Putting Plugins to Work
This post is going to be a short plugin dummie version for those of you who are not familiar with the use of plugins on a WordPress blog. It is only a short version, because most plugins will come with install directions and special specifications you need to know in order to have the plugin work properly.
Before you go ahead reading this post, make sure the template you are using on your wordpress blog is “widget-ready”, which is normally mentioned on the page you downloaded your template from. Some templates are not “widget-ready” which means you have to adapt it first, instructions for that can be found here.
A plug-in (plugin, addin, add-in, addon, add-on or snap-in) 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, to reduce the size of an application, and to separate source code from an application because of incompatible software licenses. -Wikipedia- Read More
Best word of advice before starting of is: Read the Manual; there is almost always a readme.txt file added to the plugin once you have it unzipped onto your desktop, and it is there for a reason, not just decoration!
Having said that, let´s assume you have located a plugin you want to install (in a few days I will publish a list of 15 plugins you should definately consider using, so keep an eye on this blog) and you have gone ahead and downloaded it to your computer.
First thing you will need to do is unzip the file. You will then see a folder containing different files (including the above mentioned readme.txt in most cases). You will have to upload this complete folder to your server, either through ftp or using your controlpanel file manager. Don´t make the mistake of uploading all different files seperately, you will have to upload the complete folder. Some plugins consist of just one php file, in that case, you will only need to upload that specific php file.
So where does that plugin folder go?
Your plugin folder should go into the following path:
public_html/wp-content/plugins/ so if you are using a filemanager on a cpanel of your hosting company, open the public_html, then open wp-content and finally open plugins to upload the complete plugin folder.
One step down, only two more to go!
Next you will need to go to the control panel of your wordpress blog and find the “Plugins” tab on the upper right hand corner, in case you are using WP 2.5 and up. If you aren´t using the new version, don´t you think it is about time to upgrade?
You will now see a list of plugins that are uploaded to your wordpress platform and you will have to click “Activate” in order to be able to start using the plugin. WP 2.5 has this really neat option built in to upgrade plugins whenever new versions are available and it is in this section where you will see if your plugins has a newer version. Just click “upgrade automatically” and wordpress will do all the hard work for you!
Step two down, one more to go!
What you need to do now is go to the “Settings” tab on the upper right hand corner (this used to be called Options before version 2.5 came out) and when you have your settings open, you will see a number of tabs that automatically are installed with your wordpress (general, writing, reading, discussion, privacy, permalinks, miscellaneous) plus you will see the tabs you need to configure your plugins.
Choose the tab for whatever plugin you want to configure and press update in order to update those options.
Since all plugins are configured differently it is very hard to give a detailed guide, but most of the configurations are self explanatory anyways, so you should not have any problems there, just follow the instructions given on the page you downloaded the plugin from or again, read the readme-txt in the plugin folder if you are doubting about anything.
Step 3 three completed, Congratulations!
Pet yourself on the back, have a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy while your plugin is doing it´s (your) work!
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