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Catarina Fernandes
1,649 PointsUse plugins to customize wordpress vs a coding approach
I was wondering wich would be the most clean approach to customize the wordpress admin area: using a plugin or write your own code for what you need to get done.
If you have a wordpress site that needs lots of custom changes in the interface and need to use several plugins to achieve the final result, wouldn't it be better, perfomance-wise, to write your own code, and that way have only the stuff you need?
I assume that you can't remove a plugin that you've used, or the changes will be also removed.
What do you think?
2 Answers
Filip Hebar
4,954 PointsHi Catarina,
To be honest it depends on a number of factors, each has it's own pros and cons.
If you know WordPress and related technologies (php, html, css) inside and out and you know what you are doing then it would most certainly be better to do the customization yourself (write your own code). That being said, if you're not sure about it then maybe plugins aren't such a bad idea. Just make sure you use good plugins, not all plugins are created equal. This is assuming you are working on a project with a deadline and a budget.
There's nothing wrong with using plugins - that's what they're for!
Hope this answers your question.
Filip Hebar
4,954 PointsMy pleasure Catarina.
Have you checked Page Speed Insights to get an "insight" (pun intended) into what could be slowing down the website/s?
You can try setting up w3 total cache or fast velocity minify. A CDN is also an option.
I'd be more than happy to take a look and help out if needed.
Cheers!
Catarina Fernandes
1,649 PointsActually I was not refering to a specific project, just to my global experience. I have to try the CDN solution sometime for bigger projects =) thank you
Catarina Fernandes
1,649 PointsCatarina Fernandes
1,649 PointsThank you for your answer Filip. I was asking because I've developed some wordpress sites that ended up getting a bit slow loading due to the combination of plugins I've used to customize it.
Although sometimes I prefer to write some lines of code for smaller tasks, instead of using a plugin, I've always wondered if it was worth the extra work and time of development applied on that kind of stuff.
I guess it depends on the particular case, as you've said.