The process of adding a plugin to WordPress, although it is actually simple can be a little daunting at first.
With this in mind I have prepared a though step by step guide to adding your plugin to WordPress, installing it and activating it on your blog.
Before you install the plugins you have to ensure that you have an FTP program to add the plugin to your blog.
I recommend LEECH FTP which is available here:
http://www.download.com/Leech-FTP/3000-2160_4-10122207.html
PART 1
Download and install Leech FTP onto your computer.
Once installed, open Leech FTP and choose the option “BOOKMARKS” under FILE / BOOKMARKS
It is represented along the top toolbar by the book icon as well.
A small window opens showing the current bookmarks, at this stage it will probably be empty.
Select EDIT and choose “ADD BOOKMARK”
Another window opens which will require the FTP details you have been supplied by your Host.
These should be in the format of:
HOST URL : (usually www.yourwebsiteaddress.com)
USERNAME : (Add your suplied username here)
PASSWORD : (Add your supplied password here)
There are no other details required in order to access your BLog via FTP and we will have set the FTP to ensure that you go straight into the BLOG section of your site.
CLICK OK
You should now see an icon of a small computer tower in the bookmarks window with the URL of your site as the name.
Double click this icon to access the BLOG via FTP.
Leech FTP is divided into 4 sections.
Leech FTP Software
The top section contains all the data and information telling you what is going on.
Under this are three columns.
The LEFT column will contain the QUEUE – THREADS – DOWNLOADS – FAILURES
Again this column is for information on your uploads to the blog.
The Middle column represents your computer and it is here that you must find your plugin folder.
The Right column shows the BLOG on your website and it should list three folders called:
WP-ADMIN
WP-CONTENTS
WP-INCLUDES
The only folder you need is the WP-CONTENTS folder, so double click this and it will enter the folder and display 3 more folders called:
PLUGINS
THEMES
UPLOADS
Double click the PLUGINS folder to enter it.
Now we just have to add the plugin.
PART 2
Firstly find the plugin you want.
The typical place to find a plguin is the official WordPress plugin page:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
Create a folder on your computer (somewhere convenient that you can find easily) and call it “wordpress plugins”.
Choose and download your plugin to the “wordpress plugins” folder on your computer.
The file will download in a compressed format such as ZIP or RAR.
Right click the downloaded plugin RAR file and select “EXTRACT HERE”
The file will extract a new folder with the same name as the plugin.
Now go back to LEECH FTP and in the MIDDLE COLUMN browse to locate the folder on your computer called “wordpress plugins”.
Select the PLUGIN FOLDER you have just unpacked and drag it over to the right column and into the plugin folder in your blog.
LEECH FTP will then upload the folder to this folder inside your blog.
PART 3
Now simply login to the admin panel of your WORDPRESS BLOG
on the very right side of the admin panel you will see three options:
Settings | Plugins | Users
Select Plugins and you will be presented a list of all the plugins you have uploaded to the blog.
Select the plugin and choose ACTIVATE to turn the plugin on.
After this it will all depend on what the plugin has been designed to do so I highly recommend you review all the instructions supplied with each plugin.
The instructions will detail any necessary adjustments you need to do to make the plugin work as intended as each plugin is different so unfortuantely I cant detail all the requirements here! The instructions are typically kept in a NOTEPAD document called “README.TXT” or some variation of this.
Although the details to do this process seem complicated, as listed above, the process is actually very simple and once you have sucessfully added one plugin the rest will all follow the same process. In reality it takes no more than 5 minutes to download, unpack, upload and activate the plugin itself so have fun, experiment and as always keep an eye on new plugins that may be interest to you by visiting the wordpress site regularly or subscribing to their RSS feed so you get imediate updates on any new plugins as soon as they become available.
The RSS FEED is located here:
http://wordpress.org/development/feed/
Have fun!
