Plugins

In WordPress, plugins are one way that you can customize your blog with one or more PHP functions. They can be an easy way to increase the functionality of what your installed version of WordPress offers, without having to know anything about programming.

Plugins are characterized by your ability to easily enable or disable their functionality from your WordPress administrative panel.

To Plugin or Not to Plugin?

With plugins, it is always user beware. How can you take a plugin author seriously, when they do not even mention what versions of WordPress that their plugin works with, let alone what it actually accomplishes?

Plugins run the gambit from very being very well done to an absolutely horrible implementation. Most of them are incompatible with other plugins, and can even be toxic to both your installed version of WordPress, as well as to your standing in Google. Many of them do things that are absolutely silly, or so horrible that they are not recommended at all.

Plugins have a very bad habit of stop working when you upgrade your installed version of WordPress.

In general, use as few plugins as possible.