WordPress Plugins

Plugins are a critical component of WordPress that can fundamentally change how a website works. At its basest form, it is a tiny application that you can insert into your WordPress website to add a new type of functionality or feature. The best thing about plugins is that they do not require coding knowledge to implement. Because they are self-contained applications in and of themselves, plugins can be easily downloaded and activated with just a few clicks of the mouse. No complicated code is necessary! And just as convenient as plugins are, the interface to manage them is equally so.

As you can see in the screenshot above, we downloaded a bunch of plugins to show how they appear in the Plugins interface. You can manage your plugins from this table with ease. Inactive ones can be activated or deleted, and active ones can adjust their settings. If it has one, each plugin will have a link to its settings menu once activated. Some plugins will add a section to the bar on the left, giving you direct access to their control panel without having to go through this table.

Installing new plugins is as easy as searching and clicking the Install button. Speaking of that, you can add a new plugin by clicking Add New Plugin at the top of the screen or from the menu on the left. Afterward, you can look at featured, popular, or recommended plugins. However, the only way to filter the results is by searching for keywords directly.

For example, if you need a contact form on your website, you can type those keywords in the search bar on the right, and you will see results related to them. Because of this lack of further filtering, we strongly recommend that you research what plugins are the best for your particular use case online. Then, when you have found what you are looking for, check to see if it is available via your WordPress dashboard and only then install it.

We advise against downloading plugins from third-party websites that are not the original WordPress repository (which you see in your WordPress dashboard when looking for plugins). The reason is two-fold: poor code and potentially damaging. Plugins with a bad code base can negatively affect the performance or stability of your website or open security vulnerabilities. Either of those things is not something we recommend.

Finally, you can manually upload a plugin as an archive via the Upload Plugin button in the Add New Plugin interface. This is handy if you already have a legitimate plugin as a .zip file. However, again, you should not be using this functionality to upload any plugins you are not confident in the origins and safety of.

WordPress has a massive and dedicated community of enthusiasts who add new plugins to the repository daily. Each plugin on the official WordPress plugin repository has its own support forum where users can ask questions and troubleshoot issues. Plugins are an amazing way to improve the functionality of your website and add wholly new options to it—all without having to code any of those yourself.