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9. Check the les. Once you have found that perfect plugin, check its files
carefully. Look for anything that seems out of place. Are there extraneous files?
Is documentation included? Examples?
10. Check the code. If you understand PHP, (X)HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript,
take a good look at the code and do your best to see if everything is legit.
Keep an eye open for anything that cries foul, such as spam links, unreasonable
licenses, and so on.
While you may not need to perform all of these steps for every plugin you use,
keeping these things in mind will help you to choose a perfect collection of plugins
for your site. Again, the key to maximizing your experience with a plugin involves
taking the time to research and understand its purpose and functionality.
5.2.1 Plugin Usage and Maintenance
Contrary to popular belief, plugins are not simply set-it-and-forget fixes for
WordPress. As convenient and easy as many plugins happen to be, most still require
initial configuration, periodic maintenance, regular updates, and occasional
troubleshooting and tweaking. In this section, we examine some helpful tips for
optimizing plugin usage and maintenance.
5.2.2 Sequential Installation
One of the best pieces of advice that we can give as you begin adding new plugins
to your WordPress site is to do so sequentially, one at a time. Installing your plugins
one at a time gives you the opportunity to test your site for proper functionality.
This enables you to know immediately if the plugin is compatible with your site
or not. Installing 20 plugins all at once only to discover afterwards that your site
is broken requires you to go back through each plugin, one-by-one, to determine
the source of the issue. Thus, you will save time, stress, and a big headache by
meticulously installing your plugins in an organized, sequential fashion.
Shady plugins
From time to time reports
surface of plugins that contain
malicious code. Most plugins

that you may have customized, and also for expedient diagnosis and resolution of
any issues that may arise.
New versions of plugins often include new files, options settings, or changes to
existing settings that may interfere with normal site performance. Further, plugin
updates sometimes require complete un-installation of previous versions or even
additional steps in order for proper installation to occur. Manually upgrading your
plugins eliminates potential problems by giving you full control.
Know thy files
If you are automatically
updating your plugins and/or
core les through the Admin (or
any other method), it is wise
to remember that the les on
the server will be newer than
the ones on your local machine.
This may sound obvious, but
much confusion and many
errors may be avoided by
not overwriting updated les
with older ones. A good way
to prevent this is to either use
some sort of a version control
system (such as Subversion),
or else play it safe and go with
the manual-update method.
Automatic upgrading is only
for plugins hosted in the ofcial
plugin repository. Another good
reason to list your plugin there.
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mistake of expecting immediate
and perfect solutions when
asking for help. This just isn’t
the way it works. WordPress
heads enjoy helping people
learn, but make sure you take
the time to research the issue to
the best of your ability before
asking for assistance. Be clear,
polite, and remember to show
appreciation to those who take
the time to help you. It’s all
about karma ;)
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times, a plugin that fails to work or causes errors is incompatible with another
plugin. To determine if this is the case, leave the new/upgraded plugin activated
and sequentially disable each of your plugins. After each plugin has been disabled,
check for resolution of the issue in question and continue the process until it is
resolved. If, after disabling all other plugins, your new/upgraded plugin still is
associated with issues, it may be incompatible with WordPress itself.
5.2.7 Disabling and Uninstalling Plugins
As you work with plugins, keep in mind that there is a difference between
disabling a plugin and uninstalling it. In general, disabling a plugin means that the
plugin is inactive yet still present in the plugins directory. More importantly, any
settings for disabled plugins are still present in the database. On the other hand,
when a plugin is uninstalled, it is no longer present in the plugins directory and any
related database settings have likely been deleted.
It is important to keep in mind that many plugins add information to your
WordPress database. Upon initial activation, plugins may modify or add
information to various tables, most typically the “options” table. New database

php";i:7;s:32:"custom-query-string-reloaded.php";i:8;s:30:"customizable-post-
listings.php";i:9;s:33:"dd-sitemap-gen/dd-sitemap-gen.php";i:10;s:20:"download-
counter.php";i:11;s:13:"feedcount.php";i:12;s:13:"full_feed.php";i:13;s:15:"get-
weather.php";i:14;s:36:"google-sitemap-generator/sitemap.php";i:15;s:13:"gravatars.
php";i:16;s:19:"kill-admin-nags.php";i:17;s:18:"landingsites13.php";i:18;s:30:"nofollow-
free/nofollowfree.php";i:19;s:17:"ol_feedburner.php";i:20;s:16:"plugins-used.
php";i:21;s:22:"popularity-contest.php";i:22;s:39:"search-everything/search_everything.
php";i:23;s:27:"simple-tags/simple-tags.php";i:24;s:26:"simple_recent_comments.
php";i:25;s:18:"simple_twitter.php";i:26;s:25:"subscribe-to-comments.php";i:27;s:24:"the-
excerpt-reloaded.php";i:28;s:18:"theme-switcher.php";i:29;s:9:"top10.php";i:30;s:16:"wp-db-
backup.php";}
That entire array of code represents every active plugin on your site. Thus, to
quickly disable all plugins without using the WP Admin area, highlight the entire
block of code, cut it out, and paste it into a safe, offline text file. After removing
the code, click the button to save your changes and that’s it. All WordPress plugins
are now deactivated (yet still installed, and with all plugin options intact). This
obviously is a huge time-saver that really comes in handy during those mission-
critical, time-sensitive situations where every second counts. Once you are ready to
re-activate your entire set of plugins, simply cut/copy & paste the preserved code
back into the “active_plugins” field. Click save and done. Again, don’t forget to
backup your database before editing it.
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Or, instead of disabling the entire collection, you may selectively disable any of
your plugins by locating and removing its name from within the list. Here is the
general pattern once you format the code a bit:
a:31:{
i:0;s:13:"AddMySite.php";
i:1;s:19:"akismet/akismet.php";
i:2;s:23:"all_in_one_seo_pack.php";
i:3;s:16:"authenticate.php";

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. As discussed in the previous
sections, there are many ways to extend the functionality of WordPress, especially
if you are familiar with and comfortable working with a bit of code.
There are many situations where your development and design efforts are better
served with WordPress’ amazingly convenient theme-specific script functionality,
also referred to as the theme’s “functions.php” file.
The purpose of the functions.php file is to provide developers and designers a way
to expand the functionality of WordPress on a per-theme basis. Each theme may
use a functions.php file to include any number of PHP functions and scripts. This
additional code is then processed when the theme is active, thereby extending the
functionality of WordPress as it relates to that particular theme.
The plugin directory allows
you to see if the plugin
version and your WordPress
version are going to work
together, according to reports by
real users.
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5.3.2 Plugins vs. Theme Functions (via functions.php)
While both plugins and theme functions (i.e., scripts contained within the
functions.php file) may be used to extend the functionality of WordPress, there are
some key differences between the two:
• Locality - Plugins usually operate on a sitewide basis. Theme functions operate
only when the theme is active
• Updates - Plugins are usually updated periodically. Most theme functions
typically are not updated (depending on the theme – some themes are updated
regularly and may include changes to the functions.php file).
• Admin - Plugins are always shown in the Admin Plugins page. Theme functions
may or may not appear in the Admin Plugins page, depending on the function
or script.

These days, the use of functions.php has revolutionized the way designers and
developers make functional changes without plugins. Here are a few examples
demonstrating the types of functions that are commonly placed in the
functions.php file.
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5.3.4 Example #1: Easy Admin Buttons for Comments
In addition to managing comments through the WordPress Comments Admin area,
it is also helpful to have some easy admin buttons located next to the comments as
they appear on your blog. Here is an example of what we’re talking about:
Here is an easy way to add “spam” and “delete” links next to each comment
whenever you are logged in as Administrator. Having access to spam and delete
buttons next to each comment makes it super-easy to clean up missed spam,
scummy trackbacks, and other garbage. It is a good idea to continually scour old
posts’ comments to weed out junk, which is always easier to see from the actual
post pages themselves. Having quick and easy access to spam and delete buttons
has made my life considerably easier.
To add this functionality, we take advantage of the functions.php file by adding
the following script:
<?php // spam & delete links for all versions of WordPress
function delete_comment_link($id) {
if (current_user_can('edit_post')) {
echo '| <a href="'.get_bloginfo('wpurl').'/wp-admin/comment.php?a
ction=cdc&c='.$id.'">Delete</a> ';
echo '| <a href="'.get_bloginfo('wpurl').'/wp-admin/comment.php?a
ction=cdc&dt=spam&c='.$id.'">Spam</a>';
}
} ?>

Place this function in your theme’s functions.php file, and then call the function by
adding the following code to the desired location in your comments.php file: