Working with WordPress Plugins
18th Jan 2013 | Posted by Eko S. | 1 CommentWe constantly hear about WordPress plugins, but what exactly are they? In this post, we explore the intricacies of working with plugins. The truth is that most sites will probably use only a few plugins – such as the one that controls spam, or the plugin that integrates social media features or the one that displays statistics from your site. But how do you know what plugins you have installed on your site? Or how you find the plugin you need?
The Plugin
The Plugins Installed Screen allows you to view all the plugins that are installed on the site. You can choose which plugins you want activated or deactivated, from that page.
You can add new plugins to your site under the Administration Panels > Plugins > Add New panel, or directly via the Official WordPress Plugins Directory. Plugins can be installed automatically or manually. Once you install the plugin, you need to activate it before it is visible on the site. You can also modify the source code of all the installed plugins using the Plugins Editor Screen.
Plugins Consideration
Some important points to consider when using plugins:
- Security – WordPress is open source and literally anyone can create a plugin. When you install a plugin on your site, you are allowing the plugin to write code in the backend of your site. In order to prevent disasters such as hacked sites, it is important that you do adequate due diligence prior to installing the plugin.
- Compatibility – It is important that you ensure that the plugin you want to install is compatible with the version of WordPress that you are running. Sites have been known to belly-up when conflicts of this nature, occur.
- Work-in-progress nature – Most plugins are constantly being updated based on feedback received and changing requirements. Most of the time, developers will put out a base version of the plugin so that people can use it, while they continue enhancing the functionality. There maybe times when the functionality you want is not readily available, but it could be in the offing. You can write to the developer to find out if he/she has already thought of your requirement and if they are thinking of implementing it.
We hope that this post gives you a quick overview of plugins and how to use them on your WordPress site. There is much more to discover and we wish you the very best as you go about adding those extra bits of functionality to your site!
- Written by Susan -
She is with blogVault, a premium WordPress Backup Service.
About The Author
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