🔌Plugin Glossary
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Popular Plugins List
Akismet Anti-Spam (Pre-installed)
Description
Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from spam. Your site is fully configured and being protected, even while you sleep.
Do you need it?
You don't need it in order for your site to work and you probably don't need it if there's nowhere on the site people can leave messages. If you do have comment boxes, I'd recommend that you keep it to prevent spam. It takes about 5 mins to set up with your email address. If you get stuck let me know and I can set it up for you.
Hello Dolly (Pre-installed)
About the Plugin
This is not just a plugin, it symbolises the hope and enthusiasm of an entire generation summed up in two words sung most famously by Louis Armstrong: Hello, Dolly. When activated you will randomly see a lyric from Hello, Dolly in the upper right of your admin screen on every page.
Thanks to Sanjib Ahmad for the artwork.
Do you need it?
This is a default plugin that often comes pre-installed with WordPress, it's a fun and lighthearted plugin that is built using one page of code.
You can uninstall it if you want as it's one less plugin in the list however it's not doing any harm if you want to keep it. If you
Advanced Custom Fields
This allows you to add extra fields to your posts and page beyond the standard Title and main body text. For example, if you are selling cars you will likely want lots of extra information such as mileage, engine size, year of manufacture and so on.
Do I need it?
If this is in your list of plugins, I was likely added by me as it's a plugin either you need it or could use it for extra fields. This could be used for adding extra information to a blog such as author details or extra product information.
This plugin is not so easy for beginners to set up but once it is set up it makes it easy for a non-techy to add lots of data to the website.
Elementor (Pro)
This is a well-known drag-and-drop builder that sits on top of WordPress to make designing websites more user friendly. This web builder is extremely popular on WordPress websites and is core to the design and layout of the website.
If you don't have Elementor installed your site is probably using WPBakery or Divi Builder, in which case, you can skip worrying about this.
Do I need it?
Yes, if you have this installed it's very likely you must keep it installed otherwise your website will fall apart.
Rank Math SEO (Pro) / Yoast SEO
This is a plugin used for you to add all your titles, descriptions and focus keywords to be ready by Google to help with your online presence.
You only need one SEO plugin at a time
You only need one SEO plugin at a time so if you have RankMath installed and it's working ok, please don't install Yoast. The same applies if you have Yoast and it's working ok, don't install RankMath as well - they both do the same thing and will conflict.
Do I need it?
Yes, you need it, please don't uninstall this plugin as you need it to help with your online search ranking. So please keep it enabled.
WooCommerce
This is a core plugin to having a functioning online shop working within WordPress, it gives you the features for adding products and online payments to a website.
Do I need it?
If you have an online shop, yes! I would imagine that it wouldn't be installed if you didn't need it. Without it, your website will lose all of its online shop functionality.
WP Mail SMTP
This is used to help with emails getting from the contact box on the website to your inbox. If you have it installed, it was likely added by me as you were not getting your emails without it.
Setting for this plugin can be accessed by selecting 'WP Mail SMTP' lower down on the WordPress Admin Dashboard.
Do I need it?
I'd say yes, as that's why it was added, but you are welcome to disable it and test whether you are getting emails ok without it.
WPBakery Page Builder
This plugin is used as a drag and drop web builder on top of WordPress to make it easier to design the layout without code. This plugin is always saying there is a new update but you can ignore it as it's only for the paid version - which you don't need.
You know if a page you are editing is a WP Bakery page as the page is built up with lots of drag and drop boxes you can click to edit the content and layout.
Do I need it?
Yes, if you have it installed it's very likely your whole site is designed using this software and if you disable it your site will fall apart!
WPForms Lite
This is used as a user-friendly way to build your own contact form and add it to your website without code or any design ability. The Lite version is fine for most cases unless you need some advanced features of integrations. You can access your forms by selecting 'WP Forms' from the left-hand menu in the WordPress Admin.
Do I need it?
Yes, it's likely that if this plugin is installed it's being used for a contact form on your contact page. If you disable it you will lose the contact form and it will just display either nothing or a shortcode eg [WPForms id="1"] to your visitors!
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