Hobby projects are good for the soul. Besides using your WordPress blog to show your hobbies to the world you can use it in your own projects as a way to keep all of your stuff organised, and easy to find (It would also be good for your portfolio too). There are a lot of WordPress plugins and Chrome extensions that can be used in surprisingly creative ways!
1. As a parts database
Hobby projects such as electronics, LEGO and found objects usually consist of a large number of parts, that you will need to keep track of. You can certainly use WordPress taxonomies to document them in plain blog posts. Since the introduction of the REST API it’s now easy to quickly cobble-up a small application that uses WordPress as a mini CMS for parts (We’ve done something similar with Kanban !). Alternatively, you can also use the excellent WordPress plugin called Inventory Manager. It supports multiple categories, templates, developer hooks, everything!
2. As a notation tool
No matter the notation your notes are in, there are several WordPress plugins that might come in handy. For the mathematically-minded, there is a plugin that enables you to write mathematics, in either LaTeX or MathML called MathJax-LaTeX. The great thing about this plugin is that it supports multiple syntaxes and that the Javascript library it uses is injected on-demand only. This means that it will only be loaded in the pages that use it, and thus it will not cause any slowdowns on your site.
Additionally, if you are into music and you quickly need to write down some chords, ChordWP is a great choice. Just put the chord name or syllable in brackets!
3. As a moodboard for art projects
Moodboards are an excellent way in the early stages of your art project to document and define a style you wish to follow. Obviously, you can use your WordPress blog as it is, and manually upload your photos, or you can use the very handy Image Elevator plugin that lets you directly paste images from your clipboard!
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4. As a project wish-list and costs calculator
Project wish-lists can be used to keep track of the parts you need to purchase for your hobby projects. Usually, you will need to buy the parts from multiple vendors, so instead of keeping Google docs or spreadsheets, why not use a simple WishList plugin like My Wish List?
Alternatively, there is the popular Amazon Link plugin that allows you to add products from any Amazon domain!
Finally, you can keep track of your project’s costs by using a plugin like the extensive Calculated Fields Form. It allows you to create forms using multiple type fields and supports advanced math functions as well!
5. As a research tool
Hobby projects usually demand extensive research. One Chrome plugin that helps you gather information and post directly to your WordPress blog, is ExpressCurate. Although it is mostly used for SEO and content curation, you can use it to quickly save web snippets directly to your WordPress blog.
Of course, when it comes to DIY and hobbies, YouTube couldn’t be left off from the list. There is an extremely large number of videos for every personal hobby imaginable. YouTube is a treasure trove of information, and you can use the YouTube Embed Plus plugin to add playlists and videos to your WordPress blog that are related to your craft
Finally, you can use the excellent WP Write Chrome plugin when you want to quickly post a web snippet of text, or project notes, directly from your browser.
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