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Plugin TLC

Plugin TLC

Best practices to help keep your site fast, secure, and problem free by showing your plugin inventory a bit of TLC.

Demian Seiler

January 26, 2016
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  1. WordPress Plugin TLC Best practices to help keep your site

    fast, secure, and problem free by showing your plugin inventory a bit of TLC.
  2. HELLO! I am Demian Seiler Co-founder and Developer at Presstronic

    Studios LLC You can find me at @demianseiler - I tweet, therefore I am...
  3. Being Secure Established While it is good to always monitor

    for new plugins coming into the ecosystem, often your safest bet is to use well established plugins. Active New attacks enter the digital world every week. For this reason you should choose a plugin that is updated on the regular to help keep pace. Transparent Pay attention to developer patch notes. A good plugin developer should be transparent when it comes to the changes for a new release.
  4. Established 1. Visit their website - Is it well established

    and do they have a history of positive client references? 2. If their plugin is in the WordPress plugin directory, check their reviews and download count. 3. Search the top WordPress news sites and see if there has been regular and recent coverage of the developer and the plugin. Being Secure
  5. Active 1. Visit their website - Is it current, do

    they have regular blog post updates and news releases about their plugin? 2. If their plugin is in the WordPress plugin directory, do they have a history of updating every 4-8 weeks? 3. Does their plugin work with the most current version of WordPress? Being Secure
  6. Transparent 1. Visit their website - Do they write about

    specific changes with their new releases and/or provide a link to their github? 2. If their plugin is in the WordPress plugin directory, check their reviews, download count. 3. Search the top WordPress news sites and see if there has been regular and recent coverage of the developer and the plugin. Being Secure
  7. Plugin PERFORMANCE Every line of code in a plugin adds

    to the time it takes to load your page so choose wisely.
  8. Being Performant Minimize Code We are all guilty of having

    too many plugins or unused plugins installed. Get rid of those plugins that are not used or barely used. Choose The Best Do your research to ensure you are using industry leading plugins. They aren’t always perfect, but generally are very good. Test Your Site You don’t have to be a developer to do your own basic site checks. Using tools like the P3 plugin can help you identify issues with your installed plugins.
  9. Minimize Code 1. Remove all unused plugins, they just aren’t

    needed. You can always download and reinstall them at a later date if needed. 2. Ask yourself if you REALLY need all of your plugins. If the answer is yes, that’s fine, but ask yourself this on a regular basis. Be ruthless. Being Performant
  10. Choose the Best 1. Again, if given a selection, you

    often, but not always could be better off going with a plugin that has been around for a while, from an established respected developer. 2. A plugin doesn’t have to be old to be a top tier plugin. Without a long version history you just need to do a bit more digging to get an idea of its quality. Has the developer created any other plugins? Being Performant
  11. Test Your Site 1. Know your site. You should visit

    it often and get a feel for its perceived performance. Do this particularly before and after you install a new plugin. 2. Use tools to help get a better understanding of your site performance. Tools like the Google PageSpeed Insights and the P3 (Performance Profiler) plugin. Being Performant
  12. Plugin Functionality New plugins are created almost daily. What worked

    best yesterday, may not be the best choice for today.
  13. Being Functional Stay Current If you are still using a

    plugin from 3 years ago, there is a good chance that a new plugin is out there doing the same function (May Be better than your current plugin) Site Needs Change New attacks enter the digital world every week. For this reason you should choose a plugin that is updated on the regular to help keep pace.
  14. Stay Current 1. Despite there being over 40,000 plugins available,

    keeping your finger on the pulse of the world of plugins doesn’t have to be hard. 2. News sites like http://torquemag.io/ and https://poststatus.com/ (and many, many others) provide excellent news about the world of WordPress and plugins. 3. Podcasts like, WordPress Plugins A-Z and many others are another great way of staying on top of what is new. Being Functional
  15. Needs Change 1. As your site matures and the needs

    of your site changes, changing plugins to make sure you only have those targeted for your needed function is important. 2. Sometimes despite wanting to use a plugin, if it has a history of security or performance issues, you are better off not using it. Being Functional
  16. Review It is so easy to fall into the trap

    of just installing the first plugin that we find, but you put hard work into building your site. Take the time to do some due diligence by at least completing our steps above: ∎ Check Security ∎ Check Performance ∎ Stay current on what is available
  17. Resources For more info: ∎ WordFence Security Blog □ https://www.wordfence.com/blog/

    ∎ Google PageSpeed Insights □ https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/= ∎ P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) □ https://wordpress.org/plugins/p3-profiler/ ∎ Wordpress Plugin News □ http://torquemag.io/category/plugins-2/ ∎ WordPress Plugins A to Z Podcast □ http://wppluginsatoz.com/category/wordpress-plugins-podcast/