174 PART III • Using Plugins with WordPress
PLUGINS ARE GREAT
Anyone who’s been using and working with WordPress for an extended period of time knows
that plugins can be great. They’re potential solutions to massive problems that usually would
take days or even weeks to solve, and possibly cost a lot of money if you’re not programmatically
inclined yourself. Thanks to the vast number of plugins out there, you can save time and money.What’s already available in terms of plugins is one of the reasons plugins are wonderful.
Another reason is that they make it so easy to extend WordPress. Plugins enable you to extend
functionality in a modular way, which makes your system as a whole less vulnerable. This
means that if one feature needs to go (for whatever reason) that is delivered by a plugin, then
you can just deactivate the plugin and be done with it — settings pages, administration, and all.The modular structure of plugins makes it possible to add functionality as needed without
bloating WordPress or your theme. This is brilliant.ABOUT THE FEATURE-AS-PLUGIN CONCEPT
The feature-as-plugin concept isn’t anything new, but as of WordPress 3.7 (and 3.8 in particu-
lar), it’s the way new features get included in the core. The idea is that every new feature that
could be added will be tried as a plugin first. The admin interface revamp in WordPress 3.8
was in fact a plugin at first, called MP6, as was the new interface for previewing themes.Moving WordPress core feature development to plugins is a great idea for several reasons, but
two stand out:◾ New features get a proving ground in live environments, which is to say all the users that
install and use the plugins.
◾ If the feature isn’t added to the WordPress core, which does happen and no doubt will
continue to, then at least it’s available as a plugin, thus growing the plugin ecosystem.If you have an idea for a feature that WordPress should have, get started with a plugin! When
your idea is formed, and possibly there’s something to show off, then head over to the Make
section on WordPress.org (http://make.wordpress.org) and talk about it in the
appropriate area. Pitching features for the WordPress core has never been easier and more
open than it is now, so take advantage of it if you can.DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLUGINS
There are three primary types of plugins: regular plugins, which you’ve no doubt used a number
of times; drop-in plugins, which are used to replace core functionality; and must-use plugins.REGULAR PLUGINS
By regular plugins, I mean plugins that you are used to. These are the ones you download,
install, activate, and just start using. Akismet (http://wordpress.org/extend/
plugins/akismet) is an example of a regular plugin. Basically, it just works when