Installation of Plugins and Themes in Wordpress
Introduction
In this article, we describe how to install additional themes to customize the site’s design and plugins to extend functionality and improve security in Wordpress.
Prerequisites
You must have a hosting.fr web hosting package where Wordpress has already been installed according to the instructions in Wordpress.
Themes
The appearance of the website, i.e., the frontend, can be modified using themes even without knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. Themes are found in the backend menu under “Appearance” > “Themes”. By clicking on “Add”, you can install additional themes from the internet. Choose a theme according to your wishes, install it, and activate it. The backend of the Wordpress installation is located at /wp-admin/, for example, https://mustermann-domain.com/wp-admin/.
Installed themes can be individually adapted. To do this, click on “Customize” on the relevant theme to access the following page:
Using the menu on the left side, you can modify various elements of the page, such as:
- Providing information about the page, such as the title and subtitle,
- Choosing individual colors for the theme,
- Creating and modifying the page menus,
- Adding widgets, i.e., other elements, to the layout
Of course, you can also create themes from scratch. For more information, see the Wordpress Codex.
Recommended Plugins and Their Installation
Plugins can be managed directly in the admin interface via the “Plugins” menu. Under Installed Plugins, you will find the already installed plugins, while via the Install menu item, you can install and activate new plugins with a single click:
Among the recommended and popular plugins are:
Akismet Anti-Spam which is used to filter spam in comments and contact forms. The installation and configuration of this plugin will be briefly discussed below.
EU Cookie Law which helps comply with the European cookie directive by displaying a cookie notice.
Jetpack which brings a whole set of features. Not all features of the plugin are free. However, the “Free” pack already offers interesting features, such as brute force attack protection, statistics, automatic social media posts, and themes. To use this plugin, you must connect it to a user account on the Wordpress foundation.
WooCommerce which turns Wordpress into a shop system, perfectly integrating Wordpress.
UpdraftPlus which allows you to automatically create backups of your Wordpress installation. See: “Example: Installation of the UpdraftPlus Plugin”.
The VersionPress plugin which may interest advanced users familiar with the GIT version control system. The plugin can manage both files on the web space and the content of the database.
Also explore the Wordpress Plugin Directory to discover other plugins.
Example: Installation of the UpdraftPlus Plugin
UpdraftPlus allows you to automatically create backups of your Wordpress installation. There is a free version and a paid “Pro” version of the plugin. The free version includes essential features. Backups are stored on the web space. In the Pro version, backups can also be automatically uploaded to cloud providers. The plugin can also be used to migrate a Wordpress installation from another provider to us.
Here is an example of the installation and brief configuration of the plugin.
Click in the backend in the menu under “Plugins” on “Install”. In the search, enter the keyword “UpdraftPlus”:
Click on “Install” for the chosen plugin and then on “Activate” after installation.
After installation, you will be directly greeted by the plugin as shown in the following screenshot:
After installing the plugin, you will be redirected to its homepage and a new “UpdraftPlus Backups” item will be added in the menu under “Settings”. Follow the plugin’s instructions, create a manual backup, and configure automatic backups that will be executed, for example, every week. The frequency of backups should be adapted to the frequency of site changes. For some sites, a daily backup may also be reasonable.
You can download the created backups to your computer by clicking in the menu under “Settings” on “UpdraftPlus Backups” and downloading the backups for “Database”, “Plugins”, “Themes”, “Uploads”, and “Others”:
Example: Akismet Anti-Spam
The activation of a plugin will be illustrated by the example of the Akismet Anti-Spam plugin. Akismet is a spam filtering service. It is used to filter spam from comments created by users and messages via contact forms on the site.
To use Akismet, the plugin is already pre-installed in Wordpress. Therefore, it only needs to be activated. To do this, click in the backend navigation on “Plugins”, then on “Activate” for the Akismet plugin.
To use Akismet with Wordpress, an Akismet account is necessary. The account can be created by clicking on “Open your Akismet account”.
On the next page, click on “Get your API key” and follow the instructions to create an Akismet account to obtain an API key.
Once you have created the Akismet API key, please enter it in the designated field. Then you will be directed to the next page. Select the option “Display a data protection notice under comment forms”.
Akismet will thus filter spam from user interactions via the comment function and contact forms in the future.
Additional Information
- In the English chapter “Theme Development” in the Wordpress Codex, you will find information on creating themes from scratch.
- On the English support page of “UpdraftPlus”, you will find more tips regarding the plugin.
- In the Wordpress Plugin Directory, you will find other plugins.