WordPress All-In-One For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 3

Configuring and Using Plugins

IN THIS CHAPTER

Exploring activate-and-go plugins

Discovering settings screens

Using widgets and shortcodes

The types of features offered by WordPress plugins are diverse. Similarly, the ways of interacting with plugins are also diverse. Some plugins don’t have an interface and can be activated or deactivated only; some provide one or more settings screens to control how the plugins behaves. Other plugins offer widgets and shortcodes (short, easy-to-remember codes used to execute PHP functions) used to add new features to sidebars and content.

This chapter digs into the topic of how to interact with plugins. Although this topic is a big one, the examples in this chapter prepare you for different ways of interacting with plugins.

Exploring Activate-and-Go Plugins

Certain plugins are easy to use because they don’t have any settings or features to interact with. I call them activate-and-go plugins. You simply activate them, and they do what they’re intended to do.

Like WordPress plugins as a whole, activate-and-go plugins offer a wide variety of features. The following list offers a sampling of activate-and-go plugins that you’ll find useful ...