Everything You Need to Know About Website Plugins

You no longer have to know coding to make a website. And for that, you need to thank content management systems like WordPress that provide you with two things – ready-made themes and templates for web design and website plugins for adding functionality. If you’re reading this, you’re probably willing to make a website which is why we’ll tell you whatever you need to know about a website plugin.

What is a Website Plugin?

To put it very simply, it is a piece of software that adds functionality to your website. By functionality, we don’t just mean going from one web page to another. It involves things like adding products to your cart on an ecommerce site or being able to download a file from a website.

Additionally, plugins also help you with stuff like security, checking your SEO or taking backup of your data. These are some plugins that are only meant for admin use – they are very much active but their work isn’t directly reflected on the frontend of the website. However, they are equally important for you to have.

How Does it Work?

A website plugin is created by programming and then made available to users. WordPress and other similar content management systems are designed in a way that a developer can alter the code to suit their requirement. By adding a plugin, you make many alterations to a website.

Here’s how it works:

• Plugins are either available for free download or purchase.
• Once you install a plugin on your website backend, you activate it.
• Now, the plugin becomes a part of your website database and gets linked to all your web pages.
• This means that once the plugin is active, you can use it on any web page to serve its purpose.

It’s that simple. To understand better, let’s check some examples.

Examples of Some Popular Website Plugins

We’ll check out 2 WordPress plugins that are very popular among its users. One’s function is directly visible on the website while the other is only for the admin operators to know.

Let’s begin with WooCommerce – the most popular e-commerce plugin among WordPress users. It provides all the features that an ecommerce website needs such as inventory management, shopping cart, payment gateway integration and logistics management.

And another plugin that a viewer may not directly benefit from but the website owner needs is Yoast SEO. It helps the admin understand if the readability and SEO score of the page needs improvement or is up to the mark.

Pros and Cons of Website Plugins

If you’re using CMS, you need plugins. They come with the following benefits:

• Adds features and functionality
• User-friendly for the admin operator
• Some of them help in increasing security and improving SEO
• Enhances user experience for website visitors

However, some of the limitations that every website plugin comes with include:

• A single active plugin can reduce your site speed by 5 milliseconds.
• Some of them conflict with your themes.
• They may cause upgrade issues.

How Many Plugins Should Your Website Ideally Have?

It is important for your website to have plugins – but only those you actually need. If you aren’t using a website plugin or if it’s creating a problem, remove it. The best solution is to install a plugin that provides you with the maximum functionality your site requires.