What I’ve Learned About Plugins

Plugins are one of the easiest ways to add useful little features to a WordPress site without having to build everything from scratch.

During this lesson, I used plugins for backups, analytics, caching, social sharing, spam protection, accessibility, annnnd contact forms.

When choosing plugins, it’s important to use safe and trusted sources. For this course, plugins tend to come from the official WordPress.org plugin directory. Before installing each one, I would check how recently it was updated, whether it was compatible with my version of WordPress (some were not), how many people use it, its ratings and reviews, and whether the developer still provides support. I would in the future be cautious about plugins with poor reviews, very few users, or long periods without updates. The text also recommends checking on popularity, support forums, changelogs, compatibility, and update history before installing a plugin. Kinda like mods for games on Steam, but in this case you’re installing mods for your website.

     Plugins can also be discovered through WordPress blogs, tutorials, reviews, support forums, and searches for a specific feature or problem. These can help narrow down possible choices before checking the plugin itself on WordPress.org.

     For my additional plugin, I chose WPForms Lite to add a working contact form to Fright Attendant. I also considered Contact Form 7 and Forminator, which are similar features. I ended up going with WPForms because its visual form builder was easy to set up and use within (a very well-advertised) 5 minutes. The contact form gives visitors a simple way to reach out to Site Admin and gives the website a useful feature that could later be expanded upon for feedback, questions, or submissions.