There are thousands of WordPress plugins which enable you to use JavaScript throughout your web design; but surprisingly few of them provide excellent documentation, or are updated often enough by their developers to be compatible with all versions of WordPress. For our purposes, the top JavaScript WordPress Plugins can be used in either parent or child themes, and is a required plug-in for the function in question to work, but don\'t interfere with security settings or have issues with member or non-member identifications.

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This level of customization is ultimately why users opt for a CMS like WordPress over other options like building a free website at WebsiteBuilder.com or other competing website builders. Utilizing the WordPress framework makes scaling a website up easy, while builders retain fine-tuned control over visual elements.

With all that in mind, here are our best picks for the Top JavaScript WordPress Plugins, which allow users to easily add or modify JavaScript to their WordPress site.

The HTML JavaScript Adder Plugin

This plugin allows the user the most control of all our top picks: it's not just for JavaScript, but html, flash codes, html, plain text, even advertising code snippets. Though it operates in the Widgets area, it can be used with an advanced setting to target specific pages and posts. There's also a quick tag toolbar for editing in widgets, and is multinational, supporting 12 different languages. The best part? The HTML JavaScript Adder Plugin is absolutely free!

The Artiss Code Embed Plugin

Another do-it-all plugin, this one allows users to embed HTML and JavaScript, but has a few irritating limitations: it's specific to posts. This makes it useful for single-tasks, like embedding ads or videos. But it does come with a handy feature which can allow you to embed it into widgets if necessary, and also has a global embedding option which can show up in multiple areas... with slightly lengthy work-arounds. It can be used to embed external scripts without issue, and can use identifiers and keywords.

The Zia3 CSS JS Plugin

Like the above plugin, the Zia3 plugin has a few more limitations than the first. But instead of being limited to HTML and JS, this plugin is limited to CSS and JavaScript. It's easy to use and handle, with capabilities limited to appearing on individual pages or posts. Interestingly, they're listed in order format, which can be defined in the plugin's settings. This plugin is ideal for tweaking the look and feel of specific pages or posts: whether by hiding some elements, moving them around, or doubling them up. Need to redefine the look of your h tags and show a different ad? No problem!

Async JavaScript Plugin

You've likely heard of Google PageSpeed Insights, and if you haven't, check it out! This free tool from Google calculates your page speed and scores you, giving a detailed roster of items to address to improve your page speed, which also increases the amount of pages bots can crawl on your website. The Async plugin loads all the JS and CSS compiled by other plugins and loads them in the manner which Insights suggests, which can increase page loading times dramatically and help to compress your coding.

The Allow JavaScript in Text Widgets Plugin

This plugin is primarily useful for those running a multisite option, and replaces many of the default widgets with a single element. This can dramatically reduce the need for hefty additional plugins, consolidating a lot of site options all in one place. Also a great option for anyone who needs their WP text widget class simply extended in an elegant fashion.

The Summary

If you're looking for a WordPress plugin which gives you JavaScript capabilities, these are our top picks! They're designed to integrate seamlessly into your existing build and give you the ultimate in flexibility to improve specific JS elements of your site. Sure, there are thousands of others out there in the field: but no one wants to run into a situation where their plugin hasn't been updated and is now no longer compatible with a theme or a version of WordPress.

Author

Phong Thai is a Web Developer, Web Coder for 20 years with PHP, JavaScript, CSS. He is the creator of JavaScriptBank.com - provide thousands of free JavaScript code examples, web development tips and tricks, helpful blogging guides.

Follow him on twitter@js_bank or connect with him on facebook@jsbank if you want. His websites for your knowledge: javascriptON.com, inOneSec.com, www.gomymobi.com

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