Chapter 1. An Introduction to Plugins
WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?
Understanding a plugin
Using available WordPress APIs
Loading order of plugins
Finding examples of popular plugins
Determining the separation of plugin and theme functionality
Managing and installing plugins
Understanding types of WordPress plugins
WordPress is one of the most popular open source content management systems available today. One of the primary reasons WordPress is so popular is the ease with which you can customize WordPress through plugins. WordPress has an amazing framework in place giving plugin developers the tools needed to extend WordPress in any way imaginable.
Understanding how plugins work, and the tools available in WordPress, is critical knowledge when developing professional WordPress plugins.
WHAT IS A PLUGIN?
A plugin in WordPress is a PHP script that extends or alters the core functionality of WordPress. Quite simply plugins are files installed in WordPress to add a feature, or set of features, to WordPress. Plugins can range in complexity from a simple social networking plugin to an extremely elaborate e-commerce package. There is no limit to what a plugin can do in WordPress; because of this there is no shortage of plugins available for download.
How Plugins Interact with WordPress
WordPress features many different APIs for use in your plugin. Each API, or application programming interface, helps interact with WordPress in a different way. Following is a list of the main available APIs in WordPress ...
Get Professional WordPress® Plugin Development now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
