Plugins are a useful resource when building your website and allow different functions to be used in real time, but it is also important that these plugins are safe and used for the right purpose.
Why Do Safe Plugins Matter?
Safe plugins matter, and firsthand, I have learned that there are some plugins that should never be installed simply because they are popular or because they offer a feature that I would like. Plugins can become intrusions to websites if they affect our website’s security and performance. It is also important to make sure information on that website is stored securely.
I’d ask yourself these questions:
- When was the last time you updated the plugin?
- Is your plugin compatible with WordPress or your choice of blog editor?
- What have other people said in the ratings of the product?
- Is there accessible information on the product if I am stuck?
Ways to find alternative WordPress plugins:
- Make sure the plugin has some sort of community recognition or rep
- Recommendations from WordPress
- Recommendations from college or from your professor
- Recommended and supported plugins from hosting providers
- Recommendations from videos or other blog posts
The plugin I selected for my choice of plugin was the Elementor plugin. This plugin was popular and a great way to organize and style my website, and I felt that it was necessary to get because this plugin is almost a given in every tutorial I watched to stay up to date with WordPress’ basic functions, and it took it to an entirely new level, expanding beyond the basic style. I also like it because it doesn’t require me to write out all of my CSS or HTML stuff that I am already doing in another class, so it’s convenient. Beaver Builder looked really nice too, but Elementor’s visual editor was a bit more up to date, and there were multiple ways I could look up how to use it. Elementor adds custom layouts to my website, images and other widgets and also spacing and aligning controls so I can change it, as well was further styling samples and designs that WordPress doesn’t offer. Having Elementor makes my life a bit more full, and it allows me to experiment with different layouts and organization.