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Easier to Share and Reuse
Plugins are easy to share with others. It ’ s much easier to share a plugin than tell someone to modify
specifi c lines of code in your theme or WordPress. Using plugins also makes it easy to use the same
functionality across multiple sites. If you fi nd a group of plugins that you like, you can easily install
them on every WordPress web site you create.
Plugin Sandbox
When you activate a broken plugin in WordPress, it won ’ t break your site. If the plugin triggers a
fatal error, WordPress automatically deactivates the plugin before it has a chance to. This fail - safe
feature makes it less risky when activating and testing out new plugins. Even if the plugin does cause
a white screen of death (error message), you can easily rename the plugin folder, and WordPress
deactivates the plugin. This makes it impossible for a rogue plugin to lock you out of your own site
because of an error.
On the other hand, if you were to hack the WordPress core, you can most certainly cause fatal errors
that will crash your web site. This can also include making unrecoverable damage to WordPress.
Plugin Community
A huge community is centered around plugin development, sharing knowledge and code, and creating
wonderful plugins. Getting involved in the community is a great way to take your plugin development
skills to the next level. Chapter 18, “ The Developer Toolbox, ” covers many of these resources.
INSTALLING AND MANAGING PLUGINS
All plugin management in WordPress happens under the Plugins screen in the
WordPress Dashboard, as shown in Figure 1 - 2.
The menu shown in Figure 1 - 2 is available only to administrators in WordPress,
so nonadministrators cannot see this menu. If you use the Multisite feature of
WordPress, the Plugins menu is hidden by default. You need to enable the menu
under Network Admin ➪ Settings.
Installing a Plugin
WordPress features three different methods for installing a new plugin. Your server setup dictates
which method is the best to use.
The fi rst method uses the built - in auto installer. This method enables you to search the Plugin
Directory on WordPress.org directly from the admin dashboard of your WordPress web site. After
you fi nd a plugin to install, simply click the Install link, and the plugin automatically downloads
and installs.
The second method uses the zip uploader. Zipped plugin fi les can be uploaded, extracted, and
installed by WordPress. To use this method click the Upload link at the top of the Install Plugins
FIGURE 1 - 2
Installing and Managing Plugins
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