JLB's five favorite WordPress plugins

It’s no secret that the dev team here at JLB is in love with WordPress.  It’s PHP-based, it’s flexible, it’s an easy install, it’s user-friendly.  Sure, there are other content management systems out there that might be a better project-specific fit, but overall, WordPress is out go-to CMS savior.  However, WordPress still leaves quite a bit to be desired.   Fortunately, there’s literally thousands of plugins to address a multitude of needs.
Here are JLB’s favorite 5 WordPress plugins:
Akismet
Simple, worry-free comment spam filter.  It comes with the standard WordPress package and is a breeze to set up.  Akismet takes all the work out of cutting comment spam by checking comments, pings and trackbacks against a huge database of ones previously submitted.
NextGEN Gallery
The grandfather of all WordPress gallery plugins, NextGEN Gallery makes easy work out of building organizing photos into dynamic albums, galleries and slideshows.  It includes great features such as Thickbox, meta data support and batch image resizing.
Contact Form 7
It’s hard to choose between this little gem and MM Forms, but things like redirection after form submission and easier control over system messages give Contact Form 7 a slight advantage over similar plugins.
WP-DBManager
Database backup and other various database tools.  End of story.  Install it and rest assured that you’ll never find yourself up creek without a database again.
Statpress
The Google Analytics for WordPress.  Sync it up with your Analytics account and view all your traffic reports without leaving WordPress.