Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Testing Your New Plug-In
This is the place and time where having a WordPress installation
on your own computer can be very useful. Plug-ins by definition
should work without hassle with the current version of WordPress
core, but whether they work with every other plug-in installed on
your server is another matter entirely.
Your test server does not have to be a duplicate of your production
setup. Content isn't especially important; that is, you don't have to
have all your posts up there, but there should be at least one post,
preferably with an image attached. Your existing theme, set up
identically to the production server, should also be loaded.
If you do have a test server set up, try adding your new plug-in to
the setup. Run all the existing plug-ins one at a time for standard
operation, and then change a setting or two to check for unwanted
effects. If the plug-in passes, go ahead and upload the plug-in to
the production server at your web host.
caution
Before installing any plug-in
(including updates to
WordPress core and individual
plug-ins) on your web server,
back up the WordPress data-
base to another computer. You
don't want to enhance the
functionality of your blog only
to lose your data in the
process! Consider adding the
WP Database Backup plug-in
as one of your first installa-
tions. See the Administration
part of the “Some 'Essential'
Plugins” section later in the
chapter.
Selection and Activation
When you have your plug-in downloaded and installed into the WordPress/wp-content/plugins
directory, your Manage Plugins page should look something like Figure 13.3.
Figure 13.3
Your Manage
Plugins page
tells you
what plug-
ins are
installed
(ready for
use) and
activated
(working on
your blog
now).
