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Plugins - What are they and how do you use them
By Mike | December 7, 2007
This question was emailed t me after the monthly call. It is not a good way to get questions to me as they can easily be missed due to sheer volume of email I receive daily.
I have a question. Plug ins. How do you get them? What are they, exactly? How do you use them?
Well to define them I went to Wikipedia for a definition.
“A plugin (plug-in, addin, add-in, addon or add-on) sometimes also called extension (see below), is a computer program that interacts with a host application (a web browser or an email client, for example) to provide a certain, usually very specific, function “on demand”. Applications support plugins for many reasons. Some of the main reasons include: enabling third-party developers to create capabilities to extend an application, to support features yet unforeseen, reducing the size of an application, and separating source code from an application because of incompatible software licenses.”
In plain english they are actually an add on program to enhance an existing program. (At least for the plugins we discuss for WordPress)
Finding a plugin can be relatively easy. I usually start at Google. Type in function I am looking for and add wordpress plugin to it. (ex. flickr wordpress plugin - would allow me to find available plugins to integrate Flickr into my blog.) You then go to the results and can usually either download or purchase the plugin. (Not all but most are free.)
To make them work if they have been written for WordPress is usually, but not always easy. First you will need to unzip the file. Check for a readme.txt file and actually read it. 99% of the time this will tell you exactly how to use it.
Upload the appropriate files or folder to the plugin directory (youdomain/folderblogisin/wp-content/plugins). Log in to your dashboard and click the plugin option then activate the plugin.
The last step is to click options and the link for that plugin and make any adjustments or additions required for the plugin. (You did read the readme file right?).
That will take care of most plugin installations but some need to integrate with the theme so you may need to do some editing there before it will actually do its job.
As always your questions and comments are welcomed. You can leave questions in the comments or use the survey form at the top.
Mike Paetzold
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December 7th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
My experience with Wordpress plugins is that they should somehow be grouped into two possibilties 1. you point and click after uploading into the plugins folders and it works. 2.you do the previous and then you have to do additional things in order for it to work. The 2nd catagory should cary a label of helper application as it isn’t a “plugin” due to the extra effort needed for it to work. Just my opinion