Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
13
Figure 13.5
Upgrade
multiple
plug-ins at
once through
the Upgrade
page.
When the upgrade is complete, retest the plugin using the procedures we outlined in the earlier
section, “Testing Your New Plug-in.”
Some “Essential” Plug-Ins
As noted at the beginning of the chapter, there really isn't any plug-in that is an absolute must-
have. Everyone's different. Although plug-ins that find their way into WordPress core might be
viewed by at least some as essential for everyone, you aren't even required to use every tool
WordPress offers you!
Nonetheless, there are some very useful and popular plug-ins that might serve you well. We'll use
the rest of this chapter to highlight them for you.
Basic WordPress Plug-Ins: Akismet and Hello Dolly
Two plug-ins are installed with WordPress, but are not activated. One of them, Akismet, is as near
to essential as you can get, whereas the other, Hello Dolly, is yet another signpost of the playfulness
of the WordPress project founder.
Akismet protects you and your legitimate visitors from the scourge of the blogosphere: comment
spam. Spammers use the commenting tools meant to make blogs interactive to deliver traditional
spam (that is, offers to sell assorted products of dubious origin and repute) or links to “phishing”
sites designed to steal visitors' identities (or just their money).
Simply put, if you are going to allow people to comment on your blog postings, you need to install
the Akismet plug-in. Tragically, there's no way around this as long as spammers roam the Web
looking for email addresses and other critical private information.
