What Is a WordPress Plugin?

The WordPress “I’m Sorry… What?” Guide

One of the reasons WordPress is so flexible is its ability to use plugins.

But when you’re new to WordPress and someone casually tells you to “install a plugin”, that probably isn’t particularly helpful unless you know what one actually is.

A plugin is a piece of software that adds extra functionality to your WordPress website without you needing to build that functionality yourself or know how to code.

Think of your WordPress website as having a core set of features. Plugins allow you to add extra ones depending on what you need your website to do.

What can WordPress plugins do?

Need a contact form? There’s a plugin for that.

Want some help with SEO? Plugin.

Security features, booking systems, image galleries, backups, ecommerce, spam protection, social media feeds... there are plugins for almost everything.

That’s one of their biggest advantages. Instead of every WordPress website being packed with functionality it may never use, you can choose the features that make sense for your particular site.

And with thousands of plugins available, it’s very easy to start installing them.

Perhaps a little too easy.

Beware of the Dad Drawer

In our house, we have what we call the “Dad Drawer”.

There are no dads in sight, but somehow the name has stuck.

You know the drawer I mean. Batteries, old receipts, takeaway menus, random keys and that one mystery cable nobody dares throw away because we might suddenly discover what it belongs to seven years from now.

A WordPress website can end up with the plugin equivalent.

You install one because you need a particular feature. Another solves a different problem. You try a third, decide you prefer a fourth, but leave the third one sitting there just in case.

Before long, you’ve got a collection of plugins and you’re no longer entirely sure what half of them do.

More plugins don’t automatically mean a better website.

Do too many plugins slow down WordPress?

You’ll often hear that having too many plugins will slow down your website, but the number alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

A website with several well-built, lightweight plugins can perform perfectly well, while one poorly coded or resource-heavy plugin can cause problems all by itself.

What matters is what those plugins are doing, how well they’ve been built and whether you actually need them.

Plugins can also conflict with each other, with your theme or with updates to WordPress itself. That’s when you can find yourself staring at a website that has suddenly started behaving strangely when, as far as you’re concerned, you haven’t done anything.

Keeping only the plugins you genuinely need makes your website easier to maintain and gives you fewer potential sources of problems when something does go wrong.

Not all WordPress plugins are equal

Anyone choosing a plugin should do a little homework before clicking Install.

Some plugins are well maintained, regularly updated and supported by developers who continue to make sure they work with newer versions of WordPress. Others may have been abandoned years ago.

Before installing one, have a look at when it was last updated, whether it’s compatible with your version of WordPress, what other users are saying about it and whether support appears to be active.

If you’re about to add something new to your website, I’ve put together 5 quick checks to make when choosing a new WordPress plugin. It covers the checks I make before deciding whether a plugin is one I’m happy to install.

Plugins need looking after too

Installing a plugin isn’t necessarily the end of the job.

Plugins receive updates for new features, bug fixes, compatibility changes and security fixes, so they form part of the ongoing maintenance of a WordPress website.

That doesn’t mean clicking Update the second a notification appears without another thought. Having a backup and keeping your website properly maintained is important, particularly when updates could affect other parts of the site.

It’s also worth reviewing your plugins occasionally. If you no longer use one, find out whether it’s still needed rather than leaving it sitting around indefinitely.

Your WordPress admin area doesn’t need its own Dad Drawer.

A useful addition, rather than a collection

Plugins are a huge part of what makes WordPress so useful. They allow you to add the functionality your website needs and give you enormous flexibility as your business and website develop.

The trick is to be selective.

Choose plugins carefully, keep them maintained and periodically check that the ones you have installed are still earning their place.

And if you discover three plugins all doing variations of exactly the same job, it might be time for a little WordPress spring cleaning.

That brings us to the end of The WordPress “I’m Sorry… What?” Guide.

We’ve worked our way through some of the terminology you’re likely to encounter when managing a WordPress website, with the aim of making the admin area feel a little less baffling.

There will always be another WordPress term lurking around the corner, of course.

If you come across one that leaves you thinking “I’m sorry… what?”, let me know. It might just give me an excuse for another instalment.