{"id":1428,"date":"2021-07-26T07:06:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T12:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/?p=1428"},"modified":"2021-10-25T07:04:26","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T12:04:26","slug":"wordpress-plugins-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/wordpress-plugins-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress Plugins Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 ez-toc-wrap-right counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #212121;color:#212121\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #212121;color:#212121\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/wordpress-plugins-explained\/#what_is_a_wordpress_plugin\" >What is a WordPress Plugin?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/wordpress-plugins-explained\/#how_are_wordpress_plugins_installed\" >How are WordPress Plugins Installed?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/wordpress-plugins-explained\/#how_do_wordpress_plugins_integrate_with_core_functions\" >How do WordPress Plugins Integrate with Core Functions?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/wordpress-plugins-explained\/#action_hooks\" >Action Hooks<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/wordpress-plugins-explained\/#filter_hooks\" >Filter Hooks<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>Ever wondered, &#8220;What is a WordPress plugin?&#8221;, &#8220;How does a WordPress plugin work?&#8221;, &#8220;What does it do?&#8221; or &#8220;Why does WordPress use plugins?&#8221;? If so, then read on to learn more about WordPress plugins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what_is_a_wordpress_plugin\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what_is_a_wordpress_plugin\"><\/span>What is a WordPress Plugin?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In its simplest form, a WordPress plugin is a PHP script that enables your WordPress-based site to do something more than it could without that script. A WordPress plugin extends functionality and does it so that site owners can easily enable it, disable it and configure settings to customize its behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The largest repository of free WordPress plugins can be found on the wordpress.org website, though there are many paid plugin repositories like codecanyon.net and premium.wpmudev.org. Other places you&#8217;ll find plugins include github.com, plugintable.com, rankwp.com, tidyrepo.com, wpnuggets.com and wpplugindirectory.org.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/article\/managing-plugins\/\">most popular plugins<\/a>\u00a0typically fall into one of these categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Data In \/ Data Out<\/li><li>E-Commerce<\/li><li>Performance \/ Caching<\/li><li>Security<\/li><li>SEO<\/li><li>Spam Control<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how_are_wordpress_plugins_installed\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_are_wordpress_plugins_installed\"><\/span>How are WordPress Plugins Installed?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Though there are several different ways of installing, the most common way of adding a WordPress plugin is by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Logging in to the admin area of WordPress<\/li><li>Selecting Plugins<\/li><li>Searching for a plugin by name of function<\/li><li>Once found, clicking on Install, then Activate<\/li><li>Some plugins will require configuration, but others will run straight out of the box<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We also have a guide to show you in more detail the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/how-to-install-wordpress-plugins\/\">3 common ways to install plugins in WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how_do_wordpress_plugins_integrate_with_core_functions\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_do_wordpress_plugins_integrate_with_core_functions\"><\/span>How do WordPress Plugins Integrate with Core Functions?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress has been built with an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/developer.wordpress.org\/rest-api\/\">Application Programming Interface<\/a>&nbsp;(API) which allows plugins to tie into many of the activities of WordPress and range from page initialization to just before comments are loaded to just after something is posted. There are massive numbers of points in the system where plugins can tap into and work their magic, all based on how the developer has coded them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plugins can use WordPress hooks &#8211; code that allows plugins to tie into procedures without actually changing them. It&#8217;s a bit like a prompt that nudges functions (code) into action when another bit of code is executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two types of hooks, filter hooks and action hooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"action_hooks\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"action_hooks\"><\/span>Action Hooks<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Just as the name implies, a WordPress action hook is when code does something when triggered. In other words, when the hook event fires, the action is performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"filter_hooks\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"filter_hooks\"><\/span>Filter Hooks<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than performing an action when triggered, a filter hook is designed to modify data. For example, a filter hook can rewrite text on the screen, changing greetings, titles, form fields and just about anything displayed to web visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, check out our guides to the WordPress database, comments, hooks, handy plugins, and more throughout the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/tag\/wordpress\/\">knowledge base<\/a>, blog and forums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever wondered, &#8220;What is a WordPress plugin?&#8221;, &#8220;How does a WordPress plugin work?&#8221;, &#8220;What does it do?&#8221; or &#8220;Why does WordPress use plugins?&#8221;? If so, then read on to learn more about WordPress plugins. What is a WordPress Plugin? In its simplest form, a WordPress plugin is a PHP script that enables your WordPress-based site [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wordpress"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>WordPress Plugins Explained - KnownHost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to learn more about WordPress plugins. Read more inside and we will explain in more detail how WordPress plugins work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/kb\/wordpress-plugins-explained\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WordPress Plugins Explained - KnownHost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Want to learn more about WordPress plugins. 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