May 26, 2014 Installing, activating and using plugins This is the next article in the series Getting started with WordPress. At this point you have installed themes and widgets so this should be easy for you. Once you have found the plug ins you like there are again 2 ways to install them. There are quite a few free plug ins are at wordpress.org/plugins here you can find approved plug ins that will add all the extra functionality your site needs. The first way to install the plug in is to download the plug in straight from the wordpress site and then going to plugins>add new then click upload at the top. Choose the file on your computer and click “install now”. Once it is installed make sure you click activate to enable the plug in. The second way is to go to plugins>add new and put the name of the plug in you found at wordpress.org into the search bar and it should pop up. Click install now and again activate it. Once activated typically plug ins are altered in one of two ways. The first will be in plugins>installed plugins. Find the plugin and if it has a “settings” tab this is where some if not all the plugins settings are. The second way is that the plugin might create its own new tab down the admin bar on the left. If this is the case you can click on the plug in and find some kind of settings and options. Some plug ins are very easy and some are very complicated. If you go back to the wordpress.org page where you saw/downloaded the plugin there is some instruction on how to download, install, activate and change the settings. There are also tabs for screenshots, support and one thing you should check out before using any plugin is the reviews. See what other people just like you are saying about the plugin you downloaded. Some plugins have limited functionality to try and make you buy the full version and some have great options for free. It’s up to you to play around and see which ones you like and which ones you don’t. If you want to delete a plug in that really isn’t what you thought it was just go to plugins>installed plugins and see the list. Once you deactivate the plug in you can then delete it. In my next article I will be starting a series on plugins, which ones are must haves, which ones to avoid and also which ones will serve your needs best. If you search contact form in the directory there literally are 1000’s listed. Most of the best are at the top. I will go over things like contact form plugins and others that every wordpress site should have and help you pick which one out of the group and how to set them up the way you like. Again we are always available to answer email question or find us on twitter @elitewolfdigi and ask away. See you soon. Here is a video on plugin installation in case you need a little more help.