Add Functionality to WordPress with Plugins

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WordPress is a powerful web publishing platform. That statement almost goes without saying.

Because it is open source there is a tremendous amount of support for the platform freely available out there. And you can really add functionality to your WordPress site by adding plugins.

What Plugins Are

Plugins are simply smaller programs that interact with a bigger program to do something that the original program couldn’t do alone.

The beauty of plugins is that they are modular. They are normally easily activated and deactivated which means that the desired functionality can be turned on and off as desired.

So in theory you can add them, take them away, mix and match without causing problems with the original program.

I say in theory because, as with anything computer related, your mileage may vary if you know what I mean. Sometimes they might produce unexpected and very undesirable results. Those are the fun times.

But I digress. Read more

Customer Service with a Smile

Yesterday Renée Alexandrea, our friend from Small Dogs Paradise, mentioned that she really likes to be able to subscribe to comments via email.

Well that’s a reasonable request, isn’t it?

Thanks to the adaptable nature of WordPress I knew there was probably a plugin that I could install that would allow readers who want it to flood their email boxes with comments from which ever post they chose to subscribe to.

So I shopped around (for all of about 5 minutes - that’s pretty much the way I like to shop) and found what looks to be a good one for that called, strangely enough, Subscribe to Comments.

I read the instructions real quick (yes, I know. Horrors: An instruction reader!) uploaded the plugin, activated it and Bing! Folks can now subscribe to whatever comments they’d like to keep up with.

I’m curious how y’all find it working. As I mentioned to Renée last night I haven’t tested it. But I’m hoping it works.

Please holler at me if it isn’t.

Enjoy!