CHAPTER 7 • Making the Most of WordPress Plugins 177
◾ If you’re going with a plugin outside of the WordPress.org plugin directory, make sure
that it’s licensed under GPL. Because if it’s not, the plugin author is most likely violating
the WordPress GPL license, and that’s not a good sign.
◾ If you pay for a plugin, make sure that there’s support included. There are a lot of excel-
lent commercial plugins out there (Gravity Forms, for example, available at http://www.
gravityforms.com). Make sure that the one you pick has a good reputation and the
support you need.
◾ Is the plugin frequently updated? If it is, that’s usually a good sign. If not, well, I’m not
saying you should avoid it altogether, but it’s usually not a good sign, although there are
plenty of plugins that haven’t been updated for years because they just don’t need to be.
◾ Is the plugin author actively answering support requests on whatever platform the plugin
is available, such as the WordPress.org support forums? That’s a good indication, too.
◾ Although this does potentially require a lot of knowledge of PHP, JavaScript, or some-
thing similar, do try to look at the plugin source files to see if there’s something funky
going on. If you’re not comfortable or knowledgeable enough yourself to do so, then ask
someone who is. You can never be too careful.
◾ The plugin code is even more crucial if you expect to have a lot of visitors. Then you
really need to have it looked at by someone who knows their stuff.
◾ Plugins that have a lot of users are usually a better choice. This is not necessarily true
across the board, however, so remember that as well.
◾ Is the plugin internationalized, so that it’s available in several languages? If it is, that’s
good, even if you don’t need it — it’s just good practice and a sign of a developer who’s
taking at least some pride in the accessibility and usefulness of the plugin.
◾ Before committing, be sure to Google the plugin and the plugin author, as well as try to
find and look at sites using the plugin.Consult the WordPress plugin repository’s featured and popular sections for a selection of
excellent plugins. There’s some of that plugin goodness in Chapter 14, “Uncommon
WordPress Usage,” as well.
TWEAKING PLUGINS
If you find a plugin that somewhat fits your needs but isn’t perfect, then by all means tweak it.
This is not only a great way to learn how the plugin works (and plugins in general, assuming
that the plugin has good coding standards), but also a way to save time and possibly money.
While tweaking, remember that others might benefit from your changes as well. Either submit
your alterations to the plugin author for his or her consideration or fork the plugin and
publish your own version. After all, you’ve obviously saved a lot of effort by using someone
else’s work, so it’s only fair that you pitch in and help others, too.
If you don’t want to submit your tweaked plugin or if it’s too specific for your needs, consider
writing a short tutorial, posting parts of the code, or in other ways sharing what you’ve done
and learned. This way, you can help build a better ecosystem even if what you’ve done is not fit
for a standalone release.