As I mentioned in my article, WP Plugins: Exec-PHP, Smart Archives, and WP Categories and Posts, and referenced in subsequent articles, I was using the Smart Archives plugin in a way that required me to use the Exec-PHP plugin.

There isn't anything wrong with the plugin. In fact, it did the job it was intended to do very well. It easily displayed all of my 580+ posts just fine. Needless to say, I wasn't satisfied with "just fine". I decided to replace it with a similar, but superior plugin. SRG Clean Archives is that plugin. What makes it superior?

"SRG Clean Archives" is fast and flexible. You can choose whether or not to use the JavaScript effects. If you choose not to, it will appear to people who have JavaScript enabled the same way in which it appears to those who have it disabled. You can choose whether or not to display the number of posts per month and whether or not to display the comment counts. Before I show the comment counts, I'll have to slip a paragraph above it because I use a similar-looking count for the number of post views in a couple of widgets.

Installing it was simple. All I had to do was copy the folder to the plugins directory, folder and all, and then go to the page and add <!–srg_clean_archives–> in non-visual editor mode and save. No other plugins required! (Of course, I removed the code for the other plugin at the same time.)

Sean, the author of the plugin, took it over at version 2.1 from another Shawn, the original plugin author. I installed version 4.0.2. That's how hard Sean has been working on it for the past few weeks. To throw some fat into the fire, I sent him a message and suggested that he do something similar with the WordPress categories. He responded that he'd think about it, just before he decided to call it a night (it was nearly 1 am in his time zone).

Digg it here: http://www.digg.com/software/WordPress_Plugin_SRG_Clean_Archives

Stumble it here: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/projects/clean-archives/