WordPress, while extremely functional and useful, when initially installed, can be enhanced by using plugins designed to increase functionality and visual appeal. An analogy might be that WordPress is a skeleton and plugins are the sinew, muscle, meat, and skin.
No Coding Required
Plugins also allow the user to add tremendous functionality without having to open Pandora’s Box and attempt to write code as they insert the required code snippets in the appropriate locations.
Finding Plugins
Many plugins may be found within the WordPress environment by navigating to Plugins on the Dashboard and selecting “Add New Plug In.” Use the search bar to find by name or functionality.
Take time to review the plugin and take note of a few things:
- Is it a reputable source?
- How many active installations
- When was it last updated?
- User reviews
- Security
Google is also a useful resource to find plugins as well as following popular WordPress Blogs. If you want “cutting edge” information access https://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/new/ (Krol, 2019)
Just remember “Caveat Emptor” as you select and add.
My Additional Plugin
I added The Events Calendar from Stellar WP to keep users abreast of events locally, regionally, and nationally. Most of the events are recurring events, daily for 3 to 4 days or weekly, once week for “X” number of weeks.
Events Calendar has more than 700,000 installations, was updated 09/23/2025 and is tested to the current WordPress build. I also reviewed Sugar Calendar, the highest rated Events Plugin but decided it was more robust than I feel I need.
In summary, use plugins from reliable sources, research their functionality and in some cases, take them for a test drive. If you don’t like the look and feel, install a different one.
References
Krol, K. (2019). WordPress 5 Complete : Build Beautiful and Feature-rich Websites From Scratch, 7th Edition (Seventh edition). . Packt Publishing.