I had no clue how much plugins could actually do for a WordPress website. I learned how to install and set them up, but I also learned that every plugin has a different purpose. Some can help with backups, security, social media, or even make the website run better. I definitely had some trouble setting a few of them up; I think the Google setup was not the easiest for me. I also think FileZilla was another hard one for me because it was just a different setup I still am not familiar with, but trying to understand with the help of ChatGPT, I wanted to just understand more of the concepts of the whole thing and learned how they actually work.
I also learned that it is important to make sure the plugins I use are actually safe and trusted because they can affect the security of my website and how well it runs. One place I can find trusted plugins is through the WordPress.org plugin directory. Before I download one, I would look at the ratings and reviews, when it was last updated, and whether it works with my version of WordPress. I can also find plugins by searching through the Plugins section on my WordPress dashboard. For my website, I chose Smush because I have a lot of pictures of the pottery and other things around the store. Smush helps compress and optimize my images so they don’t take up as much space and can help my website load faster.