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watchthedot

<p>Display a fully customisable coming soon and maintenance page to your WordPress site. Use the basic pages provided by the plugin or add your own template to your child theme.</p>
<p>No complicated settings, and no visual builders. Just a straightforward one-button setup so you can focus on building your website.</p>
<p>The plugin also blocks access via the REST API and via XML-RPC so users can’t jump to see what you are building.</p>
<h4>Full Options</h4>
<ul>
<li>None – Doesn’t block access to the site</li>
<li>Blank Screen – Only displays a white screen</li>
<li>Maintenance Mode – Displays maintenance mode text (Editable via the “Maintenance Mode Options” page in settings)</li>
<li>Basic Message – Displays a basic message (Editable via the “Basic Message Options” page in settings)</li>
<li>Use Template – Displays a template file defined in your theme called <code>coming_soon.php</code></li>
<li>Login Screen – Redirects all requests to the login screen</li>
</ul>


EZ Coming Soon

Display a basic coming soon page or maintenance page on demand. Or display your own coming soon page using your theme!

Themeisle

<p>Add a maintenance page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance, add a coming soon page for a new website or create a landing page for an existing site. User with admin rights gets full access to the blog including the front end.</p>
<p>Activate the plugin and your blog is in maintenance-mode, works and only registered users with enough rights can see the front end. You can use a date with a countdown timer for visitor information or set a value and unit for information.</p>
<p>Also works with WordPress Multisite installs (each blog from the network has its own maintenance settings).</p>
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Fully customizable (change colors, texts and backgrounds).</li>
<li>Subscription form (export emails to .csv file).</li>
<li>Countdown timer (remaining time).</li>
<li>Contact form (receive emails from visitors).</li>
<li>Coming soon page;</li>
<li>Landing page templates;</li>
<li>WordPress multisite;</li>
<li>Responsive design;</li>
<li>Social media icons;</li>
<li>Works with any WordPress theme;</li>
<li>SEO options;</li>
<li>Exclude URLs from maintenance;</li>
<li>Bot functionality to collect the emails in a friendly and efficient way;</li>
<li>GDPR Ready;</li>
</ul>
<h4>Bugs, technical hints or contribute</h4>
<p>Please give us feedback, contribute and file technical bugs on <a href="https://github.com/andrianvaleanu/WP-Maintenance-Mode" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub Repo</a>.</p>
<h4>Credits</h4>
<p>Developed by <a href="https://themeisle.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Themeisle</a></p>
<h4>What’s Next</h4>
<p>If you like this plugin, then consider checking out our other projects:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://optimole.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Optimole</a> – Optimole is your all-in-one image optimization solution for WordPress & beyond.</li>
<li><a href="https://wpshout.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">WPShout</a> – In-Depth WordPress Tutorials for Developers</li>
<li><a href="https://revive.social/" rel="nofollow ugc">Revive Social</a> – Revive Old Posts helps you keep your content alive and in front the audiences that matter.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.codeinwp.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">CodeinWP</a> – CodeinWP stands for all-things-WordPress. From web design to freelancing and from development to business, your questions are covered.</li>
<li><a href="https://domainwheel.com" rel="nofollow ugc">DomainWheel</a> – Free Short Website name generator, with the help of AI, for instant ideas.</li>
</ul>
<p>Check-out <a href="https://themeisle.com/blog/" title="Themeisle blog" rel="nofollow ugc">our blog</a> to learn from our <a href="https://themeisle.com/blog/category/wordpress/reviews/" title="WordPress Reviews" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Reviews</a> and see other <a href="https://themeisle.com/blog/category/wordpress-plugins/" title="WordPress Plugins Comparisons" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress plugins</a>.</p>


LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder

I discovered some times ago that there is an add for Otter Blocks in Custom CSS setting in Gutenberg. I did not investigate and the last update of Lighstart force to install Otter Blocks when you go to Gutenberg management for Maintenance Page. Deactivating Lightstart resolves the problem. So don’t install this plugin, there is a bunch of alternative.

Add Ad for Otter in Custom CSS setting in Gutenberg


Initially I installed the plugin and there was an "optimize images" checkbox (enabled by default), that I did not look carefully into. After the plugin was installed, I noticed that some kind of optimization plugin had been installed. That was fine as I felt it was my mistake for not looking into that more carefully,



Today I find another plugin on our site, a plugin called "Otter Blocks".



This is quite a shady practice - probably done to boost the installs and visibility of the other plugins.


Installs other plugins without notice


After installing a plugin that initially appears uncomplicated and straightforward, you are immediately greeted with aggressive promotions for Otter – Page Builder Blocks & Extensions for Gutenberg. In a short span, a new message emerges: "Elevate your content's visibility with ease! Discover Revive Old Posts, a state-of-the-art plugin from the creators of Otter – Page Builder Blocks & Extensions for Gutenberg. Effortlessly reshare both old and new content on social media platforms, attracting unprecedented traffic."



Given that "unprecedented traffic" seems to be just a catchy phrase coined by marketers to lure in users, the entire promotional tactic can be overbearing for those seeking a clutter-free experience. Such aggressive marketing feels intrusive, disregards user preferences, and does not align with a community-oriented ethos.


Bombarded with excessive promotions


This plugin installs other crap ware on your site. Stay away.


Installs crapware


Theoretical this is a great plugin allowing users to design and change their "Maintenance" page in Gutenberg. But in reality it hung my WP admin upon activation. And the site is not available. Too many re-directs.Also the so called templates do install an extra plugin "Otter" which might be handy. But a little confusing. 


Looks great, but has issues

Easy Drag & Drop Page Builder that adds a splash page to your site that it's perfect for a coming soon page, maintenance or landing page.

EZ Coming Soon vs LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder