One of the top benefits of using WordPress is the ability to utilize plugins on your website. This short video explains what a WordPress plugin is and how to install one.
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One of the top benefits of using WordPress is the ability to utilize plugins on your website. A plugin is a code snippet that adds functionality to your site. Some examples of solutions that plugins can provide include contact forms, performance and optimization, adding new types of blocks to Gutenberg, embedding social media posts, and more.
While logged into your WordPress dashboard, simply click on “Plugins” in the left sidebar to view a list of the plugins that are installed on your site. If you want to add new functionality to your site, you can search the plugin repository by hovering over “Plugins” and clicking on “Add New”.
The plugin repository has links to view featured, popular, and recommended plugins as well as a search function where you can search by keyword or plugin name. The popular tags section on the bottom of the page is also helpful. Let’s say you’d like to add an image gallery to your site. You could search for image gallery, or you could scroll down to the tags section and click on the gallery tag to view all plugins with that tag.
To install a plugin, simply click on install now and then click on activate. Once active, a link will appear for the plugin somewhere in the left sidebar menu. It could be on the main menu or it could be as a sub menu item under another link like settings or tools. Most plugins have tutorials and documentation on their website which can help you get started and troubleshoot any issues.
Everything you add to your website, such as plugins, themes, pages, documents, etc. takes up server space. Hosting server space is limited and having too many files on your website can cause performance issues. So while plugins are a great way to solve a need, be sure that you actually need every plugin that you install and uninstall those that are inactive or you stop using. If you’re unsure of what a plugin is being used for, consult with your Web Developer before uninstalling it as doing so could break functionality on your site.
Of course Devadigm is always here to help offer recommendations for plugins and assist with setup, so feel free to contact us for help.
I hope this gave you a good understanding of what a WordPress Plugin is and how they can benefit your site visitors. You can find more WordPress tutorials here on the Tips and resources link on devadigm.com.
