Hello and welcome! We're now waist-deep in WordPress! This series is currently exclusive to Steemit with the goal of teaching YOU the basics without costing you a dime.
Would you like to check out the other parts of this series? Here are the links:
- Part 1 - Introduction
- Part 2 - Setting Up Your WordPress Site
- Part 3 - Posts, Pages, and the WordPress Editor
- Part 4 - Categories, Tags, Media, and Comments
- Part 5 - Themes, Menus, Widgets, and More!
What You Will Need for Part 6
- Your WordPress site set up according to Part 2 linked above ^
What You Will Learn in Part 6
- How to search for plugins
- How to install plugins
- How to manage your installed plugins
NOTE: This tutorial will NOT cover which plugins you should use. I will write a separate part in this series to make some recommendations of plugins for different things like SEO, spam, contact form, broken link checker, stats, and more. (Follow me, so you don't miss it.)
Here we go! Keep you hands and feet inside the ride at all times.
About Plugins
Click Plugins in the left navigation of your WordPress Dashboard.
The Plugins screen will open.
WordPress installs with two Plugins:
- Akismet
- Hello Dolly
These Plugins are deactivated by default, and both of them are fairly useless. More info:
Akismet - Akismet is a useful plugin, but you can control spam with a free alternative. Akismet used to be free, but it is no longer free to use.
Hello Dolly - Hello Dolly has one function: it displays quotes from the play Hello Dolly in the top-right corner of your WordPress Dashboard. That's it.
Plugins can affect the load time of your website, so it's important to exercise caution when you choose and install Plugins.
Deleting Unwanted Plugins
Since we have these default Plugins to deal with, we'll start with learning how to delete them.
There are two ways to delete Plugins from the Plugins screen:
- Click the red Delete link beneath the Plugin you want to remove.
- Click the checkbox next to the Plugin(s) you want to remove. Click the Bulk Actions drop-down, select Delete, and click the Apply button.
NOTE: You cannot delete activated plugins, so be sure to deactivate Plugins before attempting to remove them. You can do this by clicking the link beneath the plugin or by using the check boxes and Bulk Actions drop-down.
It's as simple as that.
Searching Plugins
Before you search for a Plugin, you're either going to be looking for a known Plugin or searching for all Plugins that serve a certain function.
Let's use anti-spam as an example. I've deleted Akismet, so I want to replace it.
From the Plugins screen, click the Add New button or the Add New link in the left navigation under Plugins.
The Add Plugins screen will open.
Type your search keyword in the Search box in the top-right corner.
WordPress will automatically return results based on your keyword. You can peruse the available plugins right from your Dashboard. There are more than 50,000 plugins in the catalog as of this writing.
You will notice they are assigned a star rating and show the number of downloads as well as the last time the Plugin was updated.
I suggest sifting through the noise by following the simple criteria:
- Most stars from a large number of reviews at max number of downloads
- Updated within the last 3 months
Installing WordPress Plugins
Once you find the Plugin you want to use, click the Install Now button.
WordPress will install the Plugin.
To Activate the Plugin, click Installed Plugins under Plugins in the left navigation. Then click the blue Activate link under the Plugin you want to activate.
Your new Plugin is now activated and ready to use. The Settings for your new Plugin will appear in one or more of 4 places in your Dashboard:
- As a new navigation link in your left sidebar
- Under Settings in your Dashboard
- Under Tools in your Dashboard
- As a link under the Plugin in the Installed Plugins screen
Wrapping Up Part 6
Surprisingly, writing the tutorial on one of WordPress' key components actually took less time than writing on simpler aspects.
Plugins can make or break your aspirations for your WordPress site. What they do is allow you to create all kinds of websites without knowing how to code.
So, even though WordPress is most notably a blogging platform, you can create almost any site you can imagine on it.
Coming Up in Part 7
In Part 7, I'll cover the final two components of the WordPress Dashboard: Users and Tools. After that, I expect to write a few articles on using WordPress that I think you will find beneficial.
If you found this post helpful, check out the others in this series. Here are those links again for your convenience:
- Part 1 - Introduction
- Part 2 - Setting Up Your WordPress Site
- Part 3 - Posts, Pages, and the WordPress Editor
- Part 4 - Categories, Tags, Media, and Comments
- Part 5 - Themes, Menus, Widgets, and More!
If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments below and I'll so my best to answer. You might just help a fellow Steemian...or three.
Thanks for reading! ❤
cool - my website uses Wordpress, and I know so little about it. Gonna read up on this. Thanks for the info @prowebwriter!
You're so welcome. There's no better platform out there for your website. I hope this info will help you understand it better. Thank you for taking the time to comment.