't a ton of addons, but they are good quality! Google Maps and Campaign Monitor integration are great additions, and I'm so happy that they took the initiative to fix the annoying field formatting system! Will definitely keep my eye on their site for more!
Want more?
I always add new EE-related sites that I come across to my Delicious account, so please check it out to see what else is out there to help you in your development!
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