Plugins, Widgets and Themes
Today's Plan●Review● Plugins●Widgets● Themes and extension - "child themes"
Goals●You will understand what widgets are and how to use them●You will know the 'definition' of a plugin●You'll have the basics of child themes down, and might have one
of your own!
Review Exercise
●Name the two ways we can add a theme to our site
●What's a permalink?
●How do you get to the WordPress backend?
Review Exercise (Answers)
●Name the two ways we can add a theme to our site
Searching for it within the backend & file transfer
●What's a permalink?
The 'permanent' location of something on our site; ex /about
●How do you get to the WordPress backend?
MYSITE/wp-admin
Plugins extend the functionality of WordPress.
Exercise: PluginsComplete/Answer the following:● Toggle the activation of the Hello Dolly plugin. What does it
do?●Delete the Hello Dolly plugin. What are the two components
of deletion you're warned about?●Go to Featured plugins and install and activate the Stop SOPA
Ribbon plugin.
Gold Star! [Extra Credit]●Add the Hello Dolly plugin back. You miss it.●How can you find the lines that Hello Dolly
choses from?● Search and add the WP PHP widget to your site.
Activate. [You'll have more to play with in the Widgets exercise!]
Widgets are a form of plugin that can add functionality to different areas of your site, without needing to code.
Exercise: WidgetsComplete/Answer the following:●Use a widget in your site's theme●How can you remove a widget but keep its settings?●Can you use a widget more than once?
Gold Star! [Extra Credit]● If you installed the PHP widget, play with running
"Hello World" PHP code in a widget area●Does the PHP widget support HTML?●Change themes - did widget support change?
Widgets.
Child Themes: The What
●A Child Theme is a theme based on another theme (the parent)
● It uses all components of the parent theme unless you specify otherwise
Child Themes: The How
A folder and a style.css file
Exercise: Child Themes
Make a Child Theme.
Gold Star! [Extra Credit]● PLAY
(start customizing the theme!)
Lessons LearnedCan you ...●Define what plugins (and widgets) do?
Are you ...●Able to install and activate plugins?
Are you ...●Able to customize your site with widgets?
Do you ...●Understand the concept of child themes?
Are you ...●Able to make and activate a child theme?
Homework!
● Search for and implement plugins and widgets on your site
●Make a child theme of a theme you'd like to modify (if you haven't already)
● If you have hosting, download FileZilla and install it on your machine